Gnjilane

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Гњилане
Gnjilane
Gjilani
Gjilan
Location in Kosovo

General Information
Mayor	Xhemajl Hyseni
Land area	515
Altitude	?
Population (2005)	130,000 [1]
Population density (2005)	253
Coordinates	?
Postal code:	{{{postal code}}}
Area code	+381 280
Time zone	UTC+1
Website	Municipality of Gjilan

Gnjilane (Serbian: Гњилане, or Gnjilane; Albanian: Gjilani or Gjilan) is a city and municipality in eastern Kosovo, a Serbian province under UN administration. Located at 42.47° North, 21.48° East, it is the administrative center of the Gjilani District.

1 Name and history
2 Population
3 Features
4 See also
5 References
6 External links

[edit] Name and history

The origin of the town name is disputed. Albanian sources claim the town was established by the Gjinaj family in 1772, who arrived from Novo Brdo, one of the most important late-medieval cities in the central Balkans, with the founder of the city believed to be Bahti Beg Gjinolli.^{[citation needed]}

Serbs claim that the name stems from the Serbian language word for "putrid" (gnjidav / gnjio)^{[citation needed]} and that it has been inhabited since the 14th Century.^{[citation needed]}

In 1999, Camp Monteith was established outside the city as a base of operations for KFOR during Operation Joint Guardian.

[edit] Population

In 1991, the municipality had a population of 103,675, including 90.54% Albanians, 7.83% Serbs and Montenegrins, etc.

In 2003, the Gnjilane municipality was estimated to have 133,724 citizens, out of which 79,898 live in the urban area.

[edit] Features

Gnjilane is now the administrative center of the Gjilani District of Kosovo. Since February 15, 2003, it is the headquarters of the Local Democracy Agency in Kosovo of the Council of Europe.