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Albanian (, or shqip, ) is a unique Indo-European language spoken by nearly 6 million people,Gheg 2,779,246 + Tosk 2,980,000 + Arbereshe 80,000 + Arvanitika 150,000 = 5,989,246. (Ethnologue, 2005)Gordon, Raymond G., Jr. (ed.), 2005. Ethnologue: Languages of the World, Fifteenth edition. Dallas, Tex.: SIL International. Online version: ethnologue.com. primarily in Albania and Kosovo but also in other areas of the Balkans in which there is an Albanian population, including western Macedonia, Montenegro, and southern Serbia. Albanian is also spoken by native enclaves in Greece, along the eastern coast of southern Italy, and in Sicily. Additionally, speakers of Albanian can be found elsewhere throughout the latter two countries resulting from a modern diaspora, originating from the Balkans, that also includes Scandinavia, Switzerland, Germany, United Kingdom, Turkey, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the United States. An estimated 2 million Albanians are believed to be the total of the diaspora concentrated mostly in Western Europe and North America.

Albania (Albanian: Shqipëri/Shqipëria, Gheg Albanian: Shqipnia or Shqypnia), officially the Republic of Albania (Albanian: Republika e Shqipërisë, ), is a Mediterranean country in South Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Montenegro to the north, Kosovo to the northeast, Macedonia to the east and Greece to the southeast. It has a coast on the Adriatic Sea to the west, and on the Ionian Sea to the southwest. It is less than from Italy, across the Strait of Otranto which 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, Council of Europe, World Trade Organisation, Organisation of the Islamic Conference and one of the founding members of the Union for the Mediterranean. Albania has been a potential candidate for accession to the European Union since January 2003, and it formally applied for EU membership on 28 April 2009.Albania applies for EU membership, BBC News, 28 April 2009. Retrieved on 29 April 2009

Albania is a parliamentary democracy and a transition economy. The Albanian capital, Tirana, is home to approximately 895,000 of the country's 3.6 million people, and it is also the financial capital of the country.Population stats from tirana.gov.al Free-market reforms have opened the country to foreign investment, especially in the development of energy and transportation infrastructure.Reports: Poverty Decreases In Albania After Years Of Growth.Dow Jones Newswires, 201-938-5500.http://www.nasdaq.com/aspx/stock-market-news-story.aspx?storyid=200904231403dowjonesdjonline000935&title=reports-poverty-decreases-in-albania-after-years-of-growthAlbania plans to build three hydropower plants.People's DailyStrong GDP growth reduces poverty in Albania-study.Reuters.http://www.forbes.com/feeds/afx/2009/04/23/afx6330798.html

Tirana () is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Albania. It was founded in 1614 by Sulejman Pasha and became Albania's capital city in 1920. The Municipality of Tirana lies on the river Ishëm, about inland and is located at (41.33°N, 19.82°E) in Tirana District, Tirana County. Tirana's average altitude is above sea level and its highest point measures 1,828 m at Mali me Gropa.

In addition, there are two main rivers that run through the city: the Lanë and the Tiranë. The city also contains a total of four artificial lakes: Tirana Lake, Kodër-Kamëz Lake, Farka Lake, and Tufina Lake. The city is on the same parallel as Naples, Madrid and Istanbul and on the same meridian as Budapest and Krakow.

==Renaissance==

The expansion of the Ottoman Empire pushed many Albanians from their homeland during the period of the Western European humanist Renaissance. Among the Albanian émigrés that became known in the humanist world are historian Marin Barleti (1460-1513) who in 1510 published in Rome a history of Skanderbeg, which was translated almost into all European languages, or Marino Becichemi (1408-1526), Gjon Gazulli (1400-1455), Leonicus Thomeus (1456-1531), Michele Maruli (15th century), Michele Artioti (1480-1556) and many others who were distinguished in various fields of science, art and philosophy.