Balanci (, ) is a village in the municipality of Centar Župa, North Macedonia. The nearby village of Vlasiḱi was once a neighbourhood of Balanci. Other neighbouring villages of Bajramovci, Crno Boci and Odžovci were also once neighbourhoods of Balanci until the mid 1960s when they were elevated to the status of separate villages. "Од 1961 до 1981 година целосно се раселени 6 села, но во истиот период, одделувајќи се како маала, се формирале три нови населби (Бајрамовци, Оцовци, Црнобоци)." p. 37. "Селото е некогашно маало на c. Баланци." p. 314. "Поради штедење на местото се употребуваат следниве скратеници за најчестите појмови: м. - место ... с. -село."; p. 450. "Црно Обоце - 'м., имало с.', Баланци, с. 197... Црнобози - 'маало', Баланци, с." This is the only village within the municipal boundaries where the majority of the population identifies as Albanian in modern censuses.
Name The toponym Balanci is a patronymic formation derived from the name Balan and the suffix (ov)ci. "Поновите патронимични образувања се со суфиксите: - ци: Баланци (: Балан) и -овци: Бајрамовци (: Бајрам) и Оџовци (: Оџа: оџа). Овие суфикси (особно -овци) се карактеристични за изведување патронимични имиња за означување на маалата во селата. Бајрамовци и Оџовци се некогашни маала на с. Баланци самостојни села тие станаа во 1965 год."
Demographics Balanci (Ballani) is recorded in the Ottoman defter of 1467 as a village in the vilayet of Upper Dibra. The settlement was abandoned.Gjoni, Z. & Përnezha, H. (2011). Dibra në Defterët Osmanë (1467, 1583), f.108. Tiranë: Botime M&B page 356
According to Ottoman tahrir defters from the 1520s, 16 villages (all present-day Centar Župa villages) associated with Kala-i Kodžadžik had no Muslim population. However, the Muslim population increased in subsequent years. This was likely part of the Islamization of Macedonia under Turkish rule.367 NUMARALI MUHÂSEBE-İ VİLÂYET-İ RÛM-İLİ DEFTERİ İLE 94 ve 1078 NUMARALI AVLONYA LİVÂSI TAHRÎR DEFTERLERİ (926-1520/937-1530) "In the 1520 and 1530 year tahrir: Dizdār, nefer 1 Kethudā, nefer 1 İmām, nefer 1 Merdān-ı kal‘a, neferan 28 Kurā 16 Mezra‘a 1 Hāne-i müslim 1 Mücerred-i müslim 1 Hāne-i gebrān (Christian) 635 Mücerred-i gebrān 67 Bīve 26 Hāsıl 47.035 According to the Tahrir defter, Kocacık and its villages were in 1530 1-Kocacık kl. 2- Gorenci 3-Pariş 4-Boroşiniçe 5-Çirnibok 6-Yukarı Papranik 7-Aşağı Papranik 8-Koçişte 9-Breştani 10-Novak 11-Aşağı Elişiçe 12-Gorna Elişiçe 13-Osolniçe 14-Porovalenik 15-Vilasik 16-Tırnovnik"
In the 19th century, Balanci was a village in the Sanjak of Dibra within the Ottoman Empire. In the work titled *Ethnography of the Vilayets of Adrianople, Monastir, and Salonika*—published in Istanbul in 1878 and based on male population statistics from 1873—Balanci is listed as a village comprising 28 households and a population of 42 Pomaks and 35 Bulgarians.Македония и Одринско : Статистика на населението от 1873 г. София: Македонски научен институт – София, Македонска библиотека № 33. 1995. стр. 176–177.
In the 1901 ethnographic map of the Bitola Vilayet prepared by the Sofia Cartographic Institute, Balanca is depicted as a village comprising 60 households inhabited exclusively by Pomaks, situated within the Sanjak of Dibra.Етнографска карта на Битолскиот вилает (каталози на населби, забелешки и карта во четири дела). Скопје, Каламус, 2017. с. 47.
According to the 1942 Albanian census, Balanci was inhabited by 352 Muslim Albanians.
As of the 2021 census, Balanci had 165 residents with the following ethnic composition:Total resident population of the Republic of North Macedonia by ethnic affiliation, by settlement, Census 2021 Albanians 149 Persons for whom data are taken from administrative sources 12 Turks 4
According to the 2002 census, the village had a total of 432 inhabitants. Ethnic groups in the village include:Macedonian Census (2002), Book 5 - Total population according to the Ethnic Affiliation, Mother Tongue and Religion, The State Statistical Office, Skopje, 2002, p. 188. Albanians 422 Macedonians 9 Others 1
Some Macedonian Muslims live in the village alongside the Albanian population of Balanci. p. 326. "Население со албански мајчин јазик живее... во областа Жупа во селата Власиќе, Баланци, Житинени, Броштица (во последниве три села заедно со Македонци од муслиманската конфесија)".
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