Albania
Albania , officially the Republic of Albania is a country in South Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Greece to the south-east, Montenegro to the north, the disputed territory of Kosovo to the northeast, and the Republic of Macedonia to the east. 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 miles) from Italy, across the Strait of Otranto which links the Adriatic Sea to the Ionian Sea.
The country is a member of the United Nations, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, Council of Europe, World Trade Organisation,Organisation of the Islamic Conference, and Union for the Mediterranean. It is also a potential candidate for membership in the European Union and received a NATO membership invitation on 3 April 2008. Albania is expected to formally join the 26-nation pact next April on NATO's 60th birthday, and has provided support and troops for security and peacekeeping missions in the Balkans, in Afghanistan, Iraq and Chad.
Context of the Current Lens
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The Austro-Hungarian Empire and its Legacy
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One late spring day a treaty was signed (The Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867) which would seal the fate of Europe through two World Wars. Emperor Franz Joseph of Austria became also the King of Hungary. The two halves of the new empire would be...
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The Empires and Enclaves of Europe
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If you live in an empire it may not matter that you don't like your neighbors much. You are both too busy fighting the remote government or trying to pay your exorbitant taxes. But what if that emperor goes away and you now live in a nation-state cre...
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Communism in the Western Balkans
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The Balkans
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The Bosnia and Kosovo crises stemmed from the extension of the Ottoman Empire in South-East Europe. The ethnic diversity of the area, and the religious elements of it, were disguised for a while by the hegemony of the USSR*. Once the USSR dissolved...
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The Ottoman Empire and its Political Legacy
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Of all empires, the Ottoman Empire seems to have left behind the most complex and prolific checkerboard of enclaves and exclaves. The pattern of pockets of peoples left behind in the territories of the successor nation-states is compounded by the rel...
Great Stuff on Amazon on Albania
Geography of Albania
Gjilan
Naturalization cerem...
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Geography of Albania
Albania has a total area of . It shares a border with Montenegro to the northwest, a border with Kosovo to the northeast, a border with Macedonia to the north and east, and a border with Greece to the south and southeast. Its coastline is long. The lowlands of the west face the Adriatic Sea and the strategically important Strait of Otranto, which puts less than of water between Albania and the heel of the Italian "boot" (links Adriatic Sea to Ionian Sea and Mediterranean Sea).
Albania has coastline on the Adriatic Sea and the Ionian Sea.
Who are the Albanians?
The Illyrians
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Living Aspects of Antiquity: The Illyrians
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The image is the logo of the Bosnian Pyramid of the Sun Archaeological Park (a possible Illyrian artifact) The Illyrians are a (pre)classical people who lived along the north Adriatic coast (opposite present-day Italy), an area now occupied by seve...
Skanderberg
Gjergj Kastrioti Skanderbeg (6 May 1405 - 17 January 1468; Albanian: Gjergj Kastrioti Skënderbeu, widely known as Skanderbeg, Turkish ?skender Bey, meaning "Lord Alexander" or "Leader Alexander"), or Iskander Beg, was a prominent historical figure in the history of Albania and of the Albanian people. Known as the Dragon of Albania, he is the national hero of the Albanians and initially through the work of his main biographer, Marin Barleti, is remembered for his struggle against the Ottoman Empire, whose armies he successfully ousted from his native land for more than two decades.Marin Barleti, 1508, Historia de vita et gestis Scanderbegi Epirotarum principis
History of Albania
History of Albania
The History of Albania emerges from the prehistoric stage from the 4th century BCE, 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), Macedonia (particularly Epirus Nova), and Moesia Superior. The territory remained under Roman (Byzantine) control until the Slavic migrations of the 7th century, and was integrated into the Bulgarian Empire in the 9th century.
The territorial nucleus of the Albanian state forms in the Middle Ages, as the Principality of Arbër and the Kingdom of Albania. The first records of the Albanian people as a distinct ethnicity also date to this period. The area was conquered in the 15th century by the Ottoman Empire and remained under Ottoman control as part of the Rumelia province until 1912, when the first independent Albanian state was declared. The formation of an Albanian national consciousness dates to the later 19th century and is part of the larger phenomenon of rise of nationalism under the Ottoman Empire.
A 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), which was conquered into Fascist Italy during World War II. After the collapse of the Axis powers, Albania became a communist state, the Socialist People's Republic of Albania, which for the most part of its duration was dominated by Enver Hoxha (d. 1985). Hoxha's political heir Ramiz Alia oversaw the disintegration of the "Hoxhaist" state during the wider collapse of the Eastern Bloc in the later 1980s.
The communist regime collapsed in 1990, and the Republic of Albania was founded in 1991 and the former communist party was routed in elections March 1992, amid economic collapse and social unrest. Further crisis during the 1990s, peaking in the 1997 Lottery Uprising, led to mass emigration of Albanians, mostly to Italy, Greece, Switzerland, Germany and to North America during the 1990s.
Albania became a full member of NATO in 2009. The country is applying to join the European Union.
King Zog
King Zog
Zog I, Skanderbeg III of the Albanians[1] [2] (born Ahmet Zogolli, later changed to Ahmet Zogu) (October 8, 1895 - April 9, 1961) was King of Albania from 1928 to 1939. He was previously Prime Minister of Albania (1922 - 1924) and President of Albania (1925 - 1928).
Government of Albania
Politics of Albania takes place in a framework of a parliamentary representative democratic republic, whereby the Prime Minister is the head of government, and of a multi-party system. Executive power is exercised by the government. Legislative power is vested in both the government and parliament, the Assembly of the Republic of Albania (Kuvendi i Republikës së Shqipërisë). Since 1991, the introduction of pluralism, the party system is dominated by the Democratic Party of Albania and the socialist (post-communist) Socialist Party of Albania.
Enver Hoxha
Enver Hoxha
'''' (, 16 October 1908 11 April 1985) was the Communist leader of Albania from the end of World War II until his death in 1985, as the First Secretary of the Party of Labour of Albania. He served as Prime Minister of Albania from 1944 to 1954, Minister of Interior (1944-1953) and Minister of Foreign Affairs from 1946 to 1953.
Hoxha's leadership was characterized by isolation from the mid 1970's onwards and his proclaimed firm adherence to anti-revisionist Marxist-Leninism. After his break with Maoism in the late 1970s and early 1980s, numerous Maoist parties declared themselves Hoxhaist. The International Conference of Marxist-Leninist Parties and Organizations (Unity & Struggle) is the most well known collection of these parties today.
Blog Posts from Google on Albania
- King Zog of Albania in exile, film footage 1940 « Diana Mandache's ...
- Recent Posts. King Zog of Albania in exile, film footage 1940 · On this day Princess Elizabeth of Wied married Prince Carol of Romania 140 years ago · HRH Princess Helena of Romania: Birthday Anniversary ...
- Sarande Albania - GetJealous.com Travel Blogs
- Oh well ,what can i say ,roads virtually none excistant ,took our life in our hands visiting a none castle ,wonderful views of Corfu ,etc. rubbish everywhere and to cap it all we have had an oil spill.Passed an orch...
- Eurovision Song Contest Moscow 2009 | News - Albania: Olta and ...
- Popular Albanian Eurostars are taking part this year in Kënga Magjike. Olta Boka (Albania 2008) will sing a sentimental ballad in the first semi -final. The song is written by Adrian Hila, the man behind Zemren e lame peng with which ...
- Miss Earth 2009: Miss Albania Suada Saliu | Philippines
- Miss Earth 2009 Miss Albania Suada Saliu is the official candidate / representative / delegate from Lezhë, Albania. According to Suada's facebook account, she.
Albania's Neighbors
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Kosovo: Rumelia to Resolution
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The "NEWBORN" obelisk unveiled at the celebration of the 2008 Kosovo declaration of independence proclaimed earlier that day, 17 February 2008, in Pristina. This lens tracks the formation of Kosovo from its creation out of the Ottoman Province of Ru...
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Italy
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The "cultural density" of Italy is very well demonstrated by the hundreds of historic buildings destroyed in the March, 2009 earthquake in the Abruzzi region. Italy was interesting archaeologically, historically and architecturally even before the Ro...
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Macedonia
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Macedonia is used as a term to describe a large region of the Balkan Peninsula in Eastern Europe. It is also used to describe a small country that used to be a component of Yugoslavia and is now either "The Republic of Macedonia" (RoM) or "The Former...
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Montenegro
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One of the newest and one of the oldest nations in Europe, Montenegro is named for its spectacular black mountains but it also offers splendid gorges, the Bay of Kotor, and much more. Montenegro is defined as a "Civic, democratic, ecological and stat...
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Greece
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Greece looks back on the heritage of the ancient Greek civilization, generally considered to be the seminal culture which provided the foundation of Western civilization. As such, it is the birthplace of democracy,[5] Western philosophy,[6] the Olymp...
Connections
Learn Albanian!
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Learn Albanian
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Learn Albanian - Albania is a 'secret' tip for travellers in Europe! Beautiful beaches, very interesting mountains and landscape, and a friendly people. To learn Albanian, even if it's only a few words, will help you make your trip to Al...
Index Lenses
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Everything Eastern European Headquarters
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Everything Eastern European: This group is about Everything Eastern European including news, politics, travel, shopping, travel, history, people, et. al. What is considered Eastern Europe? The included countries are Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Polan...
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Empires and Enclaves Index Lens
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This lens indexes a cascade of lenses "Empires and Enclaves" which attempts to provide pointers to geographical, historical, and political background information on current crises e.g. South Ossetia 2008 Certain places whose status is disputed are i...
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Europe's Treaty Organizations
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I was watching a Sunday morning politics show on American TV, and I realized that some of the candidates for office in the 2008 elections had at best a tenuous understanding of NATO, the European Community, the Council of Europe, OSCE, and other NGO...
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- JaguarJulie JaguarJulie Oct 2, 2008 @ 4:23 pm
- Another great informative lens! Welcome to the Everything Eastern European group. 5*****
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