Pustec (municipality)

Summary

Pustec Municipality (Albanian: Bashkia Pustec; Macedonian: Општина Пустец, Opshtina Pustets), previously known as Liqenas Commune (Albanian: Komuna Liqenas) from 1973 to 2013, is a municipality in the Korçë County of Albania.[1] The population at the 2011 census was 3,290,[2] in a total area of 243.60 km2.[3] The municipality's flag features the Vergina Sun.[4]

Pustec
Liqenas
Flag of Pustec
Official logo of Pustec
Pustec is located in Albania
Pustec
Pustec
Coordinates: 40°47′13″N 20°54′08″E / 40.78694°N 20.90222°E / 40.78694; 20.90222
Country Albania
CountyKorçë
Government
 • MayorPali Kolefski (PS)
Area
 • Municipality243.60 km2 (94.05 sq mi)
Population
 (2011)
 • Municipality
3,290
 • Municipality density14/km2 (35/sq mi)
Time zoneUTC+1 (CET)
 • Summer (DST)UTC+2 (CEST)
Postal Code
7020
Area Code(0)867
Websitewww.bashkiapustec.gov.al

It consists of nine villages, comprising the areas along the Albanian, the southwestern shore of Lake Prespa. It is part of the so-called Mala Prespa area, which is home to a large part of the local ethnic Macedonian minority of Albania.[5][6] Albanian and Macedonian are official languages of the municipality.

History edit

 
The villages within Pustec Municipality

The village of Cerje was first mentioned in documents from the 14th century. The names of other villages were found in more modern documents. According to a 1900 ethnographic survey, the number of inhabitants at the time was 1,830.[7] The "La Macédoine et sa Population Chrétienne" survey by Dimitar Mishev (D. Brankov) from 1905 shows that the local Christian inhabitants were divided between Bulgarian Exarchate and Patriarchate of Constantinople.[8] On 18 March 2013, the Albanian government changed the official name of the municipality, from the Albanian Liqenas to the Macedonian Pustec.[9]

 
A road sign in Mala Prespa indicating the direction of Pustec, written in both Albanian and Macedonian

Villages in Pustec Municipality edit

The municipality contains nine villages.

Demographics edit

According to the 2011 census, 97% of the municipality's residents were ethnic Macedonians and 96% were Orthodox Christians.[10][11]

As per 2022, according to INSTAT, Pustec had only 8 births, second lowest only to Dropull. [12]

Education edit

Each of the nine villages in the municipality has an elementary school. Gorna Gorice has an 8-year school, while Pustec has both an 8-year school and a secondary school.[13]

Twinned municipalities edit

References edit

  1. ^ "Law nr. 115/2014" (PDF) (in Albanian). pp. 6372–6373. Retrieved 25 February 2022.
  2. ^ "Population and housing census - Korçë 2011" (PDF). INSTAT. Retrieved 2019-09-25.
  3. ^ "Correspondence table LAU – NUTS 2016, EU-28 and EFTA / available Candidate Countries" (XLS). Eurostat. Retrieved 2019-09-25.
  4. ^ Gori, Maja; Ivanova, Maria, eds. (2017). Balkan Dialogues: Negotiating Identity between Prehistory and the Present. Taylor & Francis. p. 258. ISBN 9781317377474.
  5. ^ “ON THE STATUS OF THE MINORITIES IN THE REPUBLIC OF ALBANIA”, Albanian Helsinki Committee with support of the Finnish Foundation ‘KIOS’ and “Finnish NGO Foundation for Human Rights”. Hosted at SEE developed by the Applied Research and Communications Fund in Sofia (www.arc.online.bg) under a two-year project sponsored by the U.S. Agency for International Development USAID.
  6. ^ Minority Rights in Albania Archived 2007-11-17 at the Wayback Machine, page 3 - Albanian Helsinki Committee, September 1999
  7. ^ Kanchov, Vasil. Macedonia — ethnography and statistics, Sofia 1900, p. 242 (in Bulgarian)
  8. ^ D.M.Brancoff. "La Macédoine et sa Population Chrétienne". Paris, 1905, p.170-171
  9. ^ Pustec poveke ne e Liqenas
  10. ^ "Ethnic Composition of Albania 2011". Retrieved 7 August 2014.
  11. ^ "Religious Composition of Albania 2011". Retrieved 7 August 2014.
  12. ^ https://www.instat.gov.al/media/12904/numri-i-lindjeve-dhe-vdekjeve-sipas-bashkive-2018-2022-dt-21122023.xlsx
  13. ^ ""ON THE STATUS OF THE MINORITIES IN THE REPUBLIC OF ALBANIA"" (PDF). Retrieved 10 March 2016.

See also edit