Albania's rich history

The Albanians are descendants of the Illyrians, a group of several tribes that we reformed from the original tribes that inhabited the Balkans and the Indo-Germanic invaders about 5,000 year ago. The Romans held the area for about 5 centuries,despite violent resistance and uprisings. These uprisings have stopped a complete romanization of the Balkans. Events in the 14th century have a very important historical value for the Albanians.Under the leadership of national hero Gjergj Kastrioti, named Skanderbeg, the Albanians have resisted 25 years to the raids of the Ottomans what gave other Christian Western countries the opportunity to organize themselves to avoid a total destruction of Western civilization.

Albania became independent in 1912 after centuries of Ottoman rule. In the first years after the declaration of independence, Albania was attacked by several neighbors through military actions. In 1925, Albania became a republic. From 1928 to 1939it was a kingdom, but in the thirties it became increasingly dependent on Italy until Italy annexed the country in 1939. After 1944 Albania was a satellite of the Soviet Union, which broke in 1961 because of Nikita Khrushchevs' destalinisation politics.Albania left the Warsaw Pact in 1968 as the first and only country during the Cold War and became an ally of Communist China.

Elections in 1992 overturned the power of the Communist Party and a democratic government was formed. In 1997 the country fell into anarchy after the collapse of pyramid funds that many investors had driven up to a complete bankrupt. This again led to a massive emigration of Albanians to the United States, Italy, Canada, Switzerland,Germany and Greece.