Has (region)

The name originates from hass, an Ottoman land revenue. The area was first mentioned as a hass in a 1570 document.^{[citation needed]} During the 16th century the region was mentioned as Shullan, which Selami Pulaha considers an Albanian name.^[1]

Has is an ethnographic province with well defined boundaries, surrounded all around with lakes. Its region in the parts of Albania is based on Kukës, and through the Kosovo side, it is divided in the Municipality of Gjakova, and one part in the Municipality of Prizren. Some of the main rivers in Has are Kruma, Vlahna, Rosman, Leshnica, Vogova, Racica, Trava and Deshtica while the main lakes are Kruma, Zym, Shigjeq and Fierza.^{[citation needed]}

The Kruma Basin lies in the central part of Has and is of tectonic origin. In general, it has the shape of a large natural amphitheater, surrounded by semi-mountainous and hilly relief that opens widely from the southwest into the Drina River valley. It has an area of 227km² and an average altitude of 400–500m above sea level.^[2]

Following the Battle of Kosovo in 1389, the territory of Has was occupied by the Ottomans. It set the military feudal system and the residents had to pay multiple taxes. The population was violently converted into Islam and a part of residents withdrew to mountainous areas.^{[citation needed]} Many medieval chroniclers, historians and scholars have determined Hasi as the Kastrioti family's place of origin.^{[citation needed]}

Ottoman records indicate that during the 16th century, the Hasi region, which was part of the Nahiya of Hasi, was inhabited almost entirely by Albanians. The anthroponomy of the region's inhabitants were mainly Albanian.^[8] Out of 2507 Christian households (according to Ottoman registers from 1571 and 1591 covering the nahije of Rudina, nahije of Domshtica and nahije of Pashtrik), 1768 households bore Albanian names, 643 households bore mixed Albanian-Slavic names, and 96 bore purely Slavic names, while out of 492 Muslim households, 205 bore Albanian surnames and 37 Slavic surnames.^[9]

In the areas of Has during the sixteenth century highland tribes such as Berisha, Bytyç, Gash, Krasniq, Kastrati, Morine, Shal, Thac, settled; a population which grew and consolidated Hasi's territory.^{[citation needed]}

In 1634, the Albanian bishop Pjetër Mazreku wrote that "The Has region is inhabited by Albanians".^[9] Mazreku reported that there had been previously 50 Catholic parishes in the region but were now only five.^[10] The region also played a role in supplying soldiers for the Austrians against the Ottomans during the Austrian-Ottoman wars in the years of 1689-90.^[10]

The full province of Has was divided after the Balkan wars in the early twentieth century. This partition was sanctioned at the Ambassadors Conference in London in 1913. The borderline was set in the eastern part of Albania. Today, the area of Hasi contains about 371 km ² and has a population of about 40,000 inhabitants, and is part of the Republic of Kosovo.^{[citation needed]}

Most of Hasi's population are Albanians, but censuses prior to the Second World War show that there were also other communities that lived in the region such as Serbs, Croats and Slovenes.

The registrations of 2011 result in this percentage of the Has population by age:^[11] -age 0–14, 7837 people or 39.87% -age 15–24, 3289 people or 16.07% -age 25–59, 6996 people or 35.06% -age 60–79, 1395 people or 7.1% -age 80+, 143 people or 0.73%

Many Albanian and foreign authors have been interested in the typology of Albanian national costumes and about their age. Albanian Ethnographer Rrok Zojzi concludes that Albanian folk costumes belong to two main types of traditional clothing, the type of clothing with cloak and other variants. The primary menswear in Has is Tirq, although the work of men's wardrobe until the first half of the 20th century in the region of Has was formed with the technique of coating the kilt.^{[citation needed]}

Wearing the kilt for men, up to the first years after World War II was also prevalent among residents of Has villages in Albania, but after entering into cooperation this clothing gradually disappeared and found no more use, while in the Has villages of Kosovo it found use up until the 1980s, but it was not tailored by the residents anymore like it used to be.^[12]

The Hasi Jehon Festival takes place in the region of Hasi annually. The festival was first in May of 1976 organized and is an Albanian folklore festival that promotes and preserves Albanian spiritual heritage through folk music and dances from all the Albanian-inhabited regions.^[13]

• Pjeter Bogdani
• Pjeter Mazreku

• Has District, Albania