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{{Infobox settlement (Albanian)
| type = m
| name = Maliq
| flag = 
| emblem = Stema e Bashkisë Maliq.svg
| caption = City Hall of Maliq
| skyline = [[File:Maliq, Albania 2018 01.jpg|260px]]
| county = Korçë
| mayor = Gëzim Topçiu
| party = [[Socialist Party of Albania|PS]]
| coordinates = {{coord|40|42|30|N|20|42|0|E|type:adm1st_region:AL_dim:100000|display=inline}}
| elevation = 825
| area munic = 656.89
| population as of = 2023
| population munic = 31008
| population unit = 3668
| postal code = 7005
| area code = (0)861
| website = {{URL|https://bashkiamaliq.gov.al/}}
}}
'''Maliq''' ({{lang-sq-definite|Maliqi}}), formerly known as '''Malik''' ({{lang-sq-definite|Maliki}}), is a town and a municipality in [[Korçë County]] of eastern [[Albania]].
It is the smaller of two cities in the district, the other being [[Korçë]], {{convert|9|mi|km}} southeast of Maliq. The current enlarged municipality was formed at the 2015 local government reform by the merger of the former administrative units of [[Gorë]], [[Libonik]], Maliq, [[Moglicë]], [[Pirg]], [[Pojan]] and [[Vreshtas]]. The seat of the municipality is the town Maliq.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.vendime.al/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/137-2014.pdf |title=Law nr. 115/2014 |language=sq |pages=6372–6373|access-date=25 February 2022 }}</ref> The total population is 41,757 (2011 census),<ref name="census11">{{cite web |url=http://www.instat.gov.al/media/3065/7__korce.pdf |title=Population and housing census - Korçë 2011 |access-date=2019-09-25 |publisher=[[Institute of Statistics (Albania)|INSTAT]] }}</ref> in a total area of 656.89&nbsp;km<sup>2</sup>.<ref name="LAU">{{cite web |url=https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/documents/345175/501971/EU-28-LAU-2019-NUTS-2016.xlsx |title=Correspondence table LAU – NUTS 2016, EU-28 and EFTA / available Candidate Countries |access-date=2019-09-25 |publisher=[[Eurostat]]|format=XLS }}</ref> The population of the former municipality at the 2011 census was 4,290.<ref name=census11/> The municipal unit consists of the town Maliq and the villages Kolanec, Goce, Gjyras, [[Bickë]], Fshat Maliq and Plovisht.<ref>[http://www.interreg.gr/inst/interreg/gallery/File/Programmes/Greece%20-%20Albania/Simpliroma%20Programmatismou/EN/18-12-07_Programme_Complement_GREECE%20ALBANIA.doc Greece – Albania Neighbourhood Programme] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120327014915/http://www.interreg.gr/inst/interreg/gallery/File/Programmes/Greece%20-%20Albania/Simpliroma%20Programmatismou/EN/18-12-07_Programme_Complement_GREECE%20ALBANIA.doc |date=2012-03-27 }}</ref>

==Name==
The name of the town derives from a patronymic, which is either the proper noun ''Mal'' ("mountain" in Albanian), suffixed with the diminutive ''-iq'' or a variation of the definite form of the Muslim name ''Melik'' (Meliki).<ref>{{cite book |last1=Dančetović |first1=Vojislav S. |title=Sufiksi diminutiv i emnave të gjuhës shqipe |date=1960 |publisher=Rilindja |page=66 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hVl6mbigSxcC |language=sq |quote=''Patronimet me kuptim diminutiv (hipokoristik): Maliq'': (nga mal), por simbas Dr. Idriz Ajeti nuk përjashtohet mundësija të ketë origjinë nga forma arape Melik;}}</ref>

==History==
The city of Maliq contains early [[Bronze Age]] archaeological sites, which offer evidence of cultural continuity of early Bronze Age peoples in the [[Balkans]]. The archaeological site of Maliq IIIa shows signs of pottery ware designs influenced by pottery styles in [[Aegean civilization|Bronze Age Greece]]. However, a stylistic break occurs in Maliq IIb site, where "cruder ceramic types, frequently including doubled handled vases and single handled cups, with no connection with earlier Eneolithic levels [of archeological digs]".<ref>Mallory, J.P. “In Search of the Indo-Europeans”, Thames And Hudson, 1989 : 75</ref>

==Economy==
The city of Maliq flourished around a sugar beet factory built in 1951. The factory was built with help from [[Soviet-Albanian Relations|Soviet foreign aid]]. When the factory started operating it had a capacity of 1,000 tons to 2,400 tons later on. Eventually the factory was closed in the 1990s leading to a significant unemployment in the city.<ref>{{Cite web| title=Sugarbeet Growing in Albania: the Official Aspects | url=http://om.ciheam.org/om/pdf/c02-2/CI011004.pdf | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150708003737/http://om.ciheam.org/om/pdf/c02-2/CI011004.pdf | archive-date=2015-07-08}}</ref> The story of the transformation of the swampland into a sugar factory site is told and analyzed in the book Sugarland.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Hoxha |first=Artan R. |title=Sugarland: The Transformation of the Countryside in Communist Albania |date=2023 |publisher=Central European University Press |isbn=978-963-386-617-7 |location=Budapest New York}}</ref>  

==Sports==
{{Main|KF Maliqi}}
The [[association football|football]] team [[KF Maliqi]] is home to the city of Maliq. The team was founded in the late 1990s and its home ground in Jovan Asko Stadium, Maliq which has a capacity of 1,500 spectators. The owner of the team is the Municipality of Maliq and the president of the team is Gëzim Topçiu. The team is currently playing in the [[Albanian Second Division]].

==References==
{{Reflist}}
*[https://doi.org/10.1007%2FBF00235755 Neolithic Settlements in Albania]
*Prendi, F. “La civilisation préhistorique de Maliq”, Studia Albanica 1, 1966 : 254–266.

==External links==
* [http://nona.net/features/map/placedetail.869283/Maliq/ Maliq (Albania) map – Nona.net]

{{Municipalities of Albania}}
{{Korçë County}}
{{Maliq div}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Maliq| ]]
[[Category:Municipalities in Korçë County]]
[[Category:Administrative units of Maliq]]
[[Category:Towns in Albania]]


{{Korçë-geo-stub}}