Albania

ⁱ/ælˈbeɪniə/, al-bay-nee-ə, or sometimes /ɔːlˈbeɪniə/, awl-bay-nee-ə; Albanian: Shqipëri/Shqipëria; Gheg Albanian: Shqipni/Shqipnia), officially known as the Republic of Albania (Albanian: Republika e Shqipërisë; Albanian pronunciation: [ɾɛpuˈblika ɛ ʃcipəˈɾiːs]), is a country in Southeastern Europe. It is bordered by Montenegro to the northwest,Kosovo^[a] to the northeast, Macedonia to the east, and Greece to the south and southeast. It has a coast on the Adriatic Sea to the west and on the Ionian Sea to the southwest. It is less than 72 km (45 mi) from Italy, across the Strait of Otrantowhich links the Adriatic Sea to the Ionian Sea.

Albania is a member of the United Nations, NATO, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, the Council of Europe and the World Trade Organization. It is one of the founding members of the Energy Community and the Union for the Mediterranean. It is also an official candidate for membership in the European Union.^[6]

The modern-day territory of Albania was at various points in history part of the Roman provinces of Dalmatia (southernIllyricum), Macedonia (particularly Epirus Nova), and Moesia Superior. The modern Republic became independent after the collapse of the Ottoman Empire in Europe following the Balkan Wars.^[7] Albania declared independence in 1912 (to be recognised in 1913), becoming a Principality, Republic, and Kingdom until being invaded by Italy in 1939, which formedGreater Albania, which in turn became a Nazi German protectorate in 1943.^[8] In 1944, a socialist People's Republic was established under the leadership of Enver Hoxha and the Party of Labour. In 1991, the Socialist Republic was dissolvedand the Republic of Albania was established.

Albania is a parliamentary republic. As of 2011, the capital, Tirana, was home to 421,286 of the country's 3,020,209^[1]people within the city limits, 763,634 in the metropolitan area.^[9] Tirana is also the financial capital of the country. Free-market reforms have opened the country to foreign investment, especially in the development of energy and transportation infrastructure.^[10]^[11]^[12] Albania has a high HDI^[5] and provides a universal health care system and free primary and secondary education. Albania is an upper-middle income economy (WB, IMF)^[13] with the service sector dominating the country's economy, followed by the industrial sector and agriculture.

Etymology
]

Albania is the Medieval Latin name of the country, which is called Shqipëri by its people, from Medieval Greek ἈλβανίαAlbania, besides variants Albanitia or Arbanitia.

The name may be derived from the Illyrian tribe of the Albani recorded by Ptolemy, the geographer and astronomer fromAlexandria who drafted a map in 150 AD^[14] that shows the city of Albanopolis^[15] (located northeast of Durrës).

The name may have a continuation in the name of a medieval settlement called Albanon and Arbanon, although it is not certain this was the same place.^[16] In his History written in 1079–1080, the Byzantine historian Michael Attaliates was the first to refer to Albanoi as having taken part in a revolt against Constantinople in 1043 and to the Arbanitai as subjects of the Duke of Dyrrachium.^[17] During the Middle Ages, the Albanians called their country Arbëri or Arbëni and referred to themselves as Arbëresh or Arbënesh.^[18]^[19]

As early as the 17th century the placename Shqipëria and the ethnic demonym Shqiptarë gradually replaced Arbëria andArbëresh. While the two terms are popularly interpreted as "Land of the Eagles" and "Children of the Eagles".^[20]^[21] Under the Ottoman Empire Albania was referred to officially as Arnavutluk and its inhabitants as Arnauts (Turkic Arnavutlar). These terms remain the same officially and in common usage in the current Republic of Turkey.^[22] The word is considered to be a metathesis from the word Arvanite, which was the Medieval Greek name for the Albanians.^[23]

History

Main article: History of Albania

Prehistory]

The history of Albania emerged from the prehistoric stage from the 4th century BC, with early records of Illyria in Greco-Roman historiography. The modern territory of Albania has no counterpart in antiquity, comprising parts of the Roman provinces of Dalmatia (southern Illyricum) and Macedonia (particularly Epirus Nova).

Middle Ages

The territory now known as Albania remained under Roman (Byzantine) control until the Slavs began to overrun it from 548 and onward,^[24] and was captured by Bulgarian Empire in the 9th century. After the weakening of the Byzantine Empire and the Bulgarian Empire in the middle and late 13th century, some of the territory of modern-day Albania was captured by the Serbian Principality . In general, the invaders destroyed or weakened Roman and Byzantine cultural centers in the lands that would become Albania.^[25]

The territorial nucleus of the Albanian state formed in the Middle Ages, as the Principality of Arbër and the Kingdom of Albania. The Principality of Arbër or Albanon(Albanian): Arbër or Arbëria, was the first Albanian state during the Middle Ages , it was established by archon Progon in the region of Kruja, in ca 1190. Progon, the founder, was succeeded by his sons Gjin and Demetrius, the latter which attained the height of the realm. After the death of Dhimiter, the last of the Progon family, the principality came under Gregory Kamonas, and later Golem. The Principality was dissolved in 1255.^[26]^[27]^[28] Pipa and Repishti conclude that Arbanon was the first sketch of an "Albanian state", and that it retained semi-autonomous status as the western extremity of an empire (under the Doukai of Epirus or the Laskarids of Nicaea).^[29]

Ottoman Albania]

Main article: Ottoman Albania

Portrait painting of Gjergj Kastriot Skanderbeg

At the dawn of the establishment of the Ottoman Empire in Southeast Europe, the geopolitical landscape was marked by scattered kingdoms of small principalities. The Ottomans erected their garrisons throughout southern Albania by 1415 and occupied most of Albania by 1431.^[30] However, on 1443 a great and longstanding revolt broke under the lead of the Albanian national heroSkanderbeg, which lasted until 1479, many times defeating major Ottoman armies led by sultans Murad II and Mehmed II. Skanderbegunited initially the Albanian princes and later established a centralized authority over most of the non-conquered territories, becoming Lord of Albania. He also tried relentlessly but rather unsuccessfully to create a European coalition against the Ottomans. He frustrated every attempt by the Turks to regain Albania, which they envisioned as a springboard for the invasion of Italy and western Europe. His unequal fight against the mightiest power of the time won the esteem of Europe as well as some support in the form of money and military aid from Naples, the papacy, Venice, and Ragusa.^[31]

Albanian forces under Skanderbegattacked the Ottoman camp in 1457

With the arrival of the Turks Islam was introduced in Albania as a third religion . This conversion caused a massive emigration of Albanians towards the Christian European countries^[32] Along with the Bosniaks, Muslim Albanians occupied an outstanding position in the empire, and were the main pillars of Ottoman policy in the Balkans.^[33]

Köprülü Mehmed Pashawas the most effective and influential Ottoman Grand Vizier of Albanian origin.^[34]

Enjoying this privileged position in the empire, Muslim Albanians held various administrative positions, with over two dozen Grand Viziers of Albanian origin, such as Gen. Köprülü Mehmed Pasha, who commanded the Ottoman forces during the Ottoman-Persian Wars; Gen. Köprülü Fazıl Ahmed, who led the Ottoman army during the Austro-Turkish War (1663–1664); and, later,Muhammad Ali Pasha of Egypt.^[35]

In the 15th century, when the Ottomans were gaining a firm foothold in the region, Albanian towns were organised into four principal sanjaks. The government fostered trade by settling a sizeable Jewish colony of refugees fleeing persecution in Spain (at the end of the 15th century). Vlorë saw passing through its ports imported merchandise from Europe such as velvets, cotton goods, mohairs, carpets, spices and leather from Bursa and Istanbul. Some citizens of Vlorë even had business associates in Europe.^[35]

Albanians could also be found throughout the empire, in Iraq, Egypt, Algeria and across the Maghreb as vital military and administrative retainers.^[36] This was partly due to the Devşirme system. The process of Islamization was an incremental one, commencing from the arrival of the Ottomans in the 14th century (to this day, a minority of Albanians are Catholic or Orthodox Christians, though the vast majority became Muslim). Timar holders, the bedrock of early Ottoman control in Southeast Europe, were not necessarily converts to Islam, and occasionally rebelled; the most famous of these rebels is Skanderbeg (his figure would be used later in the 19th century as a central component of Albanian national identity). The most significant impact on the Albanians was the gradual Islamisation process of a large majority of the population, although such a process became widespread only in the 17th century.^[37]

Mainly Catholics converted in the 17th century, while the Orthodox Albanians followed suit mainly in the following century. Initially confined to the main city centres ofElbasan and Shkoder, by this period the countryside was also embracing the new religion.^[37] The motives for conversion according to scholars were diverse, depending on the context. The lack of source material does not help when investigating such issues.^[38]

Albania remained under Ottoman control as part of the Rumelia province until 1912, when independent Albania was declared.

Albanian Vilayet requested by the League of Prizren

Era of nationalism and League of Prizren[edit]

The League of Prizren was formed on 1 June 1878, in Prizren, Kosovo Vilayet of Ottoman Empire. At first the Ottoman authorities supported the League of Prizren which initial position was based on the religious solidarity of Muslim landlords and people connected with the Ottoman administration who emphasized Muslim solidarity and called for defense of Muslim lands, including present-day Bosnia and Herzegovina. This was the reason for naming the league The Committee of the Real Muslims(Albanian: Komiteti i Myslimanëve të Vërtetë).^[39] The League issued a decree known as Kararname. Its text contained announcement that the people from the "northern Albania, Epirus and Bosnia" are willing to defend the "territorial integrity" of the Ottoman Empire "by all possible means" from the troops of the Bulgaria, Serbia and Montenegro. It was signed by 47 Muslim deputies of the League on June 18, 1878.^[40] Around 300 Muslims participated on the assembly, including delegates from Bosnia and mutasarrif (sanjakbey) of the Sanjak of Prizren as representative of the central authorities, and no delegates fromScutari Vilayet.^[41]

The Ottomans cancelled their support when league, under influence of Abdyl bey Frashëri, became focused on working toward Albanian autonomy and requested merging of four Ottoman vilayets (Kosovo, Scutari, Monastir and Ioannina) into a new vilayetof the Ottoman Empire (the Albanian Vilayet). The League used military force to prevent the annexing areas of Plav and Gusinjeassigned to Montenegro by the Congress of Berlin. After several battles with Montenegrin troops, the league was defeated by the Ottoman army sent by the Sultan.^[42] The Albanian uprising of 1912, the Ottoman defeat in the Balkan Wars and the advancing Montenegrin, Serbian and Greek armies into the territories where Albanians were majority, led to the proclamation of independence by Ismail Qemali in Vlora, on 28 November 1912.

Independence]

Ismail Qemali and his cabinet during the celebration of the first anniversary of independence in Vlorëon 28 November 1913.

William Prince of Albania

Main article: Albania during World War I

At All-Albanian Congress in Vlorë on 28 November 1912^[43] Congress participants constituted the Assembly of Vlorë.^[44] The assembly of eighty-three leaders meeting in Vlorë in November 1912 declared Albania an independent country and set up a provisional government. The complete text of the declaration^[45] was:

In Vlora, on the 15th/28th of November. That time the President was Ismail Kemal Bey, in which he spoke of the great perils facing Albania today, the delegates have all decided unanimously that Albania, as of today, should be on her own, free and independent.

The Provisional Government of Albania was established on the second session of the assembly held on 4 December 1912. It was a government of ten members, led by Ismail Qemali until his resignation on 22 January 1914.^[46] The Assembly also established theSenate (Albanian: Pleqësi) with an advisory role to the government, consisting of 18 members of the Assembly.^[47]

Albania's independence was recognized by the Conference of London on 29 July 1913, but the drawing of the borders of the newly established Principality of Albania ignored the demographic realities of the time. The International Commission of Control was established on 15 October 1913 to take care of the administration of newly established Albania until its own political institutions were in order.^[48] Its headquarter was in Vlorë.^[49] The International Gendarmerie was established as the first law enforcement agency of the Principality of Albania. At the beginning of November the first gendarmerie members arrived in Albania. Wilhelm of Wied was selected as the first prince.^[50]

In November 1913 the Albanian pro-Ottoman forces had offered the throne of Albania to the Ottoman war minister of Albanian origin, Izzet Pasha.^[51] The pro-Ottoman peasants believed that the new regime of the Principality of Albania was a tool of the six Christian Great Powers and local landowners that owned half of the arable land.^[52]

The revolt of Albanian peasants against the new Albanian regime erupted under the leadership of the group of Muslim clerics gathered around Essad Pasha Toptani, who proclaimed himself the savior of Albania and Islam.^[53]^[54] In order to gain support of the Mirdita Catholic volunteers from the northern mountains, Prince of Wied appointed their leader,Prênk Bibë Doda, to be the foreign minister of the Principality of Albania. In May and June 1914 the International Gendarmerie joined by Isa Boletini and his men, mostly from Kosovo,^[55] and northern Mirdita Catholics were defeated by the rebels who captured most of Central Albania by the end of August 1914.^[56] The regime of Prince of Wied collapsed and he left the country on 3 September 1914.^[57]

The short-lived monarchy (1914–1925) was succeeded by an even shorter-lived first Albanian Republic (1925–1928), to be replaced by another monarchy (1928–1939). Albania was occupied by Fascist Italy and then by Nazi Germanyduring World War II.

World War II[]

Main articles: Albanian Kingdom (1939–43) and Albanian resistance during World War II

After being militarily occupied by Italy, from 1939 until 1943 the Albanian Kingdom was a protectorate and a dependency of Italy governed by Italy's King Victor Emmanuel III and its government. After the Axis invasion of Yugoslavia in April 1941, territories of Yugoslavia with substantial Albanian population were annexed to Albania. Albania annexed most of Kosovo,^[a] as well as Western Macedonia, the town of Tutin in Central Serbia and a strip of Eastern Montenegro.^[58] After the capitulation of Italy in 1943 Germany occupied Albania. The nationalist Balli kombetar, which had fought against Italy, formed a neutral government in Tirana, and together with the Germans fought against the communist-led National Liberation Movement of Albania ^[59]

Communist Albania]

Main article: People's Socialist Republic of Albania

By the end of World War II, the main military and political force of the country (the communist party) sent its army to the north of Albania to destroy the nationalist forces and to eliminate its rivals. They were met with open resistance in Nikaj-Mertur, Dukagjin and Kelmend. Kelmendi was led by Prek Cali.^[60] In January 15, 1945, a battle between partisans of the first Brigade and nationalist forces was fought at Tamara Bridge, resulting in the defeat of the nationalist forces . About 150 Kelmendi^[61] people were killed or cruelly tortured . This event was the starting point of other dramas, which took place during Enver Hoxha's dictatorship. Class struggle was strictly applied, human freedom and human rights were denied. Kelmend region was isolated both by the border and by lack of roads for another 20 years, the institution of agricultural cooperative brought about economic backwardness. Many Kelmendi people fled, some were executed trying to cross the border.

After the liberation of Albania from Nazi occupation, the country became a Communist state, the People's Republic of Albania (renamed "the People's Socialist Republic of Albania" in 1976), which was led by Enver Hoxha and the Party of Labour of Albania.

The socialist reconstruction of Albania was launched immediately after the annulling of the monarchy and the establishment of a "People's Republic". In 1947, Albania's first railway line was completed, with the second completed eight months later. New land reform laws were passed granting the land to the workers and peasants who tilled it. Agriculture began to become cooperative, and production increased significantly, leading to Albania becoming agriculturally self-sufficient. By 1955, illiteracy was eliminated among Albania's adult population.^[62]

The Palace of Culture of Tirana, Albania whose first stone was symbolically laid by Nikita Khrushchev

During this period Albania became industrialized and saw rapid economic growth, as well as unprecedented progress in the areas of education and health. The average annual rate of increase of Albania's national income was 29% higher than the world average and 56% higher than the European average.^[63] Also during this period, because of the monopolized socialist economy, Albania was the only country in the world that did not impose any tax on its people.^[64]

Religious freedoms were severely curtailed during the Communist period, with many forms of worship being outlawed. In August 1945, the Agrarian Reform Law meant that large swaths of property owned by religious groups (mostly Islamic waqfs) were nationalized, along with the estates of monasteries and dioceses. Many believers, with the ulema, and many priests were arrested, tortured and executed. In 1949, a new Decree on Religious Communities required that they and all their activities be sanctioned by the state alone.^[65]

In 1967 Hoxha proclaimed Albania the world's first 'atheist state'. Hundreds of mosques and dozens of Islamic libraries — containing priceless manuscripts — were destroyed.^[66] Churches were not spared either, and many were converted into cultural centers for young people. The new law banned all "fascist, religious, warmongerish, antisocialist activity and propaganda." Preaching religion carried a three- to ten-year prison sentence. Nonetheless, many Albanians continued to practice in secret.

Hoxha's political successor Ramiz Alia oversaw the dismemberment of the "Hoxhaist" state during the wider collapse of the Eastern Bloc in the later 1980s.

Contemporary Albania

The People's Republic was dissolved in 1991-92 after protests beginning in 1989 and reforms made by the communist government in 1990, and the Republic of Albania was founded. The Communists retained a stronghold in parliament after popular support in the elections of 1991. However, in March 1992, amid liberalisation policies resulting in economic collapse and social unrest, a new front led by the new Democratic Party took power. The economic crisis spread in late 1996 following the failure of some Ponzi schemes operating in the country, peaking in 1997 in an armed rebellion that led to another mass emigration of Albanians, mostly to Italy, Greece, Switzerland,Germany and North America. In 1999, the country was affected by the Kosovo War, when a great number of Albanians from Kosovo found refuge in Albania. Albania became a full member of NATO in 2009, and has applied to join the European Union. In June 2014, the Republic of Albania became an official candidate for accession to the European Union.

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Albania

Etymology
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