Tropojë (Tropoja) is a municipality in Kukës County, northeastern Albania, within the historical ethnographic region of the Gjakova Highlands. The municipality consists of the administrative units of Bajram Curri, Bujan, Bytyç, Fierzë, Lekbibaj, Llugaj, Margegaj and Tropojë, that became municipal units. The seat of the municipality is the town Bajram Curri. As of the Institute of Statistics 2023 census, there were 2,560 people residing in the municipal unit Tropojë and 14,189 in the municipality.

Etymology

Tropojë's old name was Trebopolje and is recorded in Serbian medieval charters and Ottoman registers. The word itself comes from the old Slavic trebiti, ‘to clean’, and polje, ‘field’, i.e. ‘clean field’.

History

The region was inhabited by Illyrian tribes. Archaeological evidence found in the area, such as castles or tumuli, shows that the area has been populated since the ancient time. The region lies in the geographical span of the Dardani tribes.

Geography

Tropojë Municipality is located on the bank of Valbonë River between the Albanian Alps in northeastern Albania bordering Montenegro to the northwest and Kosovo to the northeast and east. Valbonë Valley National Park sprawls in the northwest of Tropojë and protects the Valbonë Valley and the Gashi River, which has been inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage list as portion of the Ancient and Primeval Beech Forests of the Carpathians and Other Regions of Europe. The area of the municipality is 1057.3 km2.

Climate

According to the Köppen climate classification, Tropojë falls under the periphery of the warm-summer Mediterranean climate (Csb) zone with an average annual temperature of 10.2 C.

Notable people