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Gjakova has been populated since the prehistoric era. During the medieval period, in 1485, Gjakova is mentioned as a village, concretely as a market place. Gjakova served as a trading center on the route between Shkodër and Istanbul. The old town of Gjakova was one of the most developed trade centers during the rule of the Ottoman Empire in Balkans. A testimony to this period is the Grand Shopping area (çarshia e madhe) located in the center of the old town, containing many preserved and restored shops and residential buildings. Shopping was developed around the Hadum Mosque, built in 1594-95 as a donation by Hadum Sylejman Efendia (known as Hadum Aga), who simultaneously donated funds for other public facilities in the town, including some of the first shops in the old marketplace. Gjakova is mentioned as a city for the first time in 1662, by the Ottoman Turkish traveler Evliya Çelebi, who described it as a flourishing and attractive town consisting of 2,000 houses, all built of stone with roofs and gardens. Public buildings were suited on a broad plain and included two richly-adorned Congregational mosques, several prayer-houses, some khans with leaden roofs, a delightful bathhouse, and about 300 shops like nightingale-nests. The forms of denominating the city had changed during the centuries. The oldest form "Jakova" originates from the base "Jak" anthroponym dispersed among vendor Albanians and the Ottoman suffix "ovasi" that means a field. Therefore, "Jak ovasi" means Jak’s field, because Jak Vula, according to the tradition, allowed Hadum Aga to build the mosque and the above-mentioned objects with the condition that the city to be build will carry his name.〔 ==Religion== In the 16th century there were only 13 Islamic families, out of 68 families that lived in Gjakova. According to the demographic statistics of 2011, the prominent religion is Muslim, including 81,75% of the population, while 17,23% is Christian, 0.02% Orthodox and 1% other. This is a result of the process of Islamisation that occurred during the Ottoman Rule. Most Catholics live in the "Rruga e Katolikëve" street, where the two main churches are, and others in villages. The Muslims, living in other parts of the city and in most villages, have been encouraging the building of mosques, which could have counted about 10-15 buildings during the centuries. The religious monuments enrich the cultural heritage of Gjakova.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Culture of Gjakova」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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