Settlement of Albanians in Macedonia
Historical testimonies suggest that the first Albanians in Macedonia began to move more intensively only after the mid-18th century.
According to the Ottoman census from 1430 to 1431, there were no Albanians in Macedonia at all. Since the mid-15th century, with the Islamisation of Albanians, they have begun to come to Macedonia as Turkish soldiers and mercenaries, but still in very minor numbers. The Ottoman census of 1452–1453 recorded only 32 Albanian families on the territory of all of Macedonia, 31 families in the Kalkandelen Province (Polog) and 1 Catholic family in Skopje.
These Albanians were already islamized for the most part and labelled ottoman authorities as ARNAUTI or ARBANASI, in order to distinguish themselves from the indigenous one. In the census notebooks, the Ottomans added "Arbanas" or "Arnaut" to distinguish them from the natives, for whom there were no adjectives to the people.
The Ottoman census of 1467–1468 recorded only 84 Albanian households on the territory of all of Macedonia in the following provinces:
Census 1467-1468
Calkandelen Province (Polog) 20 households
Uskup Province (Skopje) 2 households
Pirlepe Province (Prilep) 10 households
Ciprjuli Province (Veles) 3 households
Nahya Krchovo (Kicevo) 7 households
Nahia Mariovo 1 household
Nahia Monastery (Bitola) 41 household
Source: TDIMN. Opd, item III, 35–143 (Calkandelen Province), 150; TDIMN. Opd, item I, 197–199; TDIMN. Opd, item II, 139–271 (Nahya Monastery), 271–485
First six Albanian villages in Macedonia
Albanians came to Macedonia's borders in 1572. Frenchman Philippe Canaje described Kacanik's seizure by several as he personally wrote "Albanian groups of murderers and thugs" in 1572.
(Френски пътеписи за Балканите, p.140).
In 1595, for the first time in history, an Albanian thug gang was spotted looting several villages in Polog, and many villagers were wounded and killed.
(J. Trifunoski, Polog, p. 38).
According to a 1597 Ottoman document, about 10,000 Albanian robbers from northern Albania robbed and burned 27 villages in western Macedonia, and in 6 of those villages, in the Debar area, the first Albanians settled in Macedonia
(Shopova, D. Cit. s.c., 83).
So the first settlement of Albanians in a Macedonian village dates back 3 years before the beginning of the 17th century and was in the Debar area.
Albanian settlement in Skopje area
An Ottoman document from 1595 first noted the presence of "Arnaut thug groups" in the Skopje area, but without Albanian settlement.
(Shopova, D. Cit. suc., 78-79)
Albanians began gradually conquering the high mountainous Macedonian villages of Skopje Montenegro (Skopska Crna Gora) only in the late 17th century.
(Materials, 536. / "ARNAUTI" Vasil Kanchov, "Macedonia. Ethnography and statistics" (with 11 cards), Issued by the Bulgarian Literary Society in Sofia, 1900, Part One. Peoples in Macedonia. Arnauti., p. 1. 83-100).
Albanians first occupied the highest Macedonian villages in Skopje's Montenegro and then gradually descended on the low villages. The village of Brest until the 19th century was a pure Macedonian village, Albanians entered Ljuboten in the late 18th century.
(Vasil Kanchov, "Macedonia. Ethnography and statistics", Part One.Peoples in Macedonia. Arnauti., p. 1. 83-100).
German traveller Hahn visited the Albanian villages of Skopje Montenegro in the second half of the 19th century and Albanians themselves reported that they had moved to Skopje's northern mountains after the Austrian wars, which was the end of the 17th century.
(Hahn, Reise von Belgrad nach Salonik, Wien, 1868 p. 70).
By the 20th century, Albanians settled on Kitka and Black Peak in 21 Macedonian villages. They came from Kosovo during the 18th and 19th centuries, and the inhabitants of Aldinci knew that their ancestors came to Aldinci from Gjilane.
(Materials, p. 1. 523. / Vasil Kanchov, "Macedonia. Ethnography and statistics", Part One. Peoples in Macedonia. Arnauti., p. 1. 83-100).
In the Skopje field, the first Albanians descended only in the 19th century, during the management of Hamzi Pasha, an Albanian who phased in Albanians from northern Albania.
(J. Trifunoski, Skopje Polje, 358).
Albanian settlement of Polog
The beginning of Albanian settlement, i.e. the capture of Polog, began in the mid-18th century. However, they were a very small minority group in Polog at the time, until the first half of the 19th century, when Polo was ruled by Albanian Abduraman Pasha, who violently and massly inhabited Albanians from northern Albania.
(J. Trifunoski, Polog, s. 71-74)
A large part of Polog's indigenous Macedonian population was forced to be declared as Albanian, entire tribes were forcibly converted and declared Albanian, as were many women and girls under pressure from Tetovo Albanian Pashas and their zulum.
(J. Trifunoski, Polog, pp. 38-39, 50-51)
The same is the case with Kichevo area, where the majority of those Albanians are actually of Macedonian origin. Therefore, we can say that Albanians in Macedonia are Macedonian brothers.
Albanians from the village of Tearce were inhabited by Tetovo Pasha, from Mat, Dolen Debar and Prizren; Albanians from the province of Dobrošte came from Debar and Šuma. In the province of Deep, the province of Straza and the province of Cultino, Albanians originate from Dukachin Šuma. In the last village, Abdurrahman Pasha in the early 19th century expelled Macedonians and settled Albanians (Materials (Sofia), 437, 439, 446–447).
But it is spoken all over! Albanian diaspora.
