Pogradec District
The circle Pogradec (Albanian: Rrethi i Pogradecit ) is one of the 36 administrative districts of Albania. The county has an area of 725 km ². It lies in the east of the country and is part of the Qark Korçë. It is named after the main town of Pogradec. Around ten percent of the population of around 61 530 inhabitants ( 2011) belong to the Macedonian or the Aromanian minority. More than half of the population considers itself to the Muslim faith ( Sunni and Bektashi ), the rest is orthodox or without faith.
Geography
The circle Pogradec occupies the approximately 30 km long Albanian shore of Lake Ohrid, the Albania shares with Macedonia. At the south end of the lake is Pogradec, behind which extends a small plane in which the population has risen sharply in recent decades. The community Buçimas that surrounds Pogradec, today 15,701 inhabitants. North and east of this plain surrounded sizable mountains the lake, which is 695 meters above sea level. The mountains reach heights of 1500 meters on a regular basis, in the south-east of Mali i Thate rises even at 2287 meters. The district boundaries generally end already on the crests of the mountains surrounding the lake. Just west of Pogradec closes the border even the next valley one - the widely ramified headwaters of Shkumbin. On the south-west of the district rises in the Mokra Mountains the highest point of the circle: the 2373 meter high Mali e Vallamarës.
In Pogradec circle time in numerous places nickel, lignite and chromium was reduced to a communist. Of great importance was particularly the mine Gur i KUQ ( Red Stone ) three kilometers north of Pogradec, one of the most important iron - nickel deposits in Europe. The work in the mines were set in 1994. The production facilities were no longer profitable for the international market with the opening of Albania. All that remains are 350,000 tons of slag heaps, the industrial ruins on the hillside and the former Bahnverladestation for the processed ore directly on the lakeshore. Among the derived heavy metal waste water in the lake 's ecosystem is still suffering.
The degradation of the environment is a big issue in Pogradec. International projects try to halt by the construction of wastewater treatment plants of the pollution of the lake stop. The overfishing is a problem. The endemic Ohrid trout ( Salmo letnica; Macedonian: Ohridska Pastrmka; Albanian: Koran English: Ohrid Trout ), a popular food fish, is threatened.
History
Located in the village of Lin, on the Roman highway Via Egnatia, remains have been found from the Roman period. The name goes back to a Serbian Pogradec Castle. At the same place but the Illyrians had already built a fortress. Another attraction from Illyrian times are the Royal Tombs of Selca e Poshtme from the 4th century BC. Not far away is the Golik Bridge, one built by the Ottomans in the 17th century bridge over the River Shkumbin.
1924 lost the District of Pogradec, Albania and a small piece of land. Ahmet Zogu, then Prime Minister of Albania, left the monastery, right on the border of the Holy Evangelist Naum Yugoslavia. He had previously received from the government in Belgrade money to be able to set a mercenary force can, by means of which he drove his political opponents from the capital Tirana and took power in the country.
Economy
Pogradec has always been a seaside resort. Especially with the communist rulers is not quite as hot in the summer air Ostalbaniens was popular. To the east of Pogradec was a whole stretch of beach of the nomenklatura of Enver Hoxha reserved.
Summer tourism gradually revived. Along the lakeshore, especially in the small village Tushemisht, five kilometers from Pogradec to the Macedonian border, some hotels and restaurants have emerged.
Traffic
Until the mine Gur i KUQ a railway line was built in the communist era, reaching the circle of from Shkumbin Valley by Albania's second longest tunnel. The Albanian Railways HSH operate the route still once a day. At few kilometers from the railway station in Gur i KUQ after Pogradec buses.
The road (SH 3) of Elbasan in central Albania to the pass Qafë Thana at the county boundary to the west of Lin is well developed. It is the Pan-European Transport Corridor VIII Also the continuation of the road about Pogradec to Korca is expanded. Thanks to the two border crossings with Macedonia at Lin and Tushemisht east of Pogradec, the region is also very well connected with other countries.