Upper Reka

41°45′N 20°39′E / 41.750°N 20.650°E / 41.750; 20.650

Extent of Upper Reka in the northwest part of North Macedonia, near the Kosovo and Albania borders

Upper Reka (Macedonian: Горна Река, romanized: Gorna Reka; Albanian: Reka e Epërme) is a geographic area and ethnographic subregion of the broader Reka region of western North Macedonia, including settlements within the upper left portion of the Municipality of Mavrovo and Rostuša and of Gostivar Municipality. The region historically is home to both a Muslim Albanian community and Christian Orthodox Albanian speaking population.[1][2] In the modern period, Orthodox Upper Rekans self identify as Macedonians,[3] and due to their migration from Upper Reka, the remaining population by 2010s are Muslim Albanian Upper Rekans.[2] Upper Reka is a mountainous and rugged region with animal grazing and highland pastures. In contemporary times, the largest inhabited settlement is the village of Vrbjani.[4] Upper Reka is an isolated and underdeveloped region with limited communication links, whereby access and travel becomes difficult during the snowy winter months.[5]

Historically Upper Reka inhabitants mainly engaged with agricultural and farming activities of which some of the remaining population continues to do.[6] The region has experienced much depopulation over time due to seasonal or permanent migration to nearby regions and abroad in search of employment and better living standards.[7] In the 14th century Upper Reka was part of the Lordship of Prilep, of the Mrnjavčević family, until 1395, when its territory was subjugated to Bayezid I of the Ottoman Empire under which it remained until the Balkan Wars of 1912-1913. Thereafter it became part of Kingdom of Serbia, the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, and eventually part of North Macedonia.

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