Devoll
Municipality
Center of Bilisht
Flag Emblem
Devoll
Coordinates:40°37′16″N20°59′17″E / 40.62111°N 20.98806°E /40.62111; 20.98806
Country	Albania
County	Korçë
Seat	Bilisht
Government
• Mayor	Eduard Duro (PS)
Area
• Municipality	453.27 km2 (175.01 sq mi)
Population  (2011)
• Municipality	26,716
• Municipality density	59/km2 (150/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC+1 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+2 (CEST)
Postal Code	7006
Area Code	(0)811
Website	bashkiadevoll.gov.al

Devoll (Albanian:[ˈdɛˈvɔɫ];Albaniandefinite form:Devolli) is amunicipality inKorçë County, southeasternAlbania. The municipality consists of the administrative units ofHoçisht,Miras,Progër andQendër Bilisht withBilisht constituting its seat.^[1][2][3] As of theInstitute of Statistics estimate from the 2011 census, there were 26.716 in Devoll Municipality.^[1][4] It derives its name from theDevoll River flowing through the valley. The border pointKapshticë/Krystallopigi connects Devoll with theGreek regional units ofFlorina andKastoria to the east and southeast. Devoll borders the municipalities ofKolonjë to the southwest,Korçë to the west,Maliq to the northwest andPustec to the north. The area of the municipality is 453.27 km² (175.01 sq mi).^[1][5]

Excavations at Tren cave unearthedMycenaean Greek pottery of theLate Bronze Age. This appears to be of possible local manufacture.^[6]

The medieval eraDevol fortress, then known as Deabolis (Greek: Δέαβολις), was the location where theTreaty of Devol betweenBohemond I of Antioch and Byzantine EmperorAlexios I Komnenos was signed in 1108. Its site became forgotten in modern times, however it has been tentatively identified with the siteZvezdë^[7] (located at40°43′N020°51′E / 40.717°N 20.850°E /40.717; 20.850^[8]), a conjecture already proposed by the 19th century British travellerWilliam Martin Leake in 1835.^[9] Devol fortress was reconquered by theBulgarian Empire in the beginning of the 13th century, but taken back by the Byzantines in 1259.^[10] The fortress continued to play an important role until the 14th century. Its site became forgotten in modern times.

In a text byEmperor John VI Kantakouzenos (r. 1347-1354) whose 'History' covers the years 1320-1356, there is mention of localAlbanians; “While the emperor was spending about eight days in Achrida (Ohrid), the Albanian nomads living in the region of Deabolis (Devoll) appeared before him, as well as those from Koloneia (Kolonja) and those from the vicinity of Ohrid.” This meeting was estimated to have taken place at around February 1328.^[11]

During theWorld War I, theGreek army burned several Muslim villages in the region, including Sinicë (Miras).^[12] In the events of 1914, one of those killed by the Greek troops was Bektashi Baba Hafiz of thetekke ofKuç.^[13] His bloodstainedritual cap was portrayed as a symbol in the tekke for many years after his death.^[13]

The chapel in the Blashtonjë cave on the edge of theSmall Prespa Lake dates to the 13th century AD. The cave paintings are the oldest artworks which have been found in Albania and theicons in the chapel are among the oldest of their kind in the country.

In late Ottoman times and early Independence era, much of the Christian population emigrated abroad and then returned, and later a part of the Muslim population did the same.

Before theWorld War II, the Devoll valley was an autonomous district. In the Communist period, it belonged to the Korçë region, which it was separated from in 1990 as part of the reform of administrative divisions. In the territorial reforms of 2015, the municipalities of Devoll region were transformed into the new municipality of Devoll, which was placed withinKorçë County.

Today, there is again mass emigration, although this time the local Muslim population is emigrating in larger numbers and higher proportions than the Christian population, a reverse of the "Kurbet" of the previous century.

Devoll is located in the southeast of Albania. The border settlementKapshticë is not far from the easternmost point in Albania. The entire eastern and southern borders of the municipality are also the national border withGreece. On the western and northern sides, the municipality neighboursKolonjë,Korçë,Maliq andPustec.

The municipality is located in the upper reaches of theDevoll river, which originates in the southwestern part of the area. Bilisht is located at around 900 m above sea level on a plain which is surrounded on all sides by mountains. The bordertown of Kapshticë is located at a height of 1048 mmountain pass. The western border is formed by the Malet e Moravës mountain range, whose highest mountain is the 1806 m high Maja e Lartë. The city of Korçë lies on the other side of this mountain range. There are only three passes through these mountains. In the northwest, the Devoll flows through a narrow canyon into the Plain of Korçë. In the northeast a long arm of theSmall Prespa Lake stretches almost all the way to the Plain of Bilisht. In the southeast, the plain breaks off here and there almost imperceptibly into the Kore river valley, which cuts through the mountains here. This river, which is a tributary of theHaliacmon, makes a detour through Albanian territory of about 5 km (3.1 mi). The few square kilometres of its drainage basin located in Albania are the only part of Albania which drains into theAegean Sea rather than theAdriatic orIonian Seas.

The Plain of Bilisht has been made fertile by means of numerous irrigation canals. As a result of heavy rainfall and spring snow melt, the water flows out of the Small Prespa Lake through a natural outlet, into the Devoll and then directly into the Adriatic. From the 1950s, until around 2000, the Devoll was redirected into the Small Prespa Lake during floods. The excess water was used to irrigate the Korçë Plain.

In the mountains east of Bilisht, along the Greek border, there are richnickel deposits, concentrated in two main deposits, at Verniku and Kapshtica West.^[14]

The population is overwhelmingly ethnically Albanian, with the majority of Albanians there having been Muslim at the end of the Ottoman era, while a minority of the Albanians, especially those that resided especially in high altitude areas, remainedOrthodox Christian. The Albanian Christian population lives mostly in the upper valley of the Devoll river, in the town ofHoçisht,^[15] inBilisht and in the village of Tren, and insist on being called only Albanian and not Greek.^[16]

In the region there are small numbers of Aromanians with further numbers ofGreeks.^[17] Post-communism, a part of the original Albanian Muslim population has converted to Orthodoxy as part of emigration to Greece.^[18]

There are alsoRoma present as well asMacedonians in the village ofVërnik. The Slavic-speakers of Vernik identify as Aegean Macedonians and refuse any Bulgarian or other identity. The Roma are mainly Muslim while the Macedonians are Orthodox Christians. In modern times, among the Albanian population, there has been extensive intermarriage between the Muslim and Christian populations, with the result being that many of the ethnically Albanian youth in the area identity with both traditions, as "half-Muslim, half-Christian". Like elsewhere in Albania, actual religious observance is typically lax although due toOttoman history even among some non-practicers, religious identity may still plays a role in social relations, being more significant among the older generations.

The Albanian population speaks with aTosk dialect, while the Macedonian population speaks theKostur dialect. The entire Slavic-speaking Macedonian population is also bilingual in Albanian nowadays.^[19]

The border settlement of Kapshticë is among the most important routes from Albania into Greece. As a result, the whole region, which is isolated from the rest of Albania, is heavily dedicated to border trade with Greece. Despite being a primarily agricultural area a large service industry has developed around the border trade. In particular, many young men of this area worked in Greece in the 1990s, mostly illegally, in order to escape the poverty at home. Subsequently, it often happened that their families have joined them.

Mayors who have served since theAlbanian Declaration of Independence of 1912:^[20]

• bashkiadevoll.gov.al – Official Website(in Albanian)

• Devoll (municipality)
• Albanian ethnographic regions
• Municipalities in Korçë County

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