History of Albania


   
       Albania 🇦🇱 has been an independent country for 104 years.  During that time, it’s become an increasingly popular tourist destination.  It attracts beachcombers, foodies interested in unique traditional cuisine, and history buffs looking for a rich cultural heritage.  If you’re planning to visit, and I highly recommend it, here are 15 interesting facts about this historically isolated country.


Who founded Albania?
Charles I of Naples established Regnum Albaniae (Kingdom of Albania) after he conquered a part the Despotate of Epirus. The Kingdom of Albania at its maximum extent (1272-1274).


The first Balkan War:1912-1913

The Balkan upheavals of 1912 begin in Albania. A national uprising against the Turks is so successful that an Albanian army presses far enough east to occupy the Macedonian city of Skopje. This success stirs the Balkan states to action, for an independent Albania is not part of their plans. In October 1912 Greece, Serbia and Bulgaria go to war against Turkey.

The allies rapidly make inroads into Macedonia and Albania. In the east the Bulgarians push the Turks back to their defensive lines at Catalca, only sixty miles from Istanbul. In the west the Greeks move into southern Albania and the Serbians reach the Adriatic, capturing the port of Durrës on November 28. 

On the same day at Vlorë, another port fifty miles to the south, the Albanians declare their independence and set up their first national government. But the issue is now taken into international hands.

Austria-Hungary, in particular, is determined not to have a strengthened Serbia on her southern border. A conference of ambassadors of the relevant powers (Italy, Austria-Hungary, Russia, the Ottoman empire) convenes in London in December to discuss the issue. It is agreed that the independence of Albania should be recognized, but there is much dispute as to the exact boundaries. Russian pressure on behalf of the Serbs results eventually in one glaring anomaly. The province of Kosovo, containing some 800,000 Albanian inhabitants, is severed from Albania and allotted to Serbia.




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