Elbasani city the history

Elbasan, also Elbasani, city in central Albania, capital of Elbasan District, on the Shkumbin River, near Tiranë. The city is the terminus of a railroad from Durrës and a market center for the area, where tobacco, olives, fruit, grapes, cotton, grains, and vegetables are grown. Industries include production of olive oil, wine, cigarettes, leather, textiles, flour, and handicrafts. A 15th-century fortress in Elbasan contains a museum of antiquities. The present city was built by the Turks in 1466 on the site of ancient Scampa, on the Via Egnatia. Population (1990 estimate) 83,300. 

Before the Second World War, Elbasan was a city with a mixture of eastern and medieval buildings, narrow cobbled streets and a large bazaar. There was a clearly defined Christian settlement within the castle walls, a Vlach district on the outskirts of the city and several fine mosques and Islamic buildings. At the time the population was about 15,000 people.
The English journalist J.D. Bourchier, then the Balkan correspondent of The Times, records that on a visit in 1911 he saw:
"The population celebrating Bairam in central space: wonderful primitive merry-go round with gypsy minstrels (flute and drum), pushed round by the men with poles; also a cartwheel poised on a tree top; pekhilvans wrestling, mostly refugees from Dibra, thus gaining a precarious livelihood.

Ancient and early Byzantine periods

 

In August 2010 archaeologists discovered two Illyrian graves near the walls of the castle of Elbasan Elbasan came into prominence in the Roman period, when it was known as  Mario Scampa The Romans built a substantial fortress here, about 300 square meters, protected by towers. In the third and fourth centuries, it became known as Hiscapis It had developed as an important trade and transport centre near the junction of two branches of the Via egnatia coming from Apollonia and Dyrrachium.
It took part in the spread of Christianity along the Via, and had a bishop, cathedral and basilicas as early as the fifth century. As a town in a wide river valley it was vulnerable to attacks once the legions were withdrawn but emperor justinian made an effort to improve the fortifications. The city survived attacks by the Bulgars and Ostrogths and was mentioned in the work of procopurius of persea

 

Elbasani