Aromanians in Albania

Aromanians in Albania
Aromanian: Rrãmãnjã tu Arbinishii
Albanian: Vllehët në Shqipëri
Map of Aromanian settlements in Albania
Total population
estimate up to 200,000
Regions with significant populations
Korçë County, Fier County, Gjirokastër County, Elbasan County, Vlorë County, Berat County, Durrës County, Tirana County
Languages
Aromanian (native), Albanian
Religion
Eastern Orthodox Christianity
Related ethnic groups
Aromanians

The Aromanians in Albania (Aromanian: Rrãmãnjã tu Arbinishii, Albanian: Vllehët në Shqipëri) officially Minoriteti Vllah në Shqipëri, also known as Aromanians (Arumunët), Vllehët, Çobenjtë, Llacifacët, or Xinxarët, are an officially recognised ethnic group native in central and south Albania.[1]

Ethnonyms

Part of a series on
Aromanians
By region or country
Major settlements
Language
Religion
History
Related groups

The Aromanians in Albania are officially called the Minoriteti Vllah. The local population often refers to them as Vllehë, Çobenjë (from Turkish çoban, "shepherd"), Arumunë, Llacifacë or Xinxarë.

History

The Aromanians were first recognized at the London Conference of 1912–13 as a minority group within Albania. They fought the Ottoman Empire alongside the Serbians and Greeks during the Balkan Wars.

Culture

Religion

Aromanians in Albania are predominantly Orthodox Christians like the rest of Aromanians in the world. In Korçë (arom. Curceau) they have an Aromanian-language church named 'Alju Sutir' (Transfiguration of Jesus), and is the only church in Albania that is preaching in Aromanian language. Before that, they had another church with the same name build in 1925, and destroyed by an earthquake in 1931.

List of settlements

  Aromanians are the exclusive population in the settlement
  Aromanians form a majority or a substantial minority in the settlement
Precentage of Aromanians in Albanian counties, c.1900

The Myzeqe (Aromanian: Muzachia) is an area in western Albania which encompasses parts of the Fier (Aromanian: Ferãcã), Tirana and Durrës counties. It has a large Aromanian population spread across many villages. The Aromanian inhabitants of Myzeqe are referred to as Muzachiars or Muzachirenji | Muzachireńi in Aromanian.

Southern Albania

In Southern Albania.

Macedonia

A large portion of Aromanians can be found in the small part of Macedonia that lies in Albania.

The city of Moscopole (Aromanian Moscopole), Albanian: Voskopojë, Voskopoja was home to the largest Aromanian population in the world. It was the cultural and commercial center of the Aromanians with a population of over 60,000 people. The city was razed to the ground by Ali Pasha of Ioannina in 1788 causing an exodus of Aromanian people across the Balkans. Many of them ended up in what would become the Republic of Macedonia, Albania and Greece. The largest concentration of Aromanians was in the Pelister region of Macedonia, the city of Kruševo and around the Prespa Lakes. The Moscopolitans of the Moscopoleanji as they are known in Aromanian form one of the largest population of Aromanians today. They speak the Moscopolean dialect of Aromanian and are the descendants of the Moscopolean's in Krusevo (Aromanian: Crushuva, Macedonian: Крушево) are today a fully recognized minority group under the constitutional law of the Republic of Macedonia.

Minority status

First the Aromanians were recognized at the London Conference 1912-13 as a minority group until the communist era (1967). From 1967 until 1992 they were known as Albanian people, and from 1992 until 2017 they were known as a cultural and linguistic minority. Since 2017, the Aromanians are an officially recognized ethnic minority.

Education

University of Tirana

In the state University of Tirana Aromanian language is present in the Faculty of Foreign Languages.

Media

Aromanian-language media in Albania are the newspaper Fratia, magazine Arumunët/Vllehtë and RTSH 2, which broadcasts from Monday to Friday news and programms in Aromanian language.

Notable people

Academics

Art and literature

Military

  • Mihal Grameno (1871-1931) - freedom fighter
  • Vasil Trasha (1928-1958) - pilot

Philanthropy

Politics

Religion

Sports

  • Rafail Dishnica (Gërnjoti) - boxer
  • Theodhor Gërnjoti (1943–2010) - boxer
  • Loni Papuçiu (?-?) - football player
  • Gert Trasha (1988) - weightlifter
  • Keidi Bare (1997) - football player

See also

References

  1. ↑ Project, Joshua. "Aromanian in Albania". Retrieved 2017-08-29.
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