Reçi (tribe)
Reçi is a historical Albanian tribe. It is located in the ethnographic region of Malësia northern Albania. The historical heartland of the tribe is the village of Reç in Malësia, but place names linked to them also appear on settlements such as Reč in Ulcinj where a part of them also lived. They appear in historical record for the first time in 1330 in the Dečani chrysobulls as part of the Albanian ("arbanas") "katun" (pastoral community) of Llesh Tuzi, in an area stretching southwards from modern Tuzi Municipality along the Lake Skadar to a village near modern Koplik . This katund included many communities that later formed their own separate communities: Matagushi and his brothers, Reçi and his sons, Bushati and his sons, Pjetër Suma (ancestor of Gruda) and Pjetër Kuçi, first known ancestor of Kuči. In the 1416-17 Venetian Cadastre of the area we find several names linked to the tribe. Among them we have "Aleks, Gjin, Gjergj, Sardë" and "Sergj Reçi", all of whom landowners in the village of Reç itself, along with a villager named "Soma Reçi". In the village of Valm we find the names of "Tanush Reçi" as well as the brothers "Andre  and Bitër Reçi". In the village of Trush i Madh the names of "Bitër" and "Lukë Reçi", the village of Gur i Zi records "Lazër" and "Martin Reçi" and the villages of Balldren, Belan and Samrisht record the names of "Bitër, Mark" and "Nikollë Reçi" respectively. The 1485 Ottoman Defter of Shkodër mentions the village of "Reçi" as part of the timar of "Gazi Shuxhau". The village had 8 families and 2 bachelors living in it. The names of the heads of the households were "Nika, Kola, Leka, Stepan, Gjergj" and "Vuk Reçi", the families of "Nika" and "Dejan Stepani  as well as those of Ukça Grada" and "Gjergj Nika". During this time, the Reçi had moved to Malësia from the lowlands near Buna where the village Reč is today. Traditionally the villagers of Reçi are known for their rich history in chestnut cultivation, with the village frequently being referred to as "Gështenja e Alpeve" (Chestnut of the Alps). According to local legend, the oldest chestnuts planted in the village are around 250 years old. The "Chestnuts of Reçi" are a protected area listed as a Category III Natural Monument by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), having  been declared so in 1974. It encompasses much of the heavily wooded and hilly area traditionally inhabited by the tribe. Reçi historically has been religiously mixed with a majority Muslim and a minority Roman Catholic population.