Mat (Albanian definite form : Mati) is a region in north-central Albania, referring to the valley of the Mat river and its surrounding mountains.
Mat (Albanian definite form : Mati) is a region in north-central Albania, referring to the valley of the Mat river and its surrounding mountains.
The Albanian term mat, meaning "height", "beach", "bank/shore" in Northern Albanian and "beach", "shore" in Arbëresh, is inherited from Proto-Albanian *mata < *mn̥-ti "height" (cf. Latin mŏns "mountain"), [1] [2] after which the river Mat and the region with the same name in north-central Albania was named, which can be explained as "mountain river". The meaning "bank/shore" hence would have emerged only at a later time (cf. German : Berg "mountain" in relation to Slavic *bergъ "bank/shore"). [1]
The river name was attested for the first time in Latin as "Mathis" by the 4th/5th century writer Vibius Sequester. [1] The name is also seen as:
Archeological research has demonstrated that the region has been populated since the paleolithic era. In antiquity the region was inhabited by various Illyrian populations including the Pirustae. Following the Illyro-Roman Wars in the second century BC, the region came under Roman control. Historical linguistic considerations suggest that Mat and the surrounding regions, including Mirdita, have been among the oldest settlements of the Albanians after their ethnogenesis, which is considered to have been completed between the 2nd and the 5th–6th centuries AD. [8]
In the 14th century, the region was part of the medieval Principality of Albania. In an act of Robert, King of Naples, Tanusio Thopia was mentioned as Count of Mat (conte di Matia) in 1338, [9] a title which would also be held by his successors.
In the 15th century, the Kastrioti family controlled most of the territory. Gjon Kastrioti and his son Skanderbeg held the title Lord of Mat (Aemathiae Princeps). The region also played an important role during Skanderbeg's rebellion.
According to a 1918 census carried out by the Austro-Hungarians, Mat at the time consisted of 3,986 households and 23,643 total individuals.
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Mati is also regarded as one of the tribes of Albania, however not in the sense of a fis , with blood ties and a common history and single male ancestor. [10] Nonetheless, the region has a strong collective identity and formed its own military unit in war (bajrak). The basin of the Mat river consists of rolling hills surrounded by mountains that have long protected the inhabitants. Because it was so isolated, the German historian Georg Stadtmüller (1901–85) postulated that the Albanian people could be traced to this specific region. [11] Mat has been inhabited since at least the Bronze Age, but no urban areas had developed there until the modest town of Burrel in the mid-20th century.
In the 19th century, the Mat region was inhabited by four different clans headed by one or more families, each a primus inter pares in the region: the Bozhiqi in the upper valley, the Çelaj to the south, the Olomani or Alamani, and the Zogolli in the north. [12]
In the 20th century Mat was the home of Ahmet bey Zogolli (1895–1961), also known as Ahmet Zogu, who ruled Albania 1924–1939, mostly as King Zog. He had become head of the Zogolli when his father, Xhemal Pasha Zogolli (1860–1911) died. [13] [14]
Burrel is a town in northern Albania, 91 km from Tirana. At the 2015 local government reform it became a subdivision and the seat of the municipality Mat. It was the seat of the former District of Mat. The population at the 2011 census was 10,862.
Mat District was one of the 36 districts of Albania, which were dissolved in July 2000 and replaced by 12 newly created counties. It had a population of 61,906 in 2001, and an area of 1,028 km2 (397 sq mi). It was named after the river Mat, which flows through the district. Its capital was the town of Burrel. Its territory is now part of Dibër County: the municipalities of Mat and Klos.
Dibër County is one of the 12 counties of the Republic of Albania, spanning a surface area of 2,586 square kilometres (998 sq mi) with the capital in Peshkopi. The county borders on the counties of Durrës, Elbasan, Kukës, Lezhë, Tirana and the country of North Macedonia. It is divided into the four municipalities of Bulqizë, Dibër, Klos and Mat. The municipalities are further subdivided into 290 towns and villages in total.
The Mat is a river in north-central Albania. Its overall length is 115 km (71 mi), while its catchment surface is 2,441 km2 (942 sq mi). Its average discharge is 103 m3/s (3,600 cu ft/s). The main tributary is Fan, flowing from the northeast, while the Mat flows from the southwest down to the confluence with Fan and then towards the Adriatic Sea.
Mirdita is a region of northern Albania whose territory is synonymous with the historic Albanian tribe of the same name. The region is notable for having the highest number of Christians in Albania, having maintained resistance against Ottoman rule from the 15th century until Albania gained independence.
Dedë Gjon Luli Dedvukaj also referred to as Ded Gjo Luli and Deda was an Albanian guerrilla leader most notable for commanding the 1911 revolt against Ottoman troops. He was posthumously awarded the "Hero of Albania" title. Dedvukaj was the clan chieftain of the Hoti tribe.
Kelmendi is a historical Albanian tribe (fis) and region in Malësia and eastern Montenegro. It is located in the upper valley of the Cem river and its tributaries in the Accursed Mountains range of the Dinaric Alps. The Vermosh river springs in the village of the same name, which is Albania's northernmost village. Vermosh pours into Lake Plav.
The Principality of Albania was an Albanian principality ruled by the Albanian dynasty of Thopia. One of the first notable rulers was Tanusio Thopia, who was Count of Mat since 1328. The principality changed hands between the Thopia dynasty and the Balsha dynasty, twice before 1392, when Durrës was annexed by the Republic of Venice.
The Glasinac-Mati culture is an archaeological culture, which first developed during the Late Bronze Age and Early Iron Age in the western Balkan Peninsula in an area which encompassed much of modern Albania to the south, Kosovo to the east, Montenegro, southeastern Bosnia and Herzegovina and parts of western Serbia to the north. It is named after the Glasinac and Mati type site areas, located in Bosnia-Herzegovina and Albania respectively.
The Muzaka were a noble Albanian family that ruled over the region of Myzeqe in the Late Middle Ages. The Muzaka are also referred to by some authors as a tribe or a clan. The earliest historical document that mentions the Muzaka family is written by the Byzantine historian Anna Komnene. At the end of the 13th and beginning of the 14th century members of the Muzaka family controlled a region between the rivers of Devoll and Vjosë. Some of them were loyal to the Byzantine Empire while some of them allied with Charles of Anjou who gave them impressive Byzantine-like titles in order to subdue them more easily. During a short period, Serbian Emperor Stefan Dušan occupied Albania including domains of Muzaka family but after Dušan's death they regained their former possessions. After the Battle of Savra in 1385 the territory of Albania came under the Ottoman Empire; they served the Ottomans until 1444 when Theodor Corona Musachi joined Skanderbeg's rebellion. When the Ottomans suppressed Skanderbeg's rebellion and captured the territory of Venetian Albania in the 15th century many members of the Muzaka family retreated to Italy. Those who stayed in Ottoman Albania lost their feudal rights, some converted to Islam and achieved high ranks in the Ottoman military and administrative hierarchy.
Kostandin Kastrioti Mazreku was an Albanian regional ruler in parts of the wider Mat and Dibër areas. He is the first Kastrioti to be known by his full name and the progenitor of all members of the family. His son was Pal Kastrioti, grandfather of the Albanian national hero, Skanderbeg.
The Sanjak of Dibra, Debar, or Dibër was one of the sanjaks of the Ottoman Empire. Its capital was Debar, Macedonia. Today, the western part of its territory belongs to Albania and the eastern part to North Macedonia.
The Thopia were one of the most powerful Albanian feudal families in the Late Middle Ages, part of the nobility of the Angevin Kingdom of Albania.
Lumë is a region that extends itself in northeastern Albania and southwest Kosovo whose territory is synonymous with the historic Albanian tribe (fis) of the same name. It includes the village with the same name, Lumë, which is located in Albania. Luma is surrounded by Has region, Fan and Orosh (west), Reçi and M’Ujë e m’Uja, Upper Reka, Gora (east), Opoja and Vërrini of Prizren. The region itself also includes the small Arrëni tribe in the west and the Morina tribe in the east.
Matija Mazarek or Matija Masarek was an 18th-century Catholic priest. In the second half of the 18th century he was the archbishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Skopje. His reports to the Vatican are an important source for demography study of his diocese.
Gashi is an Albanian surname and the name of one of the major historical tribes of northern Albania. It is a historical tribal region situated in the Highlands of Gjakova. The Gashi tribe is known to follow the Kanuni i Malësisë së Madhe, a variant of the Kanun. They were known among the mountain tribes for their wisdom.
Mat is a municipality in Dibër County, northern Albania. It was created in 2015 by the merger of the present municipalities Baz, Burrel, Derjan, Komsi, Lis, Macukull, Rukaj and Ulëz. The seat of the municipality is the town Burrel. The total population is 27,600, in a total area of 493.81 km2.
The Albanian revolt of 1845, known Revolt of 1845 between Albanians was one of the 19th-century uprisings in Ottoman Albania directed against the Ottoman Tanzimat reforms.
Pult or Pulat, is a region in northern Albania. It is bordered by the Malësia Region to its north and by the Dukagjin Highlands to its east and its south. The region has traditionally been inhabited by the Plani, Kiri, Suma, Xhani, Drishti and Rrjolli tribes. The Pult region is situated on the Kir river and extends beyond Drisht to Prekal.
The Committee of the Mountains, also the National Committee of the Mountains was an Albanian anti-communist underground organization active in the northern Mirdita region in the second half of the 1940s. Created on the basis of the Mirdita clan of Markagjoni. It advocated for Albanian nationalism, traditional values and right-wing ideologies. The Committee led an armed struggle against the ruling Communist Party of Albania, and committed a number of attacks, assaults against the Communist state.