Reka (region)

Reka (Macedonian: Река, Albanian: Reka) is a geographical region in Macedonia, which encompasses a quadrangle with Albania in the west, the town of Debar and the Mavrovo mountain, and Kičevo in North Macedonia in the east. The region is home to a demographically mixed population of Mijaks (Macedonians; Torbeši or Macedonian Muslims) and Albanians.[1] The sub-regions (ethnographic/geographic regions) of Reka are Mala (Small), Dolna (Lower) and Golema (Large) or Gorna (Upper).[2] The name Reka is Slavic in origin meaning "river".

For the region in Metohija, see Reka (Metohija).

The adjacent Lower Reka region is inhabited by Macedonian Muslims (known as "Torbeši" or "Turks" i.e. Muslims), whereas a minority are Orthodox Macedonians. Small Reka, meanwhile, is inhabited solely by Orthodox Macedonians and the populations of Small and Lower Reka belong to the Slavic ethnographic group of Mijaks, who speak the Macedonian Reka dialect. In Upper Reka, Muslim Albanians have become its remaining population, after the Albanian speaking Orthodox Christians, who in the modern period self identify as Macedonians, migrated from the region.[3][4]

In the west of Reka is the region of Lumë, which extends in both Kosovo and Albania.[5]

References
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Reka.
  1. Dimitar Bechev (13 April 2009). Historical Dictionary of the Republic of Macedonia. Scarecrow Press. pp. 188–. ISBN 978-0-8108-6295-1.
  2. Dimitrije Bužarovski; Rumena Bužarovska (2004). Contemporary Trends in Musicology and Ethnomusicology: Third Struga Conference. University "Sts.Kiril i Metodij", School of music, Institute for research and archiving of music (IRAM). p. 46. ISBN 9789989986598.
  3. Bechev, Dimitar (2009). Historical Dictionary of the Republic of Macedonia. Lanham: Scarecrow Press. p. 188. ISBN 9780810862951. "Several villages in the Upper Reka subregion were, in the past, populated by Orthodox Albanian speakers who have been largely assimilated by the Slavic Macedonians."
  4. Pieroni, Andrea; Rexhepi, Besnik; Nedelcheva, Anely; Hajdari, Avni; Mustafa, Behxhet; Kolosova, Valeria (2013). "One century later: the folk botanical knowledge of the last remaining Albanians of the upper Reka Valley, Mount Korab, Western Macedonia". Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine. 9 (1): 2–3. doi:10.1186/1746-4269-9-22. PMC 3648429. PMID 23578063.
  5. Fejzulla Gjabri (Department of Culture of Albania), Information about the Heroic Epos in the Province of Luma
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