I thought the best introduction I could provide about Albania is to talk about its past. I will talk a little bit about the distant past – such as the Greek, Roman and Ottoman empire, but mostly about the country’s recent past of Communism and its lasting effects on the country today.
For those of you who are not familiar with Albania, it is in South-Eastern Europe in the Balkans, on the Adriatic and Ionian Sea across from Italy, and directly above Greece. Albanians today are related to the old Illyrian tribes, and Albanian territory at some point has been controlled by the Illyrians, Romans, Venetians, Slavs, Ottomans, Germans, Modern Italians, and finally after World War II it became the country it is now. The Albanian nation does not only extend to Albania though, but there are high populations in neighboring countries such as in the city of Ulqin in Montenegro, Tetovo in Eastern Macedonia, and in Kosovo. The country’s borders were only determined in 1912, when its neighboring countries were already established. Thus, Albania had to negotiate with all of the countries in order to obtain its land today. This leads to large Albanian populations living outside of its own country, because the division of land never goes by population anywhere – it is always about each country wanting as much territory as possible.
In Albanian there are many remnants of its past – it is easy to drive down the “highway” and see far off castles on hilltops that were built in the early centuries AD. There is a popular site of ruins, Butrinti, dating back to before the 4th Century BC. It is a country where you can really feel and experience some of its past, and I like that about the country. Albania is extremely proud about its Illyrian past, and how they existed as a separate population among great nations like the Romans.
In my opinion though the history gets more interesting as it goes on; in the middle of the 14th century, the Ottoman Empire came and conquered the land, making it part of their empire. The Ottoman influence explains why 70% of the country is Muslim today, and the old Venetian influence explains why in Northern Albania there are also many Catholics. The various invaders each left part of their culture behind, which makes Albania extremely diverse and unlike its neighboring nations.
The problem with the Ottoman Empire led to the creation of Albania’s national hero – Skanderberg or Skanderbeu, in English and Albanian. Skanderbeu (I will use the Albanian name), attempted to reunite all Albanian territory in the middle of the 15th After Skanderbeu’s death in the 1460’s, the Ottomans regained power of Albania, and ruled over this area until the 1900’s. Century and to salvage his nation from the Turks. He was not Muslim, and he stood for his own Christian religion, and to stand separate from the Ottoman Empire. He was one of the first people to attempt to unite an entire Albanian empire; prior to Skanderbeu, Albania was many smaller clans and individual empires.
After World War I, a man declared himself as King and tried to establish a monarchy, however King Zog was quickly defeated by the Italians, who conquered Albania. Much of the present day architecture and lay out of the streets in Tirana is thanks to their planning and architecture. However, after World War II, Italy relinquished its power over Albania, and Albania was finally its own country and left to itself.
I would think that this would be positive – however as soon as this happened, Enver Hoxha emerged as a brutal Communist dictator. Our guide Ilir refers to him constantly as “our dictator,” as if he is even afraid to speak his name. Many people do not know about Albania’s Communist past – perhaps that is because Albania was one of the most secluded countries to exist. At first Hoxha modeled itself after Russia – and many different kinds of power plants sprouted up named “Stalin Power Plant” or “Lenin Coal Mine,” etc. However, Hoxha soon thought that Russia was too revisionist in its Communist ideals, and he cut ties with Russia. Afterwards Hoxha started to begin relations with Mao in China, and all of the plants that used to be named after Lenin, now were christened after Mao. Just like with Russia though. Hoxha thought Mao did not understand Communism, and parted ways.
During the Communist era, no one was allowed to leave the country, let alone their villages. It was illegal to move from your village to another city, and you had to live where you were registered. The only people that could leave the country were involved with Tourism for the promotion of the state, such as our tour guide, and he was not allowed to speak about the difficulties in Albania when he left. Inside of the country, no one was allowed to own a car, which is perhaps why the roads are in such a dismal state today. The roads were all rocks and gravel and not paved whatsoever.
Clothing and personal style were extremely limited: everyone had to wear the same thing. No one was allowed to wear jeans, and men were not allowed to have beards or long hair. When foreigners came into the country, they had to cut their hair and shave their beards at the border, or they were not allowed inside of the country. Apparently beards are too “western” and are all about fashion, thus they must be a completely evil influence!
Ilir told us many stories about the rigidity of Hoxha’s regime: parents being put in jail for giving their children foreign names, being brutally beaten for talking to foreigners, being imprisoned for accepting a foreign music cassette… It was really surprising because when we hear about strict communist regimes, Albania does not immediately come to mind – at least not for me.
