Duhla, today Duhël, held particular importance because of its position on an old transport corridor. A Roman road crossed the area, linking the Shkodra coast with Theranda and Ulpiana and meeting other trade routes. Traces of older settlement and fortification survive around Qafa e Duhlës, Selishta and Gradishta.
The settlement is recorded as Duhle in a document from 1348. An Ottoman register from 1530 lists Duhila with 10 households, while the 1591 register records 11. An Austrian map from 1689 shows both Upper and Lower Duhla. During the interwar period around 30 Serbian colonist families were settled here; they left at the beginning of the Second World War.
Before the 1998–99 war Duhla had around 1,854 Albanian residents. Of 210 houses, only 17 escaped burning or destruction, and almost all auxiliary and economic buildings were damaged or destroyed.
Source
Source and further reading
Principal source: Prof. Dr. Jusuf Osmani, Settlements of Kosovo 4 — Theranda (Suhareka), Prishtina, 2003.
Source entry: DUHLA
This page presents a selected summary from the published study of the settlement. For complete archival references, family histories, microtoponymy and the full treatment, consult the original volume.