Myzeqe

The level Myzeqeja ( Albanian: Myzeqe; Aromuni Muzachia; Italian Musacchia ) responsible for large parts of Central Albania one. Located on the Adriatic coast country was mainly marshland until a few decades ago. After the Second World War began melioration. Today, the area is used for agriculture especially.

Origin of the name

Before the 13th century, the level Savra was called. From the 13th to the 15th century, the level of the feudal Muzakaj that gave her the name belonged.

Geography

The Myseqeja forms a triangle of about 1350 square kilometers between the towns of Vlora and Elbasan in the south to the east and the mouth of the river Shkumbin in the northwest. The river forms the northern boundary. In the west the plain is bounded by the Adriatic Sea. In the east, the landscape turns into the hills of Mallakastra and southern Albanian mountains.

The Myzeqeja is a good part of alluvium. In addition to the Shkumbin Seman and Vjosa by dragging the layer. Along the coastal lagoons as Karavasta and Narta in Vlora ( around 100 square kilometers of the total area ). The surface rarely rises more than 20 meters above sea level. A chain of hills runs through the level from south to north at a distance of about ten to 20 kilometers to the sea, the highest point is 235 m above sea level. A.. Myzeqe The hills stretch over some 300 square kilometers.

The southernmost part between Vlora and Vjosa is called Myzeqeja e Vlores. To the north, extending to the Seman the Small Myzeqeja, also Myzeqeja e Fierit. The areas north of Seman are considered Large Myzeqeja or Myzeqeja e Lushnjës.

History

Antiquity

The founders of the city of Apollonia called the great plain Gylakion pedion, after Gylax, who had led the first settlers into this area.

In ancient times, the area was marshy and not suitable for agriculture. The region was one of the granaries of the Roman Empire. About the Greek colonies of Apollonia and Dyrrachium the grain was exported.

The Via Egnatia, the Roman military road that connected the Adriatic Sea with Konstantin Opel, led by the Myzeqeja level. The northern route from Durres followed the Shkumbin, while the southern route of Apollonia ran right through the level.

In late antiquity, the rivers of Myseqeja change course, which led to the silting up of the port of Apollonia among others. The silting up of the region began.

Medieval and modern times

With the decline of Byzantine rule local nobles could soar to rulers in the Myseqeja in the late Middle Ages. The farmers had to pay high taxes. The country 's population lived in very primitive simplest mud huts. The people suffered from poverty and malaria, as about three-quarters of the marshland region and was muddy. After the occupation of Albania by the Ottomans in the country went into the hands of Muslim landowners.

Only a few small settlements and roads were to be found at the edges of the plane: the modern city Lushnja developed only in the second half of the 20th century, the small towns Peqin and Rrogozhina lay on the northern edge on the other side of the Shkumbin, the monasteries of Ardenica and Apollonia were on the highest points of the hill. The market town of Fier was the only major town in the plane. But even there, lived less than 2,000 people before the draining of the marshes.

The wandering Aromanians used the region as a winter pasture. Even today they are established in some villages of the area.

20th century and the present

While the Italians had drained some swamps in Albania before the Second World War, these works were promoted in the Myzeqe until the 1950s. The completion of melioration was in the 1970s. The communist Albania had created numerous drainage canals and pumping stations one of the most fertile regions of the country. This was made possible thanks to the support of the Soviet Union, but also by the use of forced labor. In the new country, among other refugees from Kosovo and CAMs were settled. There also many families of political opponents were exiled here.

The Myzeqe is now densely populated. Places like Fier, Lushnja, Patos and Kuçova were cities where also developed industry. In the southeast of Myzeqe petroleum and natural gas are encouraged; Patos and Kuçova are centers of Albanian oil industry. Also, roads and railway lines were built in the communist era.

Since the draining of the marshes malaria in Albania is eradicated.

Floods in 2012/13

In the winter of 2012/13 there were in many parts of the plane after prolonged rains nationwide flooding, because the duct system after the end of communism no longer repair has been set. Also, Fier, Berat and Durres were überwschwemmt. Hundreds of buildings and dozens of shops were damaged by the water. Many families were cut off for several days by the outside world. In the cities failed sewage system and the power went out. In the Fier Gjanica burst its banks.