Kurvelesh (region)

40°14′12″N 19°52′1″E / 40.23667°N 19.86694°E / 40.23667; 19.86694

Nivica Canyon
The canyon of Nivica.
Mountain of Këndrevica
Këndrevica

Kurvelesh is a region in southern Albania, within the Southern Mountain Range.[1] In the region, which is divided into the communes of Brataj, Horë-Vranisht, Kurvelesh and Picar, fifteen villages are located.[2] It is considered to be the heart of the larger Labëria region. The Kurvelesh region is inhabited by Lab Albanians.[3] Traditionally neighbourhoods of local villages in the region had houses built as fortresses lacking windows on the ground floor while the blood feud used to be a common feature of the area.[3] The people of Kurvelesh practised endogamy by intermarrying within the villages of the region.[3]

  1. ^ Geonames. "Kurvelesh region".
  2. ^ Kaser, Karl; Pichler, Robert; Schwandner-Sievers, Stephanie (2002). Die weite Welt und das Dorf: albanische Emigration am Ende des 20. Jahrhunderts (in German). Böhlau Verlag Wien. p. 133. ISBN 9783205994138.
  3. ^ a b c Hammond, Nicholas Geoffrey Lemprière (1967). Epirus: the Geography, the Ancient Remains, the History and Topography of Epirus and Adjacent Areas. Oxford: Clarendon Press. p. 28. ISBN 9780198142539. "by the vendetta, which is very strong in the whole of Kurevelesh... For example the Albanians of the Kurvelesh call themselves a group of the Liaps (Liapidhes in the Greek form) and hold their neighbour in contempt. The intermarry only within the villages of the Kurvelesh; they are all Mohammedan, some families are polygamous, and the houses in the mahaladhes are built as fortresses with no windows on the ground floor."; pp. 216-217. "While this journey through Kurvelesh... The villages are Albanian in speech, and it is rare to find a man who knows Greek."