Bulqizë District
The circle Bulqiza (Albanian: Rrethi i Bulqizës ) is one of the 36 administrative districts of Albania. The circle with an area of 718 km ² belongs to Qark Dibra. It has 31,210 inhabitants ( 2011). It was named after the main town circle Bulqiza.
Geography
The area of the circle consists essentially of two left-hand side valleys of the Drin southwest of Dibra. The eastern border is also the country's border with Macedonia, which is in parts formed by the Drin. In this field with the name Golloborda are also some villages inhabited by Macedonians.
The landscape is dominated mostly mountainous. From Drin shore to about 450 m, the mountains rise to over 2,000 m. Most residents live in the Drin Valley and in the mining town Bulqiza.
Since the last local government reform in the community Martanesh belongs to the mining town Krasta at the southern end of the Mat Valley to the circle Bulqiza. This mountain region, where the river Mat has its source, is famous for its red breed of goat. In contrast, part of the municipality Stërbleva, formerly southernmost municipality in the district, now the circle Librazhd.
Population
About five to ten percent of the population in the county are Macedonians. More than half of the inhabitants profess the Muslim community of the Bektashi.
Economy
In the mines of Bulqiza and Krasta nickel is still mined. The mine of Bulqiza to be the largest in the country, but employs only a fraction of the workforce at the time of communism. In other places, the inhabitants live almost exclusively on agriculture.
Bulqiza and some villages in the north of the district are located on the main road from the coastal plain by Peshkopi. The remaining areas, however, are very remote and hard to reach. In winter, many roads are snowy and impassable. The national road that crosses a few kilometers west of the pass Bulqiza Qafa e Buallit ( 837 m) is always impassable.