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Polog Valley, as seen from Suva Gora mountain
Fields in Polog Valley
Polog Valley, as seen from Šar Mountain.

Polog (Macedonian: Полог, romanized: Polog; Albanian: Pollog), also known as the Polog Valley (Macedonian: Полошка Котлина, romanized: Pološka Kotlina; Albanian: Lugina e Pollogut), is located in the north-western part of North Macedonia, near the border with Kosovo.

It is divided into Upper (Macedonian: Горен Полог, romanized: Gorni Polog) and Lower Polog (Macedonian: Долен Полог, romanized: Dolen Polog). Tetovo and Gostivar are the largest populated towns in this valley and Albanians form an ethnic majority in the region.

Polog Statistical Region is named after the valley.

Etymology

The name Polog (Cyrillic: Полог) is Slavic in origin[1] most likely coming from the Slavic word pole (Cyrillic: поле) meaning "field".

History

Antiquity

The Polog Valley and the surrounding regions belonged to the Illyro-Dardanian cultural sphere of influence. Throughout antiquity, the Polog valley and its main settlements - Oaeneum and Draudacum - were ruled and inhabited by the Illyrian Penestae tribe as well as the Dardanians.[2][3][4] The Polog region served as a border region between the Dardanians and the lands of the Paeonians.[5][6][7][8] In the period of 800–550 BC, the Dardani broke into Pelagonia via Oaeneum (Tetova) and Draudacum (Gostivar) and pushed the Phrygian Bridges there into the northern hills.[8]

During the Roman conquests of the Balkans, the Illyrian king Gentius was allied with the Romans against the Ancient Macedonians in 171 BCE. By 170 BCE, the Illyrians and the Romans, led by Appius Claudius, were on the verge of victory. However, Gentius changed sides in 169 BCE and allied himself with Perseus of Macedon, leading his army to a victory over the Romans in Uskana by way of Oaeneum in the Polog region.[7] In 169 BCE, Oaeneum was conquered by the Romans, whom the Penestae were generally allied with. After the conquest of Uskana, Perseus of Macedon captured Draudacum and Oaeneum, thereby subduing the Polog region temporarily.[7][9] However, by 168 BCE, Gentius and Perseus were both defeated by the Romans and the Polog Valley region became a part of the Roman province of Illyricum.

Roman Period

The Polog region remained within Illyricum until Diocletian's reforms, when it became a part of Epirus Nova in the 4th century AD.[10] Christianity spread to the Polog region during the later period of Roman rule and reached the region relatively early. St Paul preached the Gospel in the region.[11]

Middle Ages

The earliest references to the division of Polog in what is today "lower" and "upper" can be found in the Alexiad written by Anna Komnene when she mentions two Pologs, and the earliest records to the division of Polog into specifically "lower" and "upper" in the 12th century.[12] Serbian medieval sources also make a distinction between a "lower" and "upper" Polog but most commonly they refer to "the two Pologs", the region was put under firm control of the Serbian state in the reign of King Milutin where the first cases of pronoia in the Serbian state were recorded[13] Some of the earliest recorded settlements in Polog are from the 11th century with only one having the rank of city, Gradec, other settlements recorded in the 13th century are Tetovo, Banica/i, Rečica, Lisec, Točil, Leskov- jane, Nerašte, Radeevo. Of these settlements Htetovo would become the central hub of the region, today known as Tetovo. Because of the famous Holy Mother of God monastery in the vicinity the city will experience rapid progress, while the previously larger cities of Gradec and Lešok would stagnate and become villages.[14] The region including the city of Tetovo would remain under the dominance of the Serbs until the arrival of the Ottomans.[15] Between the years 1348–1353, Albanians are mentioned by Serbian Tsar Stefan Dušan as farmers and soldiers in the district of Tetovo within the Polog region.[16] In 1337, Dušan restored the Monastery of St Mary (Lešok Monastery) and gifted the monastery the local Albanian villages in the region, as well as the Nanov Dol highlands. Dušan barred everyone, particularly the Albanians, from grazing the sheep in these highlands.[17]

Ottoman Period

The region was eventually conquered by the Ottoman Empire, but would become a border region between the Ottomans and the Albanian League of Lezhë that was headed by Skanderbeg during Skanderbeg's Rebellion. Skanderbeg and the Albanians would win numerous victories over the Ottoman Turks in the Pollog region, such as the Battle of Polog in 1453 - where a force of 14,000 Ottomans under Ibrahim Pasha was destroyed - or another battle in 1462, when a force of 18,000 Ottomans under Isuf bey were yet again defeated by Skanderbeg and the Albanians.[18][19] Voisava Kastrioti, the mother of Skanderbeg, is believed to be the daughter of a minor lord from the Pollog Valley.[20][21]

Polog and its vicinity including the city of Tetovo would be given to Pasha Yigit after its conquest in 1392 alongside Skopje and would be part of the Kalkendelen kaza which was an affiliated kaza of the Skopje Sandjak.[22]

After the expulsion of up to 70,000 Albanians from the former Sanjak of Nish in 1877–1878, several families of these Albanian Muhaxhirs settled in the Pollog Valley region.[23]

Albanian arrivals from the Upper Reka region in the late Ottoman era began to settle amongst the wider, existent Albanian population of the Pollog Valley; migrants from Upper Reka relocated to the following villages in Upper Pollog: Čegrane, Forino, Korito, Balin Dol, Malo Turčane, Dolna Banjica, Sretkovo, Novo Selo, Rečane, Vrutok, Pečkovo, Zdunje, Vrapčište, Kalište and Gradec. In Lower Pollog, these migrants settled in: Gorno Sedlarce, Rakovec, Žerovjane, Radiovce, Tenovo, Lukovica, Sedlarevo and Gurgurnica.[24]

Modern Period

In 1912–1913, there were 43,230 Albanians living in the Pollog Valley region.[25]

See also

References

  1. ^ Petrovski, Boban (2015). Mediaeval Settlements and Roads in Polog Written records. Студентски сервис - Скопје. Archived from the original on 2022-06-19.
  2. ^ Hammond, Nicholas Geoffrey Lemprière; Griffith, Guy Thompson; Walbank, Frank William (1972). A History of Macedonia: 336-167 B.C. Clarendon Press. p. 470. ISBN 978-0-19-814815-9.
  3. ^ Gieben, J.C. (1991). SEG - Supplementum Epigraphicum Graecum. Sijthoff & Noordhoff. p. 190. ISBN 9789050633567.
  4. ^ Hammond, Nicholas Geoffrey Lemprière (1989). The Macedonian State: Origins, Institutions, and History. Clarendon Press. pp. 78–79. ISBN 978-0-19-814883-8.
  5. ^ Zhiva antika, Volumes 46-47. Društvo za antički studii na SRM. 1997. p. 48.
  6. ^ Smith, William (2012). Dictionary of Greek and Roman geography, Volume 2. p. 457. Retrieved 26 February 2013.
  7. ^ a b c Livy (2012). Rome's Mediterranean Empire : Books 41-45 and the Periochae: Books 41-45. great Clarendon street Oxford ox2 6dp: Oxford University Press. p. 113. ISBN 978-0-19-283340-2.((cite book)): CS1 maint: location (link)
  8. ^ a b Hammond, N. G. L. (1988). A History of Macedonia Volume III: 336-167 B.C. great clarendon street oxford ox2 6dp: oxford university press. ISBN 978-0-19-814815-9. Retrieved 26 February 2013.((cite book)): CS1 maint: location (link)
  9. ^ Pritchett, William Kendrick (2012). The Greek State at War: Part V. Berkeley and Los Angeles, California: University of California Press. p. 437. ISBN 978-0-520-07374-6.
  10. ^ VICKERS, MIRANDA (1988). Between Serb and Albanian A History of Kosovo. Columbia University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-814815-9. Retrieved 26 February 2013.
  11. ^ Schnabel, Sckhard. Paul the Missionary: Realities, Strategies, and Methods. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2008. p. 113.
  12. ^ Petrovski, Boban. Mediaeval Settlements and Roads in Polog - Written records. Retrieved 23 June 2022. However, the earliest clear initial reference to it comes from mid - 12 th century, from the «Alexiad» by the Byzantine author Anna Komnina where she mentions two Pologs ( δ Ý ο Πολόβους ). As early as in the second half of the 12 th century, as well as throughout the 13th and the first half of the 14th centuries we record explicit references to Upper and/or Lower Polog in original written sources ((cite book)): |website= ignored (help)
  13. ^ Koprivica, Marija. "Polog pod srpskom vlašću u srednjem veku, Spomenica akademika Miloša Blagojevića, Beograd 2015, 65-94/ Polog under Serbian Rule in the Middle Ages". Academia Edu. Retrieved 24 June 2022.
  14. ^ Petrovski, Boban. Mediaeval Settlements and Roads in Polog - Written records. Retrieved 23 June 2022. In economic terms, the primacy of the village of Htetovo in the region of Polog is undisputed. Due to the reputation of the famous monastery of the „Holy Mother of God" in Htetovo, a fair was organized there, while written records also speak of the village square. This information, processed with the application of the „Central Place Theory" whose popularity constantly grows, leads us to the perception of Htetovo as the hub of economic life in Polog („Standard Market Towns"), although in the historical period that is the subject of our research this settlement did not have the rank of the city yet./In certain settlements we noted retrograde processes. Two cities became villages (Lešok and Gradec) ((cite book)): |website= ignored (help)
  15. ^ İnbaşı, Mehmet. "HE KAZA OF KALKANDELEN (Tetovo) (1455-1569)". Academia.edu. Retrieved 24 June 2022. During the reign ofStephan Nemanja (l167-1196),the founder of the Serbian State, and his successors, the city of Skopje and Tetovo, its small district stayed under the dominance of Serbs, who existed in Macedonia until the arrival of the Ottomans in the region.
  16. ^ Iseni, Bashkim (25 January 2008). La question nationale en Europe du Sud-Est : genèse, émergence et développement de l'indentité nationale albanaise au Kosovo et en Macédoine. Bern: P. Lang. p. 77. ISBN 978-3039113200.
  17. ^ Iseni, Bashkim (25 January 2008). La question nationale en Europe du Sud-Est : genèse, émergence et développement de l'indentité nationale albanaise au Kosovo et en Macédoine. Bern: P. Lang. p. 77. ISBN 978-3039113200.
  18. ^ Franco p. 329.
  19. ^ Historia e popullit shqiptar, Volume 1. Albania: Botimet Toena. 2002. p. 743. ISBN 9789992716229.
  20. ^ Omari 2014, p. 41
  21. ^ Historia e popullit shqiptar, Volume 1. Albania: Botimet Toena. 2002. p. 426. ISBN 9789992716229.
  22. ^ İnbaşı, Mehmet. "HE KAZA OF KALKANDELEN (Tetovo) (1455-1569)". Academia.edu. Retrieved 24 June 2022. In the tachir made in 1569 after Skopje was granted the status of Sandjak in 1551 Kalkendelen was again recorded as a 'nahiye'. However, it is perceived that Kalkandelen is an affiliated kaza of the Skopje Sandjak
  23. ^ Konferenca shkencore e 100-vjetorit të Lidhjes Shqiptare të Prizrenit: referate dhe kumtesa të mbajtura në Seksionin e Historisë. Prishtina: Akademia e Shkencave dhe e Arteve e Kosovës. 1981. p. 575.
  24. ^ Mirčevska 2007, pp. 53, 280–270.
  25. ^ Lita, Qerim (2007). Naçertania: K. Çërvenkovski dhe identiteti shqiptar në Maqedoni (1945 - 1954). Shkup. p. 362. ISBN 978-9989720710.((cite book)): CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)

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