The springs are located on the eastern slope of the Jablanica mountain range which run through the village of Vevčani at an approximately sea level altitude at over 900 metres.

The highest and most prominent glacial lake is "Lokva" which is situated at over 2000 metres above sea level on Mount Jablanica.

The word Vesčani meant in Old Church Slavonic, "people of Ves" or "Vesians".

By the early 20th century, the village was often referred to as Vehčani (Вехчани) or Vesčani (Весчани), until the name Vevčani (Macedonian: Вевчани) was officially adopted.

[2] In 1945, the village of Vevčani became a part of the newly founded People's Republic of Macedonia.

In 1945 the municipality of Vevčani was founded which included the nearby villages of Oktisi and Gorna Belica.

The Vevčani Emergency (Macedonian: Вевчански случај, Vevčanski slučaj) was an incident which occurred in the village on 26 May and 7 August 1987.

The residents of Vevčani defied the decision of the Yugoslavian government to redirect water from the springs to Struga.

After the fall of Communism, as a bid to attract more tourism to the village, the residents of Vevčani voted to create an independent republic.

For the first time in Macedonia, the citizens have the opportunity directly to influence the process of decision making, to create partner relations with the local government and business sector in order to achieve benefits for the community.

A prominent monastery is Sveti Spas which is situated at over 1,300 metres above sea level.

The village has 11 cultural heritage sites (Macedonian: Споменици на културата, Spomenici na kulturata) including:[3] The inhabitants of Vevčani speak a unique dialect of Macedonian which is known as the Vevčani-Radožda dialect.

During the carnival attendees wear masks, usually dressing in traditional and modern costumes.

[citation needed] In a 1509 defter, the village was part of the Ohrid vilayet, and had 208 households.

[6] The French ethnographic study of Macedonia conducted in 1878, Ethnography of the vilayets of Adrianople, of Monastir and of Salonica, (French: Ethnographie des Vilayets d'Adrianople, de Monastir et de Salonique), counted the village as having 865 houses and 2430 inhabitants, which at the time were considered Bulgarians.