Albania
Albania, officially the Republic of Albania, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is located in the Balkans, on the Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea, and shares land borders with Montenegro to the northwest, Kosovo to the northeast, North Macedonia to the east and Greece to the south. With an area of, it has a varied range of climatic, geological, hydrological and morphological conditions. Albania's landscapes range from rugged snow-capped mountains in the Albanian Alps and the Korab, Skanderbeg, Pindus and Ceraunian Mountains, to fertile lowland plains extending from the Adriatic and Ionian seacoasts. Tirana is the capital and largest city in the country, followed by Durrës, Vlorë, and Shkodër.
Albania was inhabited by several Illyrian tribes, among them the Ardiaei, Bylliones, Dassaretii, Enchele, and Taulantians, with the Chaonians settled in the southwest. Several colonies were founded by the Ancient Greeks along the Albanian coast, most notably Apollonia. The Illyrians were the dominant power in Albania before the rise of Macedon. Following the Illyrian Wars, Albania was integrated into the Roman Empire and remained in the Byzantine Empire after its partition. During the Middle Ages, several Albanian principalities emerged, most notably the Principality of Arbanon, Kingdom of Albania, Principality of Albania and Albania Veneta. In the 15th century, Albania became a center of resistance against Ottoman expansion under the leadership of Gjergj Kastrioti Skanderbeg, whose military campaigns repelled Ottoman advances for over two decades. Although incorporated into the Ottoman Empire, Albania retained distinct cultural and social identities throughout four centuries of foreign rule, culminating in the Albanian Renaissance in the 19th century. Albania declared independence in 1912, followed by a turbulent 20th century marked by monarchy, foreign occupation during both World Wars, and a communist regime under Enver Hoxha.
Since its independence in 1912, Albania has undergone a number of political changes, transitioning from a monarchy to a communist regime before becoming a sovereign parliamentary constitutional republic. Governed by a constitution prioritising the separation of powers, the country's political structure includes a parliament, a ceremonial president, a functional prime minister and a hierarchy of courts. Albania is a developing country with an upper-middle income economy driven by the service sector, with manufacturing and tourism, which attracted over 11 million visitors in 2024, also playing significant roles. After the dissolution of its communist system the country shifted from centralised planning to an open market economy. Albanian citizens have universal health care access and free primary and secondary education. The country is an official candidate for membership in the European Union and has been negotiating accession since 2022.
Etymology
The origin of the name "Albania" can be traced back to medieval Latin and the association with the Illyrian tribe of the Albani. This connection is further supported by the writings of the Ancient Greek geographer Ptolemy during the 2nd century AD, where he included the settlement of Albanopolis situated to the northeast of Durrës. The presence of a medieval settlement named Albanon or Arbanon hints at the possibility of historical continuity. The precise relationship between these historical references and the question of whether Albanopolis was synonymous with Albanon remain subjects of scholarly debate.The Byzantine historian Michael Attaliates, in his 11th-century historical account, provides the earliest undisputed reference to the Albanians, when he mentions them as participants in a revolt against Constantinople in 1079. He also identifies the Arbanitai as subjects of the Duke of Dyrrachium. In the Middle Ages, Albania was denoted as Arbëri or Arbëni by its inhabitants, who identified themselves as Arbëreshë or Arbëneshë. Albanians employ the terms Shqipëri or Shqipëria for their nation, designations that trace their historical origins to the 14th century. But only in the late 17th and early 18th centuries did these terms gradually supersede Arbëria and Arbëreshë among Albanians. These two expressions are widely interpreted to symbolise "Children of the Eagles" and "Land of the Eagles".
History
Prehistory
Mesolithic habitation in Albania has been evidenced in several open-air sites which were close to the Adriatic coastline and in caves. Mesolithic objects found in a cave near Xarrë include flint and jasper objects along with fossilised animal bones, while those discoveries at Mount Dajt comprise bone and stone tools similar to those of the Aurignacian culture. The Neolithic era in Albania began around 7000 BC and is evidenced in finds which indicate domestication of sheep and goats and small-scale agriculture. A part of the Neolithic population may have been the same as the Mesolithic population of the southern Balkans, like in the Konispol cave, where the Mesolithic stratum co-exists with Pre-Pottery Neolithic finds. Cardium pottery culture appears in coastal Albania and across the Adriatic after 6500 BC, while the settlements of the interior took part in the processes that formed the Starčevo culture. The Albanian bitumen mines of Selenicë provide early evidence of bitumen exploitation in Europe, dating to Late Neolithic Albania, when local communities used it as pigment for ceramic decoration, waterproofing, and adhesive for repairing broken vessels. The bitumen of Selenicë circulated towards eastern Albania from the early 5th millennium BC. First evidence of its overseas trade export comes from the Neolithic and Bronze Age southern Italy. The high-quality bitumen of Selenicë has been exploited throughout all the historical ages since the Late Neolithic era until today.The Indo-Europeanisation of Albania in the context of the IE-isation of the western Balkans began after 2800 BC. The presence of the Early Bronze Age tumuli in the vicinity of later Apollonia dates to 2679±174 calBC. These burial mounds belong to the southern expression of the Adriatic-Ljubljana culture, which moved southwards along the Adriatic from the northern Balkans. The same community built similar mounds in Montenegro and northern Albania. The first archaeogenetic find related to the IE-isation of Albania involves a man with predominantly Yamnaya ancestry buried in a tumulus of northeastern Albania, which dates to 2663–2472 calBC. During the Middle Bronze Age, Cetina culture sites and finds appear in Albania. Cetina culture moved southwards across the Adriatic from the Cetina valley of Dalmatia. In Albania, Cetina finds are concentrated around southern Lake Shkodër and appear typically in tumulus cemeteries, such as in Shkrel and Shtoj, and hillforts like Gajtan, as well as cave sites like Blaz, Nezir, and Keputa and lake basin sites like Sovjan.
Antiquity
The incorporated territory of Albania was historically inhabited by Indo-European peoples, amongst them numerous Illyrian and Epirote tribes. There were also several Greek colonies. The territory referred to as Illyria corresponded roughly to the area east of the Adriatic Sea in the Mediterranean Sea, extending in the south to the mouth of the Vjosë. The first account of the Illyrian groups comes from the Periplus of the Euxine Sea, a Greek text written in the 4th century BC. The Bryges were also present in central Albania, while the south was inhabited by the Epirote Chaonians, whose capital was at Phoenice. Other colonies, such as Apollonia and Epidamnos, were established by Greek city-states on the coast by the 7th century BC.File:Parku Arkeologjik i Apollonisë 04.jpg|thumb|left|Apollonia was an important Greek colony on the Illyrian coast along the Adriatic Sea and one of the western points of the Via Egnatia route, which connected Rome and Constantinople.
The Illyrian Taulanti were a powerful Illyrian tribe among the earliest recorded tribes in the area. They lived in an area that corresponds with much of present-day Albania. Together with the Dardanian ruler Cleitus, Glaucias, the ruler of the Taulantian kingdom, fought against Alexander the Great at the Battle of Pelium in 335 BC. As time passed, the ruler of Ancient Macedonia, Cassander of Macedon, captured Apollonia and crossed the river Genusus in 314 BC. A few years later, Glaucias laid siege to Apollonia and captured the Greek colony of Epidamnos.
The Illyrian Ardiaei tribe, centred in Montenegro, ruled over most of the territory of northern Albania. Their Ardiaean Kingdom reached its greatest extent under King Agron, the son of Pleuratus II. Agron extended his rule over other neighbouring tribes as well. Following Agron's death in 230 BC, his wife, Teuta, inherited the Ardiaean kingdom. Teuta's forces extended their operations further southwards to the Ionian Sea. In 229 BC, Rome declared war on the kingdom for extensively plundering Roman ships. The war ended in an Illyrian defeat in 227 BC. Teuta was eventually succeeded by Gentius in 181 BC. Gentius clashed with the Romans in 168 BC, initiating the Third Illyrian War. The conflict resulted in the Roman conquest of the region by 167 BC. The Romans split the region into three administrative divisions.
Middle Ages
The Roman Empire was split in 395 upon the death of Theodosius I into an Eastern and Western Roman Empire, in part because of the increasing pressure from threats during the Barbarian Invasions. From the 6th century into the 7th century, the Slavs crossed the Danube and largely absorbed the indigenous Greeks, Illyrians, and Thracians in the Balkans; thus, the Illyrians were mentioned for the last time in historical records in the 7th century.In the 11th century, the Great Schism formalised the break of communion between the Eastern Orthodox and Western Catholic Church, which is reflected in Albania through the emergence of a Catholic north and Orthodox south. The Albanian people inhabited the west of Lake Ochrida and the upper valley of the River Shkumbin and established the Principality of Arbanon in 1190 under the leadership of Progon of Kruja. The realm was succeeded by his sons Gjin Progoni and Demetrio Progoni.
Upon the death of Dhimiter, the territory came under the rule of the Albanian-Greek Gregorios Kamonas and subsequently under the Golem of Kruja. In the 13th century, the principality was dissolved. Arbanon is considered to be the first sketch of an Albanian state, which retained a semi-autonomous status as the western extremity of the Byzantine Empire, under the Byzantine Doukai of Epirus or Laskarids of Nicaea.
File:Venezia_-_Ex_Scola_degli_albanesi__-_Foto_Giovanni_Dall%27Orto,_12-Aug-2007_-_11_-_Maometto_II_assedia_Scutari.jpg|thumb|left|A relief of the Scuola degli Albanesi commemorating the siege of Shkodra. It illustrates Sultan Mehmet II laying siege to the Albanian town of Scutari, then part of the Venetian Empire.
Towards the end of the 12th and beginning of the 13th centuries, Serbs and Venetians began to take possession of the territory. The ethnogenesis of the Albanians is uncertain; however, the first undisputed mention of Albanians dates back in historical records from 1079 or 1080 in a work by Michael Attaleiates, who referred to the Albanoi as having taken part in a revolt against Constantinople. At this point, the Albanians were fully Christianised.
After the dissolution of Arbanon, Charles I of Anjou concluded an agreement with the Albanian rulers, promising to protect them and their ancient liberties. In 1272, he established the Kingdom of Albania and conquered regions back from the Despotate of Epirus. The kingdom claimed all of central Albania territory from Dyrrhachium along the Adriatic Sea coast down to Butrint. A Catholic political structure was a basis for the papal plans of spreading Catholicism in the Balkan Peninsula. This plan also found the support of Helen of Anjou. Around 30 Catholic churches and monasteries were built during her rule, mainly in northern Albania. Internal power struggles within the Byzantine Empire in the 14th century enabled Serbs' most powerful medieval ruler, Stefan Dušan, to establish a short-lived empire that included all of Albania except Durrës.
In 1367, Albanian rulers established the Despotate of Arta. During that time, several Albanian principalities were established, notably the Principality of Albania, the Principality of Kastrioti, the Lordship of Berat, and the Principality of Dukagjini. In the first half of the 15th century, the Ottoman Empire invaded most of Albania, and the League of Lezhë was organized under Skanderbeg as a ruler, who became the national hero of the Albanian medieval history.