Editing Pogradec (section)

== Etymology ==

The name of the town is [[Eastern South Slavic]] in origin.<ref>Slavistische Forschungen, Volume 24, Böhlau, 1978, p. 259, ISBN 3412012785.</ref> Pogradec comes from ''Po(d)'' (under/beneath) and ''[[Grad (toponymy)|Gradec]]'' (town, city, castle or fortified settlement) and means literally "under the city". This is a reference to the [[Natural and Cultural Heritage of the Ohrid Region (Albania)|ancient Illyrian settlement]], which was situated on a hill above the contemporary region of Pogradec. In the medieval period during the Ottoman occupation, the town was known as İstarova or İstarye during [[Ottoman Empire|Ottoman]] rule and was bounded to as [[kaza]] center in [[Korçe|Görice]] Sanjak of [[Bitola|Manastır]] Vilayet before [[Balkan Wars]].<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.postman.com.tr/makaleler/tatar.pdf |title=Osmanli Tatarân Teşkilât'i (in Turkish) |access-date=2011-05-23 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120324112737/http://www.postman.com.tr/makaleler/tatar.pdf |archive-date=2012-03-24 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>[http://tarihvemedeniyet.org/ekutuphane107 Osman Vilayets (in Turkish)]</ref>