Demir Hisar (town)
Town in Pelagonia, North Macedonia
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Demir Hisar (Macedonian: Демир Хисар [dɛˈmir‿xisar] ⓘ) (formerly Murgaševo until 1946) is a small town in North Macedonia. It is the seat of Demir Hisar Municipality.
Demir Hisar
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Town | |
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| Coordinates: 41°13′15″N 21°12′11″E | |
| Country | |
| Region | |
| Municipality | |
| Government | |
| • Mayor | Nikola Najdovski (VMRO-DPMNE) |
| Population (2021) | |
• Total | 2,431 |
| Time zone | UTC+1 (CET) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC+2 (CEST) |
| Area code | (+389) 047 |
| Vehicle registration | DH |
| Climate | Cfb |
Etymology
The name of the town comes from Ottoman Turkish Demir Hisar (Iron Fortress) when the settlement was part of the Ottoman Empire.
History
In the 1467/1468 Ottoman defter, Murgaševo had 115 households, 8 bachelors and 3 widows. The majority of household heads bore Slavic or general Christian personal names, however, when including kinship ties, the Albanian element constituted just under a quarter.[1]
In statistics gathered by Vasil Kanchov in 1900, the village of Murgaševo was inhabited by 240 Muslim Albanians.[2] In 1905 in statistics gathered by Dimitar Mishev Brancoff, Murgaševo was inhabited by 240 Muslim Albanians.[3] The population of Demir Hisar (Murgaševo) are Tosks, a southern subgroup of Albanians.[4] In the 2010s, only three Albanian families remain in Demir Hisar and nearby Albanian villagers from Obednik are assisting the community in efforts to repair the dilapidated old village mosque.[5]
Demographics
The Yugoslav census of 1953 recorded 902 people in Demir Hisar of whom 449 were Macedonians, 412 Turks, 27 Albanians and 14 others.[6] The 1961 Yugoslav census recorded 1129 people of whom 1047 were Macedonians, 39 Albanians, 24 Turks, and 19 others.[6] The 1971 Yugoslav census recorded 1828 people of whom 1731 were Macedonians, 34 Turks, 30 Albanians, 4 Romani, 1 Bosniak and 28 others.[6] The 1981 Yugoslav census recorded 2283 people of whom were 2145 Macedonians, 75 Albanians, 19 Turks, 17 Romani and 27 others.[6] The Macedonian census of 1994 recorded 2447 people of whom 2336 were Macedonians, 9 Albanians, 4 Turks and 98 others.[6] According to the 2002 census, the town had a total of 2593 inhabitants.[7] Ethnic groups in the village include:[7]
- Macedonians 2,473 (95.37%)
- Albanians 62 (2.39%)
- Turks 22 (0.85%)
- Romani 11 (0.42%)
- Serbs 7 (0.27%)
- Vlachs 6 (0.23%)
- Bosniaks 2 (0.08%)
- Others 10 (0.39%)
As of the 2021 census, Demir Hisar had 2,431 residents with the following ethnic composition:[8]
- Macedonians 2,281 (93.8%)
- Persons for whom data are taken from administrative sources 69 (2.8%)
- Albanians 39 (1.6%)
- Roma 16 (0.7%)
- Vlachs 9 (0.4%)
- Serbs 5 (0.2%)
- Others 12 (0.5%)
