Kurvelesh (region)

[3] Traditionally neighbourhoods of local villages in the region had houses built as fortresses lacking windows on the ground floor while the blood feud used to be a common feature of the area.

[3] An old folk etymology recorded by Evliya Çelebi in his “Travelling through southern Albania in 1670” is that an Arab sheik called Jabal-i Alhama migrated to the region and named it Quryelesh (Kurvelesh) mountains, meaning Qurayshi as he was from this tribe and his followers who came with him.

It has been suggested that a reason to resist the establishment of the Ottoman rule seems to have been the attempt of the Ottomans to introduce a centralised administration, which was in contrast to the strong tribal loyalties and local interests that were deep rooted in the mountains of the region, because they have never been incorporated into a feudal system or ruled by a central government.

[9] At the beginning of the 19th century the Ottoman Albanian ruler of the Pashalik of Yanina, Ali Pasha, reached an agreement with the Kurveleshi population, not to trespass their territories, which at that time were larger than the area they inhabit today.

[12] In Nowruz or in the Albanian Spring Day (Dita e Verës) in some villages of Kurvelesh, people used to address rainmaking prayers to the deity for plants and cattle.