Albania

Albanians traditionally trace their origins to the Illyrians, an ancient people who occupied the western Balkans and whose tribes and small kingdoms held the lands along the eastern Adriatic from the second half of the first millennium BCE. Greek colonists settled coastal sites from the eighth century BCE, among them Buthrotum, today Butrint, which grew from an Illyrian and Epirote settlement into a flourishing Greco-Roman city. In the second century BCE the Illyrians were conquered by Rome, and their territory was organised within the Roman provincial system; over the following centuries Latin influence reshaped the region while elements of the older Illyrian tongue survived in what would become Albanian.

Butrint embodies this long layering of civilisations. Inhabited over many centuries, it preserves the remains of an Epirote-Greek theatre, a Roman forum and aqueduct, an early Christian baptistery with mosaic floors and later Byzantine and Venetian fortifications. The site, inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1992, is the most important archaeological complex in Albania and a record in stone of the Illyrian, Greek, Roman, Byzantine and Venetian presence on this coast.

With the division of the Roman world the Albanian lands fell to the Eastern, Byzantine, empire, ruled from Constantinople. For most of the next eight centuries they remained a Byzantine borderland, contested at times by Bulgarians, Normans and others, and crossed by the great Roman road, the Via Egnatia, linking the Adriatic to the East. Christianity took root here early, and the population was gradually drawn into the Orthodox and, along the coast, Latin Christian worlds, even as the Slavic migrations of the early medieval centuries transformed the surrounding Balkans.

Turning points

1. from c. 8th c. BCEFormation

   Illyrian and Greek Butrint

   Illyrian tribes inhabited the eastern Adriatic coast, where Greek colonists from about the eighth century BCE helped develop the settlement of Buthrotum (Butrint) into a flourishing city.

   [12] [3]

2. 2nd c. BCEWar & Rupture

   Roman conquest of Illyria

   Rome conquered the Illyrians in the second century BCE and absorbed their lands; Butrint flourished under Roman rule with a forum, aqueduct and public buildings.

   ↗See the data

   [3] [12]

3. from late 4th c. CEPolitics & Power

   Byzantine rule begins

   After the division of the Roman Empire the Albanian lands passed to the Byzantine Empire, remaining a contested Christian borderland for much of the following eight centuries.

   [3] [2]

4. 6th c. CEReligion

   Early Christian Butrint

   Butrint became an episcopal seat with an early Christian basilica and a baptistery whose mosaic floor survives, marking the spread of Christianity in the region under Byzantium.

   [12]

Figures of the era

As Byzantine power waned after the twelfth century, the Albanian lands fragmented among local lords and were fought over by Serbian, Angevin, Venetian and other powers. A short-lived medieval Albanian principality emerged in the region, and noble families such as the Thopia, Balsha, Kastrioti and Arianiti carved out lordships. Into this divided land came the Ottoman Turks: they invaded Albania in 1388 and, despite resistance, brought most of the country under their control over the following decades, completing the conquest around 1430.

The most celebrated chapter of Albanian history belongs to Gjergj Kastrioti, known as Skanderbeg. Son of an Albanian lord, he had been taken as a hostage to the Ottoman court, converted to Islam and trained as a military commander, receiving the name Iskander (Skanderbeg). In 1443 he broke with the Ottomans, returned to Christianity and seized his ancestral stronghold of Kruje. The following year he united Albanian princes in the League of Lezhe and led a long war of resistance. For some twenty-five years, operating from the mountain town of Kruje, he frustrated every attempt by the much larger Ottoman armies to subdue Albania, repelling sieges of Kruje in 1450 and again in 1466-67 and winning support from the papacy, Naples, Venice and other Italian powers.

Skanderbeg's struggle made him a hero across Christian Europe and a lasting symbol of Albanian national identity, but it could not be sustained after his death at Lezhe in 1468. Deprived of his leadership and divided among themselves, the Albanian lords were overwhelmed; the Ottomans took Kruje in 1478 and the Venetian-held port of Shkoder in 1479, completing the absorption of Albania into the Ottoman Empire and beginning nearly five centuries of Ottoman rule.

Turning points

1. 1388War & Rupture

   Ottoman invasion of Albania

   The Ottoman Turks invaded Albania in 1388 and, over the following decades, brought most of the divided and contested country under their control, largely completing the conquest by about 1430.

   ↗See the data

   [1] [3]

2. 1443War & Rupture

   Skanderbeg's revolt and the return to Kruje

   Gjergj Kastrioti (Skanderbeg) broke with the Ottomans after 1443, reconverted to Christianity and seized his ancestral fortress of Kruje, launching a national revolt against Ottoman rule.

   ↗See the data

   [5] [1]

3. 1444Politics & Power

   League of Lezhe

   Skanderbeg united Albanian princes in the League of Lezhe to coordinate resistance, giving the scattered lordships a measure of common purpose against the Ottoman Empire.

   [5]

4. 1450 & 1466-67War & Rupture

   The sieges of Kruje

   From his stronghold at Kruje Skanderbeg withstood repeated Ottoman sieges, including those of 1450 and 1466-67, keeping much of Albania free for some twenty-five years.

   ↗See the data

   [5] [1]

5. 1468Politics & Power

   Death of Skanderbeg

   Skanderbeg died at Lezhe in 1468; without his leadership Albanian resistance collapsed, and the Ottomans took Kruje in 1478 and Shkoder in 1479, completing the conquest.

   [5] [1]

Figures of the era

Under Ottoman rule, which lasted from the late fifteenth century until 1912, Albania was administered as a frontier province and largely cut off from the currents of Western Europe. Over the following centuries a majority of Albanians converted to Islam, while substantial Orthodox and Catholic Christian communities persisted, giving the country its distinctive mix of faiths. Albanians rose high in Ottoman service as soldiers, administrators and grand viziers, and powerful local pashas, most famously Ali Pasha of Tepelene, carved out semi-independent domains. The towns of Berat and Gjirokastra, whose well-preserved Ottoman-era architecture led UNESCO to inscribe their historic centres as a World Heritage Site, are monuments to this long period.

The nineteenth century brought a national revival known as the Rilindja, the Albanian rebirth or awakening. Writers and patriots such as the poet Naim Frasheri and his brothers worked to standardise the Albanian language, create a national literature and assert a distinct Albanian identity distinct from Ottoman, Greek and Slavic neighbours. The decisive political moment came in 1878, when the Treaty of San Stefano and the Congress of Berlin threatened to award Albanian-inhabited districts to neighbouring states. In response Albanian leaders founded the League of Prizren on 1 July 1878, which sought to unite the Albanian lands into a single autonomous unit within the empire and to defend them against partition.

The League of Prizren was suppressed by the Ottomans by 1881, but it had given organised form to Albanian nationalism and set its goals for the next generation: protection of the Albanian lands, autonomy and the cultivation of the national language and culture. As the Ottoman Empire weakened and its Balkan neighbours expanded, Albanians increasingly understood that only their own statehood could secure them against being divided among Serbia, Montenegro, Greece and Bulgaria, the fear that would be realised in the wars of 1912-13.

Turning points

1. from 1479Religion

   Albania within the Ottoman Empire

   Following the fall of Kruje and Shkoder, Albania was incorporated into the Ottoman Empire, beginning nearly five centuries of rule during which most Albanians converted to Islam.

   [1] [2]

2. 18th-19th c.Culture & Ideas

   Ottoman towns of Berat and Gjirokastra

   The towns of Berat and Gjirokastra developed the distinctive Ottoman-era urban architecture, including fortified citadels and tall stone houses, that later earned them UNESCO World Heritage status.

   [13]

3. 19th c.Culture & Ideas

   The Rilindja national awakening

   A cultural and political revival, the Rilindja, promoted the Albanian language, literature and a distinct national identity, led by writers and patriots such as the poet Naim Frasheri.

   [4] [7]

4. 1 Jul 1878Politics & Power

   League of Prizren

   Founded at Prizren in response to the Congress of Berlin, the Albanian League sought to unify the Albanian lands into one autonomous unit and to resist their partition among neighbouring states.

   [6] [4]

Figures of the era

As the Balkan Wars broke up Ottoman rule in Europe, Albanian leaders moved to claim statehood before their lands could be partitioned. On 28 November 1912 an assembly at Vlore led by Ismail Qemali proclaimed Albania independent and raised the national flag, establishing a provisional government with Qemali as its head. The new state's survival, however, depended on the European Great Powers, who took up the question at the Conference of London (also called the Conference of Ambassadors) that met from December 1912. The powers agreed in 1913 to recognise an autonomous Principality of Albania, and the Treaty of London of 30 May 1913 confirmed the Ottoman cession of its remaining European territories.

The borders the powers fixed were a lasting grievance. Under pressure from Serbia, Montenegro and Greece, the Conference of London left roughly half of the Albanian-populated lands, and a large share of the Albanian population, outside the new state, assigning the Albanian-inhabited region of Kosovo to Serbia and parts of the south, including Chameria, toward Greece. This partition created the enduring Albanian national question, the unresolved status of the many Albanians left beyond the country's frontiers, above all in Kosovo and western Macedonia. The first years of independence were chaotic: a brief reign by the German prince William of Wied collapsed within months, and the First World War saw Albania occupied by rival armies.

Order returned in the 1920s under Ahmed Zogu, who dominated Albanian politics, became president in 1925 and in 1928 proclaimed himself King Zog I. His authoritarian monarchy modernised parts of the state but drew Albania ever closer to Fascist Italy, which extended loans and influence. The relationship ended in conquest: on 7 April 1939 Italy invaded Albania, King Zog fled into exile, and the Italian king Victor Emmanuel III was declared king of Albania, ending the country's independence on the eve of the Second World War.

Turning points

1. 28 Nov 1912Independence

   Declaration of independence at Vlore

   An assembly at Vlore led by Ismail Qemali proclaimed Albania an independent state and raised the national flag, breaking from the Ottoman Empire during the First Balkan War.

   ↗See the data

   [8] [14] [1]

2. 1912-13Politics & Power

   Conference of London and the borders

   The Great Powers recognised an autonomous Albania but, pressed by its neighbours, drew borders leaving about half the Albanian-populated lands, including Kosovo, outside the state, creating the Albanian national question.

   [9] [14] [1]

3. 1925-1928Politics & Power

   The rise of Zog

   Ahmed Zogu consolidated power, becoming president in 1925 and in 1928 proclaiming himself King Zog I, ruling an authoritarian monarchy increasingly dependent on Fascist Italy.

   [1] [2]

4. 7 Apr 1939War & Rupture

   Italian invasion of Albania

   Fascist Italy invaded Albania on 7 April 1939; King Zog fled into exile and the Italian king Victor Emmanuel III was proclaimed king of Albania, ending its independence.

   ↗See the data

   [1] [2] [15]

Figures of the era

Italian rule gave way to German occupation after Italy's surrender in 1943, and resistance was led above all by the communist-dominated National Liberation Movement. When the Germans withdrew in 1944 the partisans took Tirana and established a provisional government headed by Enver Hoxha, the founder and leader of the Albanian Communist Party. The United States, which had recognised Albania in 1922 and severed relations after the Italian takeover in 1939, did not restore them, and Albania disappeared behind an ideological wall that would last more than four decades.

Hoxha transformed Albania into an Eastern European model of Stalinism. His regime nationalised the economy, collectivised agriculture and imposed one of the most repressive systems in the communist world, imprisoning, executing or exiling landowners, clan leaders, clergy of all faiths and party officials judged disloyal; in 1967 the state went so far as to proclaim Albania the world's first officially atheist country and to close its mosques and churches. Hoxha's foreign policy was a sequence of ruptures: he broke with Tito's Yugoslavia in 1948, allied with the Soviet Union, then broke with Moscow in 1961 after denouncing Khrushchev's de-Stalinisation, turning to Maoist China before breaking with Beijing as well in the late 1970s.

The result was an Albania sealed off from both East and West, its borders fortified, foreign travel forbidden and the country dotted with hundreds of thousands of defensive bunkers. Hoxha forced a backward, semi-feudal society into a centrally planned industrial economy at enormous human cost, building a personality cult and a pervasive secret police. He ruled until his death in 1985, leaving behind the poorest and most isolated state in Europe, governed by his chosen successor Ramiz Alia.

Turning points

1. 1944Politics & Power

   Communist victory and Hoxha in power

   As German forces withdrew, the communist-led partisans took Tirana and formed a provisional government under Enver Hoxha, who would rule Albania for over four decades.

   [10] [1]

2. 1948 & 1961Politics & Power

   Breaks with Yugoslavia and the USSR

   Hoxha broke with Tito's Yugoslavia in 1948 and allied with the Soviet Union, then ruptured with Moscow in 1961 over de-Stalinisation, turning instead to Maoist China.

   [10]

3. 1967Religion

   Albania declared an atheist state

   The Hoxha regime launched a campaign against religion, closing mosques and churches and proclaiming Albania the world's first officially atheist state.

   [10] [1]

4. late 1970sPolitics & Power

   Rupture with China and total isolation

   Hoxha broke with post-Maoist China in the late 1970s, leaving Albania almost completely isolated, its borders sealed and its economy self-reliant by decree.

   [10]

5. 1985Politics & Power

   Death of Enver Hoxha

   Hoxha died in 1985 after ruling for over forty years, leaving the most tightly controlled society in Europe to his successor Ramiz Alia.

   [10]

Figures of the era

Albania was among the last European states to abandon communism. Student protests in Tirana in December 1990 forced Ramiz Alia's party to authorise political pluralism, and the first multiparty elections were held in March 1991. The Party of Labour's continuous rule since 1944 ended with the elections of March 1992. The United States, whose relations with Albania had lapsed in 1939, resumed diplomatic relations on 15 March 1991, signalling the country's return to the wider world. The transition, however, was painful: in early 1997 the collapse of fraudulent pyramid investment schemes, in which a large part of the population had lost its savings, triggered armed unrest that spread from the south and brought the state close to anarchy before order was restored with international help.

Foreign relations slowly normalised. The long-formal state of war with Greece, a legacy of the Second World War and of competing claims over the south, where a Greek minority lives and which Greek nationalists called Northern Epirus, was only belatedly ended, Greece lifting it in the late 1980s; the related Cham question, concerning Albanians expelled from Greek Epirus after the war, remains a point of historical contention. Above all, Albania's fate stayed bound to Kosovo, whose population is overwhelmingly ethnic Albanian and which had been left outside Albania in 1913. The repression of Kosovo's Albanians under Yugoslavia and the war of the late 1990s drew Albania into the Kosovo question; Kosovo declared independence on 17 February 2008, recognised the next day by the United States.

Reorienting decisively toward the West, Albania joined NATO together with Croatia on 1 April 2009, becoming one of the alliance's newest members. It applied for European Union membership in April 2009 and was granted candidate status in June 2014; after years of delay, accession negotiations were formally opened in July 2022. A poor and long-isolated country at the start of the 1990s, Albania has rebuilt a democratic, market-oriented state firmly anchored in the Euro-Atlantic institutions, even as the Albanian national question first posed in 1913 continues to shape the politics of the region.

Turning points

1. Mar 1991Politics & Power

   End of one-party rule

   After the Tirana student protests of December 1990, Albania held its first multiparty elections in March 1991, and the Party of Labour's monopoly on power ended with the 1992 elections.

   [1] [2]

2. 15 Mar 1991Politics & Power

   US-Albania relations resumed

   The United States and Albania resumed diplomatic relations on 15 March 1991 after a break of more than half a century dating to the Italian takeover of 1939.

   [15]

3. 1997Catastrophe

   Pyramid scheme collapse and unrest

   The collapse of fraudulent pyramid investment schemes in early 1997 wiped out the savings of many Albanians and triggered armed unrest that brought the state close to anarchy before order was restored.

   ↗See the data

   [1] [2]

4. 17 Feb 2008Independence

   Kosovo declares independence

   Kosovo, whose population is overwhelmingly ethnic Albanian and which was left outside Albania in 1913, declared independence on 17 February 2008, recognised the next day by the United States.

   ↗See the data

   [16] [11]

5. 1 Apr 2009Politics & Power

   Albania joins NATO

   Albania, with Croatia, formally joined NATO on 1 April 2009 as the alliance's 27th and 28th members, completing its strategic reorientation toward the West.

   [17] [18]

6. Jun 2014Politics & Power

   EU candidate status

   Albania, which applied for membership in April 2009, was granted European Union candidate status in June 2014; accession negotiations were formally opened in July 2022.

   [19]

Figures of the era