Location: Albania is a mountainous, 11,101 square mile state in Southeast Europe. It is located on the Adriatic coast of the Balkan Peninsula. The capital of Albania is Tirana.
Climate: Temperate, mild, cool, cloudy, wet winters; hot, clear, dry summers.
The People: 90-95% of the population is Ethnic Albanian. Greeks are the largest minority at 3-4%. Before 1990 Albania was the only officially atheist state in the world. Today 70% of the people are Muslims, 20% Greek Orthodox and 10% Roman Catholic.
Language: Albanian (Tosk is the official dialect), and some Greek.
History: Originally settled in ancient times by Illyrians and Thracians, power in Albania has changed hands many times. Rulers included the Ottoman Empire (starting in 1448 for over four centuries), the Italians (193901944), communist guerrilla Enver Hoxha (1944-19850, and Ramiz Alia (1985-1991). In 1991 the communist party won a free party election but then lost in 1992 to Sali Berisha and the Democratic Party. Since 1992 the economy has improved somewhat but poverty is still widespread. Albania is rich in mineral resources and mining was the largest source of income for people until the industry collapsed with the fall of the communist party. Today 60% of the workforce is employed in agriculture and 40% in industry and commerce. Leading industries are food processing, textiles, cement and building materials, petroleum products and footwear.
Best known feature: Polyphony is a widely recognized tradition of Albania. Polyphony is a type of music that involves several independent vocal or instrumental parts usually having epic lyrical themes. Albania also contributes a well-known writer, Ismail Kadar, whose works focus on the countries police state in 1990 and has been published in over 40 languages.
Daily Life: A day in the life of an Albanian may include rising with the sun to work the land on a small inefficiently run farm. Then having a large lunch (which is the main meal of the day) that consists of romsteaks (minced meat patties) and qofte (meatballs), tave kosi (mutton with yogurt) and akullore (ice cream). Then you may attend a Muslim religious meeting and retire early to prepare for the next day’s work.
References:
Lycos Travel-Albania http://www.lonelyplanet.lycos.com/europe/albania/culture.html
Albany http://www.encyclopedia.com/articles/00265.html
Written by: Sara Young