Bajram Curri (town)

Bajram Curri
Administrative Unit
Bajram Curri, the seat of the municipality
Bajram Curri
Coordinates: 42°21′N 20°5′E / 42.350°N 20.083°E / 42.350; 20.083Coordinates: 42°21′N 20°5′E / 42.350°N 20.083°E / 42.350; 20.083
Country	Albania
County	Kukës
Municipality	Tropojë
Population (2011)
• Administrative Unit	5,340
Time zone	CET (UTC+1)
• Summer (DST)	CEST (UTC+2)
Area Code	0213
Vehicle registration	BC

Bajram Curri is a town situated in northern of Albania, near the border with Kosovo, in a remote, mostly mountainous region. The town is named after Bajram Curri, a national hero who fought for ethnic Albanians, first against the Ottoman Empire and later against the Albanian government. The town is located in the Valbonë Valley and is the main access point by road to touristic sights and villages of Valbona located in the Albanian Alps. Bajram Curri is the gateway to Valbona Valley and Lake Koman, both of which are must-sees while in the Kukës Region.

Tropojë was founded by the Berisha tribe and was the center of the commercial trade from the east (Kosovo Vilayet) to the west (Scutari Vilayet) in order to get imported products from the Adriatic Sea. One of the principal trade commodities was salt, which was exchanged for agricultural products. Having this geographical importance, Tropojë was the center of the former highlands of the famous and old city of Gjakovë. Tropojë e Vjetër is also the name of a pass, which goes through the mountains, where the people from all over this region go during the summer to relax and to have access in the green fields with their cattle. In modern times, these highlands attract tourists, especially those from Europe and Israel.

Bajram Curri is located down the valley of the river Valbonë. It is the main access point by road to the villages of Valbona and Rrogam. Water from the mountains flow into the waters of the Valbonë, the latter being famous for having the clearest river water in Albania.

At the 2015 local government reform it became a subdivision and the seat of the municipality Tropojë.

The population at the 2011 census was 5,340.

Tropojë has many agricultural products and is famous for its chestnuts, apples, nuts, grapes, and especially blueberries. Large reserves of platinum, rhodium, ruthenium, palladium, iridium, and osmium have been discovered in Tropojë. Albanian, Italian, and Chinese engineers, working for Albanian Minerals and Bytyci Sh.p.k in Tropojë, suggest the area may have more than 500 million tons of chrome ore and more than two billion tons of olivine in which platinum is 5-7 grams present per ton. This gigantic body of ore is one of the largest in the world.