Boriç i Madh


Boriç i Madh is a settlement in the former Gruemirë municipality, Shkodër County, northern Albania. At the 2015 local government reform it became part of the municipality Malësi e Madhe. The village is inhabited by a majority of Slavic Muslims, and minorities of Albanians and Montenegrins, and is part of the wider Vraka region inhabited by Serbs–Montenegrins. The village is called Veliki Borič and Novi Borič in south Slavic.

Demographics

The Podgoriçani hail from Montenegro, and number 86 families, while the Catholic Albanians number 20 families and the Orthodox Montenegrins 6 families. The village had a total of ca. 950 inhabitants, out of which 700 were Muslims, 200 were Albanians and 50 were Serbs-Montenegrins. Prior to the 1960s, the village was inhabited only by the Slavic Muslims, however, the government organized and settled Catholics and Orthodox in the village. The most numerous of the Muslim families originate from known clans mostly hailing from Podgorica and its surroundings. These were muhajir who left those areas after the Montenegrin liberation. The families were forced to change their surnames, thus, the Piranići are surnamed "Piranaj" and "Pirani", Pepić–Pepaj and Pepa, Lekić–Leka, Tuzović–Tuzi, Kerović–Keraj, Osmanagić–Osmani, Bibezić–Bibezi, Goković–Gokovi, Salagić–Salagaj, Ferizović–Ferizi, Beganović–Begani, etc.
During the early 2010s linguists Klaus Steinke and Xhelal Ylli seeking to corroborate villages cited in past literature as being Slavic speaking carried out fieldwork in settlements of the area. Boriç i Madh in the Shkodër area is one of a number of villages with a Slavophone population that speak a Montenegrin dialect. One third of the population of Boriç i Madh is compact and composed of Muslim Podgoriçani.

History

In 1989 the Boriç i Vogël quarter was detached from the Boriç village. In 1995, during the Yugoslav Wars, there were incidents of violence against the Serb-Montenegrin minority in places like Boriç i Vogël and Boriç i Madh, where the Albanian government also tried to forcibly take land from them. The Serb-Montenegrin minority in Shkodër and Malësia e Madhë claims to be treated unproperly.