Malësia

Malësia e Madhe ("Great Highlands"), known simply as Malësia (Albanian: Malësia, Montenegrin: Malesija / Малесија), is a historical and ethnographic region in northern Albania and eastern central Montenegro corresponding to the highlands of the geographical subdivision of the Malësi e Madhe District in Albania and Tuzi Municipality in Montenegro. The largest settlement in the area is the town of Tuzi.

Name

Malësia e Madhe is Albanian for "great highlands".

The region includes parts of the

After the Ottoman Empire lost the

During World War II, the northern Albanian tribes were collaborationist and anti-Communist.

• Albanians - 7,839 (75.8%)
• Montenegrins
  - 823 (8.0%)
• Bosniaks - 627 (6.1%)
• Ethnic Muslims
  - 635 (6.1%)
• Serbs - 156 (1.5%)
• Romani - 62 (0.6%)
• Others - 120 (1.2%)
• No Ethnicity Declared - 77 (0.7%)
• Total - 10,339

Culture

Due to its rich culture, the highland region has attracted more attention from anthropologists, artists, writers and scholars than any other Albanian-populated region. It is Malësia that produced what has been considered the national epic of the Albanian people,

spent 35 years composing this epic poem, in which is chronicled the whole range of the ethnic Albanian cultural experience (e.g. weddings, funerals, historical battles, mythology, genealogy, and tribal law). It is as interesting to modern readers as an anthropological document as it is a magnificent poem.

Cemi River

" to the people of Malcía.

The oldest Albanian book was written by Malësor Catholic priest Gjon Buzuku.^{[citation needed]}

Ethnography

In 1908, anthropologist Edith Durham visited the Malësia region and catalogued her findings in her ethnographic work "High Albania," which was, for nearly a century, the most trusted source of information about the Albanian highlanders. Albanian anthropologist Kolë Berisha wrote, among other books, the four-volumes ethnography entitled "Malcía e Madhe" written between 1900 and 1945.

Tribes

See also:

Tribes of Albania

Robert Elsie divided the tribes of Albania in his works according to regions. There were ten tribes that belonged to the Malësia e Madhe in the Northern Albanian Alps.[13]^[14][15][16]

• Kelmendi^[17]
• Gruda^[18] (in Montenegro)
• Hoti^[19] (partially in Montenegro)
• Kastrati^[20]
• Shkreli^[21]
• Triesh^[22]
• Koja

The histories of the respective clans (and hence the whole region) are amalgamations of both historical events and genealogies passed along by oral transmission.

Notable people

• Prek Cali, Kelmendi chieftain
• Ded Gjo Luli (1840–1915), Hoti chieftain
• Sokol Baci (1837–1920), Gruda chieftain
• Baca Kurti (1807–1881), Gruda chieftain
• Tringe Smajli (1880–1917), Gruda member
• Nora of Kelmendi
• Elseid Hysaj, Albanian footballer, defender
• Bekim Balaj, Albanian footballer, attacker
• Armando Broja, Albanian footballer, attacker
• Rudi Vata

See also

• Albanians in Montenegro

References

1. ^ Elsie 2010, p. 291.
2. ^ Elsie 2015, p. 15.
3. ^ Treadway 1983, Pearson 2004
4. ^ Gawrych 2006, p. 30.
5. ^ Mackenzie, G. Muir; Mackenzie, Georgina Mary Muir; Irby, A. P. (1867). The Turks, the Greeks and the Slavons. Travels in the Slavonic Provinces of Turkey-in-Europe. Bell & Daldy. p. 681. Retrieved 25 December 2019. the Malesians.
6. ^
   ISBN 9781845112875
   .
7. ^ Mitološki zbornik. Centar za mitološki studije Srbije. 2004. pp. 24, 41–45.
8. ISBN 978-86-305-0260-6
   .
9. ^ Vickers 1999, pp. 63–64.
10. ^ Treadway 1983, p. 78.
11. ^ Pearson 2004, p. 43.
12. ^ "Mark Gjomarku: Ja si do ta çlirojmë Shqipërinë nga komunistët". www.shqiptarja.com (in Albanian). Archived from the original on 7 June 2014.
13. ^ Elsie 2015, pp. 15–98.
14. ^ Recherches albanologiques: Folklore et ethnologie (in French). Pristina: Instituti Albanologijik i Prishtinës. 1982.
15. ISBN 9994334077
    .
16. ^ "History of Albania". Lonely Planet. Retrieved 5 January 2012.
17. ^ Elsie 2015, pp. 15–35.
18. ^ Elsie 2015, pp. 36–46.
19. ^ Elsie 2015, pp. 47–57.
20. ^ Elsie 2015, pp. 68–78.
21. ^ Elsie 2015, pp. 81–88.
22. ^ Elsie 2015, pp. 58–67.

Sources

• Treadway, John D. (1983). The Falcon and the Eagle: Montenegro and Austria-Hungary, 1908-1914. Purdue University Press.
  ISBN 978-1-55753-146-9
  .
• Pearson, Owen (2004). Albania in the Twentieth Century, A History: Volume I: Albania and King Zog, 1908-39. I.B.Tauris.
  ISBN 978-1-84511-013-0
  .
• Jovićević, Andrija (1923). Малесија. SANU.
  OCLC 635033682. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help
  )
• Slijepčević, Đoko M. (1974). Српско-арбанашки односи кроз векове са посебним освртом на новије време. Iskra.
• ISBN 978-1-4068-2855-9
  .
• ISBN 978-0-8108-7380-3
  .
• ISBN 9780857739322
  .
• Vickers, Miranda (1999). The Albanians: a modern history. I.B.Tauris.
  ISBN 978-1-86064-541-9
  .