History of Albania

The name Albania is derived from an ancient Illyrian tribe, the Albanoi, forbears of the modern Albanians and the Albanian language derives from the language of the Illyrians. Albanian is the official language (including Tosk and Gheg dialects). Tosk is the principal Albanian dialect as the base for standard Albanian and is used in education and other institutions.

Although Albania is a relatively homogenous country, ethnic Albanians comprise approximately 95 percent of a total population of over three million. An estimated three percent of the population is of Greek descent; Vlachs, Roma, Serbs and Bulgarians make up the remaining two percent. In terms of religious affiliation, 70 percent of Albanians are Muslim; 20 percent are Albanian Orthodox and 10 percent are Roman Catholic. In 1967, all mosques and churches were closed and religious observances prohibited. In late 1990, Albania began allowing private religious practice.

The territory - known in ancient times as Illyria - was long dominated by Greeks and Romans before becoming part, in 395 AD, of the Byzantine Empire, which lasted until the 8th century when Bulgarian-Slavs started a progressive invasion of the land.

The Ottomans established their rule in 1389, marking the end of an experience of two centuries of feudalism. An alliance (1444�1466) of Albanian chiefs failed to halt the advance of the Ottoman Turks, and the Ottoman Empire dominated the region for about 500 years, until it proclaimed its independence on Nov. 28, 1912.

Modern Albanian borders were, in fact, marked in 1921 leaving one third of ethnic Albanians in the territories of neighbouring States. Ahmed Bey Zogu led the country first as a president in 1925 and then as a king in 1928 (under the name of Zog I). He ruled until Italy annexed Albania in 1939.

Communist guerrillas under Enver Hoxha seized power in 1944, near the end of World War II. The country became officially the People's Republic of Albania in 1946 and, in 1976, the People's Socialist Republic of Albania. Hoxha was a devotee of Stalin, emulating the Soviet leader's repressive tactics, but in 1961 he broke with Soviet communism because of differences with Khrushchev and then aligned himself with Chinese communism, which he also abandoned in 1978 after the death of Mao. From then on Albania went its own way to forge its individual version of the socialist state and became one of the most isolated�and economically underdeveloped�countries in the world.

Hoxha was succeeded by Ramiz Alia in 1982, who 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. In December 1990 Alia endorsed the creation of independent political parties, thus signaling an end to the communists' official monopoly of power.

Elections in March 1991 gave the Communists a decisive majority. But a general strike and street demonstrations soon forced the all-Communist cabinet to resign. The opposition Democratic Party won a landslide victory in the 1992 elections, and Sali Berisha, a former cardiologist, became Albania's first elected president. The 1992 elections concluded 47 years of communist rule and started a period of general outward openings with the re-establishment of diplomatic relations and the adhesion to international organisations. 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.

But Albania's experiment with democratic reform and a free-market economy went disastrously awry in March 1997, when large numbers of its citizens invested in shady get-rich-quick pyramid schemes. Rioting broke out, the country's fragile infrastructure collapsed, and gangsters and rebels overran the country, plunging it into virtual anarchy. A multinational protection force eventually restored order and set up the elections that formally ousted President Sali Berisha.

Ilir Meta, elected prime minister in 1999, rapidly moved forward in his first years to modernize the economy, privatize business, fight crime, and reform the judiciary and tax systems. He resigned in Jan. 2002, frustrated by political infighting. In June 2002, former general Alfred Moisiu was elected president, endorsed by both the Socialists (headed by Fatos Nano) and the Democrats (led by Sali Berisha) in an effort to end the unproductive political fractiousness that has stalemated the government. The political duel between Nano and Berisha, however, continued into 2003, 2004, and little improvement was evident in the standard of living for Albanians.