The coat of arms of Moscopole. Although located in a rather isolated place in the mountains of southern Albania, the city rose to become the most important center of the Aromanians. It was a small settlement until the end of the 17th century, but afterwards showed a remarkable financial and cultural development. Some writers have claimed that Moscopole in its glory days (1730–1760) had as many as 70,000 inhabitants; other estimates placed its population closer to 35,000; but a more realistic number may be closer to 3500: '.The truth may be closer to this number [sc. 3500] than to 70,000. Moschopolis was certainly not among the largest Balkan cities of the 18th century'. According to the Swedish historian, who visited Moscopole and wrote a history of the Aromanians in 1774, everyone in the city spoke Aromanian; many also spoke Greek, which was used for writing contracts, in fact the city is said to have been mainly populated by Vlachs/Aromanians.

Moscopole in 1900 was populated by a total of 200 families, consisting of 120 Albanian speaking and 80 Aromanian speaking families. Most of the older Aromanian speaking families had a Greek national consciousness while 3 families along with some the newer residents were pro-Romanian (a total of 20 families), led by an unfrocked priest named.

The fact was confirmed by a 1935 analysis of the family names shows that the majority of the population were indeed Vlachs, but there were also Greeks and Albanians present in the city. Murals of St. Nicholas church, painted. Historically the main economic activity of the city was the livestock farming. The alternative name 'Voskopolis' means 'City of shepherds'. This activity led to the establishment of wool processing and carpet manufacturing units and the development of tanneries, while other locals became metal workers, silver and copper smiths. During the middle of the 18th century, the city became an important economic center whose influence spread over the boundaries of the, and reached further the Ottoman ruled Eastern-Orthodox world: the trade involved as far as the Archduchy of Austria, the, and the.

Penyimpanan dan pengendalian darah yang didermakan. Until 1769, the town traded on a large scale with renowned European commercial centres of that time, such as,. Culture [ ] A printing press was also operating in Moscopole which was the second one in Ottoman Europe (in: İskopol/Oskopol, ) after that of Constantinople.

This establishment produced a total of nineteen books, mainly Services to the Saints but also the Introduction of Grammar by the local scholar. The later became director of the city's prestigious educational institution, which from 1744 was known as or Hellenikon Frontistirion, sponsored by the wealthy merchants of the diaspora. Moreover, the city hosted an, known as Orphanodioiketerion, probably the first in the post-Byzantine Orthodox world, a hospital and a total of 24 churches. A cultural effervescence arose in Moscopole, and many authors published their works in both the (which was the language of culture of the Balkans at the time) and, written in the. In 1770, the first dictionary of four modern Balkan languages (,, Vlach/ and ) was published here. A Vlach-speaking native priest of Moscopole, compiled a quadrilingual lexicon of,, and, that aimed at the of the non-Greek-speaking Christian communities in the. Due to the high level of intellectual activity and Greek education Moscopole was nicknamed as New Athens or New Mystra.