Konispol

Konispol (Konispoli) is the southernmost town in Albania. It sits one kilometer away from the Albanian-Greek border. The settlement is inhabited by Muslim Cham Albanians. Konispol is the modern centre of the Cham Albanian community in Albania. The main economic interests of Konispol are agriculture and viticulture. The town is the seat of the southernmost administrative unit in Albania, the Municipality of Konispol (Bashkia Konispol). It was formed during the 2015 local government reform by the merger of the former municipalities of Konispol, Markat and Xarrë. The total population is 8,245 (2011 census), in a total area of 226.26 km2. The population of the former Konispol municipality at the 2011 census was 2,123. The former Konispol municipal unit (pre-2015) consisted of the town Konispol and the village Çiflik. The new larger municipality of Konispol contains settlements that are inhabited by Albanians who form the majority of the population, Aromanians, Greeks and Romani that live in the villages of Xarrë municipal unit. The name of the settlement Konispol is derived from kon'c (коньць) and polya (поля), Slavic words for end and field referring to the end of a field. The area was part of the ancient region of Epirus and was inhabited by Chaonian Epirotes. In 1943, Konispol is noted for being the battleground of a fierce conflict between German units, Cham collaborators from the Thesprotia province in Greece of the Nuri Dino battalion, and the communist Albanian resistance. On 8 October 8 1943, a meeting of the Albanian and Greek communist resistance groups took place in the town. Apart from recognising that Albanian and Greek minorities existed on either side of the border, due to disagreements between the communist movements, a separate headquarters for the communist resistance units of the Greek minority in Albania was planned. In 1992, 7 caves were discovered just north of the town with findings that dated from the Upper Paleolithic age to the Iron Age.