Mallakastër District
The circle Mallakastra (Albanian: Rrethi i Mallakastrës ) is one of the 36 administrative districts of Albania. Capital of the district is Ballsh. The county is part of the Qark Fier and has 25,062 inhabitants. The population is mostly Muslim, but of which more than half is the Bektashi attributed. With an area of 388 km ² it is Albania's fourth- smallest circle.
The area Mallakastra, from which the name of the district derives, means the south of the plane of the Myzeqe subsequent hills between Berat and Vlora. But few elevations exceed 500 m asl The highest point is the Maja e Shëndëllise 712 m asl Flat is the landscape to the west and north: The southwestern border of the circle formed by the Vjosa that shaped a wide valley here. To the north, the hills run out in the Myzeqe level.
Mallakastra located south of Fier on the main through road to southern Albania, which leads over Ballsh after Tepelenë, Gjirokastra and the Greek border. The Mallakastra is the center of oil production in Albania. Numerous oil pumps, but also polluted waters, destroyed landscape and filthy air evidence of this industry and the fact that environmental protection has little importance is attached to. Ballsh is the site of a refinery and the end of the railway line from Fier.
Although now more border region, the circle Mallakastra has a rich history. In Ballsh there is an early Christian church. A few kilometers south of Ballsh is the important Illyrian city Byllis.