Albania, officially the Republic of Albania, is a country in Southeastern Europe. It is located on the Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea and shares land borders with Montenegro to the northwest, Kosovo to the northeast, North Macedonia to the east and Greece to the south. Tirana is its capital and largest city, followed by Durrës, Vlorë, and Shkodër.
Enver Halil Hoxha was an Albanian communist politician. He was First Secretary of the Party of Labour of Albania from 1941 until his death in 1985. He was also a member of the Politburo of the Party of Labour of Albania, chairman of the Democratic Front of Albania, and commander-in-chief of the armed forces and ruled the country from 1944 until his death in 1985. He was the 22nd Prime Minister of Albania from 1944 to 1954 and at various times was both foreign minister and defence minister of the People's Socialist Republic of Albania.
Tirana is the capital and largest city of Albania. It is located in the centre of the country, enclosed by mountains and hills with Dajti rising to the east and a slight valley to the northwest overlooking the Adriatic Sea in the distance. Due to its location at the Plain of Tirana and the close proximity to the Mediterranean Sea, the city is particularly influenced by a Mediterranean seasonal climate. It is among the wettest and sunniest cities in Europe, with 2,544 hours of sun per year.
Theofan Stilian Noli, known as Fan Noli, was an Albanian writer, scholar, diplomat, politician, historian, orator, Archbishop, Metropolitan and founder of the Albanian Orthodox Church and the Albanian Orthodox Archdiocese in America who served as Prime Minister and regent of Albania in 1924 during the June Revolution.
Durrës is the second most populous city of the Republic of Albania and seat of Durrës County and Durrës Municipality. It is located on a flat plain along the Albanian Adriatic Sea Coast between the mouths of the Erzen and Ishëm at the southeastern corner of the Adriatic Sea. Durrës' climate is profoundly influenced by a seasonal Mediterranean climate.
Elbasan is the fourth most populous city of Albania and seat of Elbasan County and Elbasan Municipality. It lies to the north of the river Shkumbin between the Skanderbeg Mountains and the Myzeqe Plain in central Albania.
Tirana County, officially the County of Tirana, is a county in the Central Region of the Republic of Albania. It is the tenth largest by area and the most populous of the twelve counties, with more than 912,000 people within an area of 1,652 km2 (638 sq mi). The county borders on the Adriatic Sea to the west, the counties of Durrës to the northwest, Dibër to the northeast, Elbasan to the east and Fier to the southwest. It is divided into five municipalities, Tirana, Kamëz, Kavajë, Rrogozhinë and Vorë, with all of whom incorporate twenty-nine administrative units.
The Party of Labour of Albania, sometimes referred to as the Albanian Workers' Party (AWP), was the ruling and sole legal party of Albania during the communist period (1945–1991). It was founded on 8 November 1941 as the Communist Party of Albania but changed its name in 1948. The party was dissolved on 13 June 1991 and succeeded by the Socialist Party of Albania. For most of its existence, the party was dominated by its First Secretary, Enver Hoxha, who was also the de facto leader of Albania.
Endri Vrapi is an Albanian retired footballer who last played as a defender for Kosovan club Liria.
The Skanderbeg Square is the main plaza in the centre of Tirana, Albania. The square is named after the Albanian national hero Gjergj Kastrioti Skënderbeu. The total area is about 40,000 square metres. The Skanderbeg Monument dominates the square.
Abdurrauf Fico (1881–1944), also known as Rauf Fitso Bey was an Albanian ambassador and politician.
Kasëm Trebeshina was an Albanian member of national resistance during World War II part of the National Liberation Movement, an actor, translator, communist prosecutor and writer. He was one of the founders of the notorious communist secret police Sigurimi.
Independent Albania was a parliamentary state declared in Vlorë on 28 November 1912. Its assembly was constituted on the same day while its government and senate were established on 4 December 1912.
Aleks Buda was an Albanian historian. After completion of his education in Italy and Austria, he returned to Albania. Although his education was in literature, he made a career as a historian during the socialist period in Albania. He was a member and president of the Academy of Sciences of Albania.
The architecture of Albania is a reflection of Albania's historical and cultural heritage. The country's architecture was influenced by its location within the Mediterranean Basin and progressed over the course of history as it was once inhabited by numerous civilisations including the Illyrians,Ancient Greeks, Romans, Byzantines, Venetians, Ottomans as well as modern Austro-Hungarians and Italians. In addition, missionaries, invaders, colonisers and traders brought cultural changes that had a large profound effect on building styles as well as techniques.
Hafiz Ibrahim Dalliu was an Albanian alim, writer, publisher, educator, and activist of the Albanian national cause. He is remembered as one of the best mufassirs in Albania.
The Old Mosque or Sulejman Pasha mosque was the founding mosque of the Albanian capital Tirana. The city developed around the mosque, which was founded by the Ottoman Albanian Pasha Sulejman Bargjini along with a hamam and a bakery. In the mid of the 20th century, all of it have been razed to make place for the Communist-era Unknown Soldier statue.
There are many landmarks in Tirana, Albania some of which are of considerable historical or artistic interest. Many monuments and landmarks situated in Tirana, date back to the Illyrian, Roman, Greek and Ottoman periods.
Mykerem or Myqerem bej Janina was an Albanian osmanologist, whose most remarkable work was the translation of the Hicrî 835 tarihli Sûret-i defter-i sancak-i Arvanid, which had been first published at Ankara, in 1954, by Turkish historian, Halil İnalcık. He has also translated into Albanian several works from the Turkish humorist, Aziz Nesin.
Squatting in Albania began on a large scale in the 1990s, with internal migration towards former collectivised farmland and informal settlements on the periphery of the capital Tirana. Bathore near to Tirana had 40,000 squatters by the early 2000s. The Agency of Legalization, Upgrading, and Integration of Informal Zones and Buildings (ALUIZNI) had legalized 16,500 homes on 152 settlements by 2009. As of 2020, 25 per cent of the population of Albania's cities lived in informal settlements.
