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History 
The ancient name of Albanians was Arber and their living placewas called Arberi. This denomination dates back to the secondsentury mentioned by the Greek geographer Ptolemy. In the Middle Ages the version Arban was also known, which was the Albanian ethnic name at that time. This is proved by thefact that Albanians who emigrated to Greece (14th century)maintained this name in the form of "arvanit", whereas those whoemigrated to Italy (15-16th century) and to Dalmatia (18thcentury) maintained it in the form of "arberesh".
The Albanian territory was inhabited since ancient times. Traces of the the old stone era (late and middle Paleolithicperiod, 100 000-10 000 years ago) have been discovered in theXare and in the cave of Saint Marine in Sarande.
The era of the new stone (Neolithic period 6 000-2 000B.C.) is testified by a range of habitations of the old Neolithic period (Vlushe in Skrapar, Blazen in Mat, Podgori and Vashtemi in in Korce, middle Neolithic period (Cakran in Mallakaster, Dunavecin Korce, Kolsh in Kukes) and of the late Neolithic period,(Maliq in Korce, Kamnik ne Kolonje). Albanians are descendants of Illyrians. Illyria was founded as an autochthonous ethnos deriving from the ancient population which may be identified with Pelasgians who came over from the Balkans peninsula by the end of neolithic period and the beginning of Bronze Era (end of 3rd millenium B.C.) and united with the Indo-european population. The ethnic features of the new population born due to their symbioses and union are formed during the middle Broze period. The special Illyrian tribes, payones and thesprotes, are mentioned in the poems "Iliade" and "Odysseus".
The authentic Illyrian cities were foundedin 4-5th centuryB.C.. They stretched not only along the coast but deeper intoland too. It is mentioned here Scodra, (Shkodra), Lisi (Lezha),Bylis, Amantia, Antipatrea (Berati), Antigonea etc. Archeologicexcavations prove that in 4th century B.C. in Illyria started theurbanization and in 3th century B.C. this process saw the flourishing period.More than seventy Illyrian cities were razed to the groundin 2nd century B.C. when Romans invaded Illyria.
The 2nd century up to early Middle Age A.D. marks a growthin the number of cities. new cities were founded such as Gjirokastra, Kruja, Dibra, Saranda.
Art in Illyria started developing in 7th B.C. - 6th A.D.century. the main centers were Illyrian cities of Bylis, Amantia, Foinike, Butrot as well as the Helenic settlements Durrahu,Apolonia, Oriku. Works of archaic art and ancient classic art are bronzeheads of Apolon from Vlore, Menada of Tetovo, dancer of Selce. Illyrian art assumed clear features in 4th century B.C.preserving them until 1st century A.D. during which the sculpture was the prevailing form.
Albanopoli, Illyrian city, center of albans tribe, is mentioned for the first time by Ptolemy in the middle of 2ndcentury A.D. He gives the geographical coordinates of the Albans' land respectively 46 degrees and 41 degrees 5'. It is thought itwas situated where now lay the ruins of Illyrian city of Zgerdhesh. Its name means the city of Albans.
The ancient Byzantine culture in Albania spread among richurban classes without changing the traditional Illyrian cultureof the low class. The characteristics of this culture are the development of former Illyrian cities, part of which weretransformed into bishopric centers, the paleochristian buildingsof cult, basilicas, baptistery, etc. whose ruins discoveredlately, prove art and construction development.Besides the characteristic monumental view, they wereornamented by mozaics and architectonic sculptures. The mostfamous were the Basilicas of Tepe in Elbasan, Bylis, Mesapik and Arapaj in Durres. Silversmith's trade, trimming of metallic ornament and ceramics which did not have much artistic values were also developed.
From the Antropological point of view, Albanians' prevailing features are Adriatic ones such as broad and short headwith its rear part flat, long face with broad upper part, the outstanding nose and concave back, with their stature abovemedium.
Construction architecture of Islamic cult was born inAlbania in 14th century with the establishing of Ottomanrule. The buildings reflecting this architecture were themosques, masjid, vault mexhite (coins belonging to ottoman empire period) etc. Mosques in Albanian big cities had monumentalcharacter.
Construction architecture of christian cult started in 4thcentury (paleochristian period). It flourished by the end of5th century and first half of 6th century, at the time ofByzantine emperors of Illyrian origin Anastas and Istinian. Thisis proved by the rich architectural sculptures found in Durres, in the ruins of several churches of Bylis, Lezhe, Butrint etc.
The Byzantine architecture dates up to 9th century with the old architectural type, among which basilicas of Durres.
Albanian mediaeval architecture goes through an important period in the 12-15th centuries. From this period are preserved monuments included in the Byzantine and roman-gothic architecture Some of those are the churches of Shirgh, cathedral of Saint Stephan in Shkoder, Cape Rodon Church.
The ancient Byzantine culture in Albania dates from 5-6thcenturies A.D. It was accompanied by spreading of christianitywhich caused a good part of the Illyrian cities transform intobishopric centers. Bylis was an important center of that period. This period was characterized by constructions of paleochristiancult buildings, basilicas,baptistries etc. Floors in mosaicand rich architectonic sculptures ornamnted inside were characteristic to these constructions.
Owing partly to the weakness of the Byzantine Empire , Albania , beginning in the 9th century, came under the domination, in whole or in part, of a succession of foreign powers: Bulgarians, Norman crusaders, the Angevins of southern Italy , Serbs, and Venetians. The final occupation of the country in 1347 by the Serbs, led by Stefan Dusan, caused massive migrations of Albanians abroad, especially to Greece and the Aegean islands. By the mid-14th century, Byzantine rule had come to an end in Albania , after nearly 1,000 years. A few decades later the country was confronted with a new threat, that of the Turks, who at this juncture were expanding their power in the Balkans. The Ottoman Turks invaded Albania in 1388 and completed the occupation of the country about four decades later (1430). But after 1443 an Albanian of military genius-- Gjergj Kastrioti (1405-68), known as Skenderbeg--rallied the Albanian princes and succeeded in driving the occupiers out. For the next 25 years, operating out of his stronghold in the mountain town of Kruja , Skenderbeg 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 . After he died, Albanian resistance gradually collapsed, enabling the Turks to reoccupy the country by 1506. Skenderbeg's long struggle to keep Albania free became highly significant to the Albanian people, as it strengthened their solidarity, made them more conscious of their national identity, and served later as a great source of inspiration in their struggle for national unity, freedom, and independence.
The Ottoman Empire
The nature of Turkish rule
The Turks established their dominion over Albania just as the Renaissance began to unfold in Europe , so that, cut off from contact and exchanges with western Europe, Albania had no chance to participate in, or benefit from, the humanistic achievements of that era. Conquest also caused great suffering and vast destruction of the country's economy, commerce, art, and culture. Moreover, to escape persecution by their conquerors, about one-fourth of the country's population fled abroad to southern Italy , Sicily , and the Dalmatian coast. Although the Turks ruled Albania for more than four centuries, they were unable to extend their authority throughout the country. In the highland regions Turkish authorities exercised only a formal sovereignty, as the highlanders refused to pay taxes, serve in the army, or surrender their arms--although they did pay an annual tribute to Constantinople .
Albanians rose in rebellion time and again against Ottoman occupation. In order to check the ravages of Albanian resistance--which was partly motivated by religious feelings, namely, defense of the Christian faith--as well as to bring Albania spiritually closer to Turkey , the Ottomans initiated a systematic drive toward the end of the 16th century to Islamize the population. This drive continued through the following century, by the end of which two-thirds of the people had converted to Islam. A major reason Albanians became Muslims was to escape Turkish violence and exploitation, an instance of which was a crushing tax that Christians would have to pay if they refused to convert. Islamization aggravated the religious fragmentation of Albanian society, which had first appeared in the Middle Ages and which was later used by Constantinople and Albania 's neighbours in attempts to divide and denationalize the Albanian people.
Hence leaders of the Albanian national movement in the 19th century used the rallying cry "The religion of Albanians is Albanianism" in order to overcome religious divisions and foster national unity. The basis of Ottoman rule in Albania was a feudalmilitary system of landed estates, called timars, which were awarded to military lords for loyalty and service to the empire. As Ottoman power began to decline in the 18th century, the central authority of the empire in Albania gave way to the local authority of autonomy-minded lords. The most successful of these lords were three generations of pashas of the Bushati family, who dominated most of northern Albania from 1757 to 1831, and Ali Pasa Tepelena of Janina (now Ionnina, Greece), a colourful Oriental-type despot who ruled over southern Albania and northern Greece from 1788 to 1822. These pashas created separate states within the Ottoman state until they were overthrown by the sultan. After the fall of the pashas, in 1831 Turkey officially abolished the timar system. In the wake of its collapse, economic and social power passed from the feudal lords to private landowning beys and, in the northern highlands, to tribal chieftains called bajraktars, who presided over given territories with rigid patriarchal societies that were often torn by blood feuds. Peasants who were formerly serfs now worked on the estates of the beys as tenant farmers. Ottoman rule in Albania remained backward and oppressive to the end. In these circumstances, many Albanians went abroad in search of careers and advancement within the empire, and an unusually large number of them, in proportion to Albania 's population, rose to positions of prominence as government and military leaders. More than two dozen grand viziers (similar to prime ministers) of Turkey were of Albanian origin.
History > THE RISE OF NATIONALISM By the mid-19th century Turkey was in the throes of the "Eastern Question," as the peoples of the Balkans, including Albanians, sought to realize their national aspirations. To defend and promote their national interests, Albanians met in Prizren , a town in Kosova, in 1878 and founded the Albanian League of Prizren. The league had two main goals, one political and the other cultural. First, it strove (unsuccessfully) to unify all Albanian territories--at the time divided among the four vilayets, or provinces, of Kosova, Shkodra, Monastir, and Janina--into one autonomous state within the framework of the Ottoman Empire . Second, it spearheaded a movement to develop Albanian language, literature, education, and culture. In line with the second program, in 1908 Albanian leaders met in the town of Monastir (now Bitola , Macedonia ) and adopted a national alphabet. Based mostly on the Latin script, this supplanted several other alphabets, including Arabic and Greek, that were in use until then. The Albanian League was suppressed by the Turks in 1881, in part because they were alarmed by its strong nationalistic orientation.
By then, however, the league had become a powerful symbol of Albania 's national awakening, and its ideas and objectives fueled the drive that culminated later in national independence. When the Young Turks, who seized power in Istanbul in 1908, ignored their commitments to Albanians to institute democratic reforms and to grant autonomy, Albanians embarked on an armed struggle, which, at the end of three years (1910-12), forced the Turks to agree, in effect, to grant their demands. Alarmed at the prospect of Albanian autonomy, Albania 's Balkan neighbours, who had already made plans to partition the region, declared war on Turkey in October 1912, and Greek, Serbian, and Montenegrin armies advanced into Albanian territories. To prevent the annihilation of the country, Albanian national delegates met at a congress in Vlor‘. They were led by Ismail Qemal, an Albanian who had held several high positions in the Ottoman government. On Nov. 28, 1912 , the congress issued the Vlor‘ proclamation, which declared Albania 's independence. History > Independent Albania
Creating the new state
Shortly after the defeat of Turkey by the Balkan allies, a conference of ambassadors of the Great Powers ( Britain , Germany , Russia , Austria-Hungary , France, and Italy ) convened in London in December 1912 to settle the outstanding issues raised by the conflict. With support given to the Albanians by Austria-Hungary and Italy , the conference agreed to create an independent state of Albania . But, in drawing the borders of the new state, owing to strong pressure from Albania 's neighbours, the Great Powers largely ignored demographic realities and ceded the vast region of Kosova to Serbia , while, in the south, Greece was given the greater part of ‚ameria, a part of the old region of Epirus centred on the Thamis River . Many observers doubted whether the new state would be viable with about one-half of Albanian lands and population left outside its borders, especially since these lands were the most productive in food grains and livestock. On the other hand, a small community of about 35,000 ethnic Greeks was included within Albania 's borders. (However, Greece , which counted all Albanians of the Orthodox faith--20 percent of the population--as Greeks, claimed that the number of ethnic Greeks was considerably larger.) Thereafter, Kosova and the ‚ameria remained troublesome issues in Albanian-Greek and Albanian-Yugoslav relations. The Great Powers also appointed a German prince, Wilhelm zu Wied, as ruler of Albania . Wilhelm arrived in Albania in March 1914, but his unfamiliarity with Albania and its problems, compounded by complications arising from the outbreak of World War I, led him to depart from Albania six months later. The war plunged the country into a new crisis, as the armies of Austria-Hungary , France , Italy , Greece , Montenegro , and Serbia invaded and occupied it.
Left without any political leadership or authority, the country was in chaos, and its very fate hung in the balance. At the Paris Peace Conference after the war, the extinction of Albania was averted largely through the efforts of U.S. President Woodrow Wilson, who vetoed a plan by Britain , France , and Italy to partition Albania among its neighbours. A national congress, held in Lushnje in January 1920, laid the foundations of a new government. In December of that year Albania , this time with the help of Britain , gained admission to the League of Nations , thereby winning for the first time international recognition as a sovereign nation and state. Bishop Noli and King Zog
At the start of the 1920s, Albanian society was divided by two apparently irreconcilable forces. One, made up mainly of deeply conservative landowning beys and tribal bajraktars who were tied to the Ottoman and feudal past, was led by Ahmed Bey Zogu, a chieftain from the Mat region of north-central Albania . The other, made up of liberal intellectuals, democratic politicians, and progressive merchants who looked to the West and wanted to modernize and Westernize Albania , was led by Fan S. Noli, an American-educated bishop of the Orthodox church. In the event, this East-West polarization of Albanian society was of such magnitude and complexity that neither leader could master and overcome it. In the unusually open and free political, social, and cultural climate that prevailed in Albania between 1920 and 1924, the liberal forces gathered strength, and, by mid-1924, a popular revolt forced Zogu to flee to Yugoslavia .
Installed as prime minister of the new government in June 1924, Noli set out to build a Western-style democracy in Albania , and toward that end he announced a radical program of land reform and modernization. But his vacillation in carrying out the program, coupled with a depleted state treasury and a failure to obtain international recognition for his revolutionary, left-of-centre government, quickly alienated most of Noli's supporters, and six months later he was overthrown by an armed assault led by Zogu and aided by Yugoslavia . Zogu began his 14-year reign in Albania --first as president (1925-28), then as King Zog I (1928-39)--in a country rife with political and social instability. Greatly in need of foreign aid and credit in order to stabilize the country, Zog signed a number of accords with Italy. These provided transitory financial relief to Albania , but they effected no basic change in its economy, especially under the conditions of the Great Depression of the 1930s. Italy , on the other hand, viewed Albania primarily as a bridgehead for military expansion into the Balkans. On April 7, 1939 , Italy invaded and shortly after occupied the country. King Zog fled to Greece . The social base of Zog's power was a coalition of southern beys and northern bajraktars. With the support of this coalition--plus a vast Oriental bureaucracy, an efficient police force, and Italian money--King Zog brought a large measure of stability to Albania . He extended the authority of the government to the highlands, reduced the brigandage that had formerly plagued the country, laid the foundations of a modern educational system, and took a few steps to Westernize Albanian social life. On balance, however, his achievements were outweighed by his failures. Although formally a constitutional monarch, in reality Zog was a dictator, and Albania under him experienced the fragile stability of a dictatorship. Zog failed to resolve Albania 's fundamental problem, that of land reform, leaving the peasantry as impoverished as before. In order to stave off famine, the government had to import food grains annually, but, even so, thousands of people migrated abroad in search of a better life. Moreover, Zog denied democratic freedoms to Albanians and created conditions that spawned periodic revolts against his regime, alienated most of the educated class, fomented labour unrest, and led to the formation of the first communist groups in the country.
History > World War II
Using Albania as a military base, in October 1940, Italian forces invaded Greece , but they were quickly thrown back into Albania . After Nazi Germany defeated Greece and Yugoslavia in 1941, the regions of Kosova and ‚ameria were joined to Albania , thus creating an ethnically united Albanian state. The new state lasted until November 1944, when the Germans--who had replaced the Italian occupation forces following Italy 's surrender in 1943--withdrew from Albania . Kosova was then reincorporated into the Serbian part of Yugoslavia , and ‚ameria into Greece . Meanwhile, the various communist groups that had germinated in Zog's Albania merged in November 1941 to form the Albanian Communist Party and began to fight the occupiers as a unified resistance force. After a successful struggle against the fascists and two other resistance groups--the National Front (Balli Kombtar) and the pro-Zog Legality Party(Legaliteti)--which contended for power with them, the communists seized control of the country on Nov. 29, 1944 . Enver Hoxha, a college instructor who had led the resistance struggle of communist forces, became the leader of Albania by virtue of his post as secretary-general of the party. Albania , which before the war had been under the personal dictatorship of King Zog, now fell under the collective dictatorship of the Albanian Communist Party. The country became officially the People's Republic of Albania in 1946 and, in 1976, the People's Socialist Republic of Albania.
History > Socialist Albania
The Stalinist state
The new rulers inherited an Albania plagued by a host of ills: pervasive poverty, overwhelming illiteracy, blood feuds, epidemics of disease, and gross subjugation of women. In order to eradicate these ills, the communists drafted a radical modernization program intended to bring social and economic liberation to Albania , thus completing the political liberation won in 1912. The government's first major act to "build socialism" was swift, uncompromising agrarian reform, which broke up the large landed estates of the southern beys and distributed the parcels to landless and other peasants. This destroyed the powerful class of the beys. The government also moved to nationalize industry, banks, and all commercial and foreign properties. Shortly after the agrarian reform, the Albanian government started to collectivize agriculture, completing the job in 1967. As a result, peasants lost title to their land. In addition, the Hoxha leadership extended the new socialist order to the more rugged and isolated northern highlands, bringing down the age-old institution of the blood feud and the patriarchal structure of the family and clans, thus destroying the semifeudal class of bajraktars.
The traditional role of women--namely, confinement to the home and farm--changed radically as they gained legal equality with men and became active participants in all areas of society. In order to obtain the economic aid needed for modernization, as well as the political and military support to enhance its security, Albania turned to the communist world: Yugoslavia (1944-48), the Soviet Union (1948-61), and China (1961-78). Economically, Albania benefited greatly from these alliances: with hundreds of millions of dollars in aid and credits, and with the assistance of a large number of technicians and specialists sent by its allies, Albania was able to build the foundations of a modern industry and to introduce mechanization into agriculture. As a result, for the first time in modern history, the Albanian populace began to emerge from age-old backwardness and, for a while, enjoyed a higher standard of living. Politically, Hoxha was disillusioned with his communist allies and patrons and broke with each one, charging that they had abandoned Marxism-Leninism and the cause of the proletariat for the sake of rapprochement with the capitalist West.
Alienated from both East and West, Albania adopted a "go-it-alone" policy and became notorious as an isolated bastion of Stalinism. Hoxha's program for modernization aimed at transforming Albania from a backward agrarian country into a modern industrial society, and, indeed, within four decades Albania had made respectable--in some cases historic--strides in the development of industry, agriculture, education, the arts, and culture. A notable achievement was the drainage of coastal swamplands--until then breeding grounds for malarial mosquitoes--and the reclamation of land for agricultural and industrial uses. Also symbolic of the change was a historic language reform that fused elements of the Geg and Tosk dialects into a unified literary language.
Political oppression, however, offset gains made on the material and cultural planes. Contrary to provisions in the constitution, during Hoxha's reign Albania was ruled, in effect, by the Directorate of State Security, known as the Sigurimi. To eliminate dissent, the government resorted periodically to purges, in which opponents were subjected to public criticism, dismissed from their jobs, imprisoned in forced-labour camps, or executed. Travel abroad was forbidden to all but those on official business. In 1967 the religious establishment, which party leaders and other atheistic Albanians viewed as a backward medieval institution that hampered national unity and progress, was officially banned, and all Christian and Muslim houses of worship were closed.
HISTORY > COLLAPSE OF COMMUNISM
After Hoxha's death in 1985, his handpicked successor, Ramiz Alia, sought to preserve the communist system while introducing gradual reforms in order to revive the economy, which had been declining steadily since the cessation of aid from former communist allies. To this end he legalized some investment in Albania by foreign firms and expanded diplomatic relations with the West. But, with the fall of communism in eastern Europe in 1989, various segments of Albanian society became politically active and began to agitate against the government. The most alienated groups were the intellectuals and the working class--traditionally the vanguards of a communist movement or organization--as well as Albania 's youth, which had been frustrated by years of confinement and restrictions.
In response to these pressures, Alia granted Albanian citizens the right to travel abroad, curtailed the powers of the Sigurimi, restored religious freedom, and adopted some free-market measures for the economy. In December 1990 Alia endorsed the creation of independent political parties, thus signaling an end to the communists' official monopoly of power. With each concession to the opposition, the state's absolute control over Albanian society weakened. Continuing economic, social, and political instability led to the fall of several governments, and in March 1992 a decisive electoral victory was won by the anticommunist opposition led by the Democratic Party. Alia resigned as president and was succeeded by Sali Berisha, the first democratic leader of Albania since Bishop Noli. Albania 's progress toward democratic reform enabled it to gain membership in the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe , formally bringing to an end its notorious isolation. Efforts to establish a free-market economy caused severe dislocations, but they also opened the road for Albania to obtain vast amounts of aid from developed countries. Albania was thus well on its way toward integrating its politics and institutions with the West, which Albanians have historically viewed as their cultural and geographic home.
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