Gora (region)
Gora (Cyrillic: Гора; Albanian: Gorë) is a geographical region in southern Kosovo and northeastern Albania, primarily inhabited by the Gorani people. Due to geopolitical circumstances, some of the local Gorani people have over time also self declared themselves as Albanians, Macedonians, Bosniaks, Bulgarians, Serbs, Turks and Muslims by ethnicity.
Gora
Гора | |
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Geographical and historical region | |
Gora (green) and adjacent area in Polog (yellow) that is culturally and linguistically associated with the core region | |
Countries | |
Area | |
• Estimate | 500 km2 (200 sq mi) |
Population | |
• Estimate (2011) | 40,000 |
• Density | 80/km2 (200/sq mi) |
Gorani inhabited settlements in Albania and Kosovo are synonymous with the geographical outline of Gora as a region. Between 1992 and 1999, the Gora region in Kosovo was designated as a municipality, and its population was 17,574 people according to the 1991 census. Today in Kosovo, the region is part of Dragash municipality that includes the Albanian inhabited Opoja region. In Albania, the Gora region is located in Kukës County and parts of it are subdivided in the Shishtavec and Zapod territorial units. Nearby, two Gorani settlements geographically located in the Polog region of North Macedonia are ethnographically and linguistically associated with the Gora region.
Gora is bordered to the west and northwest by the region of Lumë, which is mostly within Albania and a small portion in Kosovo. In the northeast it is bordered by the regions of Opoja, to the east by Polog and to the south by Upper Reka.