Kičevo ( ; , ) is a city in the western part of North Macedonia, located in a valley in the south-eastern slopes of Mount Bistra, between the cities of Ohrid and Gostivar. The capital Skopje is 112 km away. The city of Kičevo is the seat of Kičevo Municipality.
Name
The name of the city in Macedonian and other South Slavic languages is Kičevo (Кичево). The name of the city in Albanian is Kërçovë. It was originally known as Uskana and was inhabited by the Illyrian tribe of the Penestae. It is presumed that the present name of the town originates from the name of this settlement populated by the Slavic Berziti tribe.
In Turkish, the city is known as Kırçova.
Kicevo was first mentioned as Uskana (Ωξάνα in Ancient Greek) in the reign of Perseus, king of Macedon during the Third Macedonian War (171–169 BC). The next written record of the town did not come until 1018, under the name of Kitzabis (from Kίτζαβις in Byzantine Greek), or sometimes as Kitsabis or Kitsavis or Kitzbon, or slavicised as Kicavis, noted in one of the documents of the Byzantine emperor Basil II. Under the rule of Prince Marko it was known as Katin Grad ("Katina's City") due to Marko's sister being named Katina.
History
thumb|200px|left|King Vukašin ruled the city alongside his son Prince Marko
Medieval period
Kičevo was noted in one of the documents of the Byzantine emperor Basil II in 1018, and also mentioned by the Ohrid archbishop Theophilact in the 11th century. The city would become a part of the First Bulgarian Empire and it was one of the first cities to be added to the Archbishopric of Ohrid. It was also a part of the Second Bulgarian Empire.
The city first fell under Serbian rule during the reign of Stefan Uroš I and finally under Stefan Milutin in 1283. After the downfall of the Serbian Empire the city was under the rule of Vukašin of Serbia of the Mrnjavčević family after which it passed to his son Prince Marko and finally to the Ottomans.
Ottoman period
When the region was conquered by the Ottoman Empire, Kičevo was turned into the military and administrative center of the region. According to Toma Smiljanić-Bradina, the local Slavs of the region still lived in a semi-independent fashion as they did under the rule of Prince Marko retaining their status as "earthly lords" of their fortresses. This semi-independent way of life persisted until the 15th century.
According to local folklore the inhabitants of the region also participated in the Christian rebellions during the Great Turkish War and were forced to flee after its failure. However, soon after the capitulation of Italy, Nazi Germany occupied that area. The Germans put Balli Kombëtar in charge of Albania under German rule. The city was finally seized by the Communist Guerillas on November 15, 1944, after German retreat.
From 1945 to 1991 the town belonged to the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, as part of its constituent Socialist Republic of Macedonia. Since 1991 the town has been part of the Republic of Macedonia.
Demographics
In the 1467-1468 Ottoman defter,