115-471: The flag of Albania ( Albanian : Flamuri i Shqipërisë ) depicts a silhouetted black double-headed eagle in the center of a red background. The red stands for bravery , strength, valour and bloodshed, while the Eagle – traditionally the symbol of Albanians – represents the sovereign state of Albania . The flag was established as the national flag of Albania when the country gained its independence from
230-678: A Latinis, Grecis et Sclauis ita quod in nullo se intelligunt cum aliis nationibus. (Namely, the above-mentioned Albanians have a language that is different from the languages of Latins, Greeks and Slavs, so that they do not understand each other at all.) The oldest attested document written in Albanian dates to 1462, while the first audio recording in the language was made by Norbert Jokl on 4 April 1914 in Vienna . However, as Fortson notes, Albanian written works existed before this point; they have simply been lost. The existence of written Albanian
345-490: A beautiful frame and asked if it could be picked up without being neat there? Ismail bey gave him permission and so the flag that Don Aladro had once solemnly given me in Paris, traveled to the neighboring guest house and fell into the hands of Ismail bey, who handed it over to Murad bey Toptani , with the order to hang it outside, while he himself stood in the window." Lebenserinnerungen", Munich (1968–1973) More support
460-524: A black two-headed eagle in the center. A variant of this flag is on display at the Mezuraj Museum. The square-shaped flag, currently in the possession of the Royal Family , was produced in the latter period of King Zog's reign and can be seen in an archived film footage being replaced by fascist officers during the unveiling ceremony of the new fascist flag, on 4 December 1939. The Yearbook of
575-485: A blue map of Bosnia and Herzegovina outlined in yellow in the middle inside a circle of 10 five-pointed yellow stars. The flag would have been a 1:2 ratio. The second flag proposed was very similar except it had 12 five-pointed stars to represent the European Union . The Flag of Europe has the 12 five-pointed stars. The third design was a bit more different from the first two designs. The diagonal tricolur shape
690-905: A common branch in the current phylogenetic classification of the Indo-European language family. The first written mention of Albanian was in 1284 in a witness testimony from the Republic of Ragusa , while a letter written by Dominican Friar Gulielmus Adea in 1332 mentions the Albanians using the Latin alphabet in their writings. The oldest surviving attestation of modern Albanian is from 1462. The two main Albanian dialect groups (or varieties ), Gheg and Tosk , are primarily distinguished by phonological differences and are mutually intelligible in their standard varieties, with Gheg spoken to
805-573: A common period of prehistoric coexistence of several Indo-European dialects in the Balkans prior to 2000 BC. To this group would belong Albanian, Ancient Greek , Armenian , Phrygian , fragmentary attested languages such as Macedonian , Thracian , or Illyrian , and the relatively well-attested Messapic in Southern Italy. The common features of this group appear at the phonological, morphological, and lexical levels, presumably resulting from
920-529: A golden olive branch in the middle. The olive branch is taken from the United Nations emblem. The flag would have only one branch. The branch was rotated around 30 degrees counterclockwise. The third proposal was the "Map" proposal. It would also use the United Nations light blue color; however, there would be the addition of a white outline map of Bosnia and Herzegovina. No official text
1035-472: A large amount (or the majority) of their sea environment lexicon. A similar phenomenon could be observed with agricultural terms. While the words for 'arable land', 'wheat', 'cereals', 'vineyard', 'yoke', 'harvesting', 'cattle breeding', etc. are native, the words for 'ploughing', 'farm' and 'farmer', agricultural practices, and some harvesting tools are foreign. This, again, points to intense contact with other languages and people, rather than providing evidence of
1150-731: A local school by prime minister Shefqet Vërlaci to the opening session of the Albanian Fascist Party congress which was held at the Palace of the Superior Fascist Corporative Council. In October 1943 the union with Italy was officially dissolved and the country reverted to the decrees of September 1928. The pre-Italian flags and symbols were used during this period. The flag used by the Democratic Government of Albania, which
1265-414: A medium blue field with a yellow right triangle separating said field, and there are seven full five-pointed white stars and two half stars top and bottom along the hypotenuse of the triangle. The three points of the triangle stand for the three main ethnic groups (or "constituent peoples") of Bosnia and Herzegovina : Bosniaks , Croats , and Serbs . The triangle represents the approximate shape of
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#17327826175411380-536: A national flag had not yet been formalized. On one side of the flag there are three metal rings, which serve to tie the flag to the handle. Its dimensions are 121 cm – 70 cm. The flag was in the possession of patriot Veli Vasjari who had carried it inside the building where the proceedings of the congress were held. In 1928, it was donated to the National History Museum and it has been a part of its ethnographic fund ever since. State symbols during
1495-475: A number of isoglosses with Albanian. Other linguists linked the Albanian language with Latin , Greek and Armenian , while placing Germanic and Balto-Slavic in another branch of Indo-European. In current scholarship there is evidence that Albanian is closely related to Greek and Armenian, while the fact that it is a satem language is less significant. Armenian Greek Phrygian (extinct) Messapic (extinct) Gheg Tosk Messapic
1610-483: A piece of cloth roughly 20 by 30 cm in length, in light red color with a white star polygon at the lower right corner is presented as the "national flag" with Essad Pasha identifying himself as interim president and general supreme commander. What stands out about this flag is its resemblance to the Ottoman flag , where only the crescent has been removed. The National History Museum presently has in its archive
1725-547: A possible linguistic homeland (also known as a Urheimat ). The centre of Albanian settlement remained the Mat River. In 1079, the Albanians were recorded farther south in the valley of the Shkumbin River. The Shkumbin, a 181 km long river that lies near the old Via Egnatia , is approximately the boundary of the primary dialect division for Albanian, Tosk and Gheg . The characteristics of Tosk and Gheg in
1840-655: A straight frontal stance, symbolizing impartiality and determination in representing national unity, as well as oak (golden) leaves which represent longevity, strength and dignity, also taken as a symbol from antiquity used by King Gentius of the Illyrians . The use of the crown-shaped oak branches is also seen as a plinth which holds the other elements in place. Dimensions are specified as 140cm x 100 cm." Albanian language Albanian ( endonym : shqip [ʃcip] , gjuha shqipe [ˈɟuha ˈʃcipɛ] , or arbërisht [aɾbəˈɾiʃt] )
1955-933: A strong sense of identity and are unique in that they speak an archaic dialect of Tosk Albanian called Arbëresh . In the United States and Canada, there are approximately 250,000 Albanian speakers. It is primarily spoken on the East Coast of the United States, in cities like New York City, Boston, Chicago, Philadelphia, and Detroit, as well as in parts of the states of New Jersey, Ohio, and Connecticut. In Argentina, there are nearly 40,000 Albanian speakers , mostly in Buenos Aires. Approximately 1.3 million people of Albanian ancestry live in Turkey , with more than 500,000 recognizing their ancestry, language and culture . There are other estimates, however, that place
2070-511: A total of 15 flags that date as far back as 1880. One of these flags belongs to the period of Prince Wilhelm 's reign. It was given to the museum as a gift by diplomat Rauf Fico who had found it abandoned in the prince's palace some years later. The flag is in a rather poor state making it difficult to restore and digitally reconstruct. A slightly different image of the flag is found in Jaho Brahaj's book "Flamuri i Kombit Shqiptar" that shows
2185-634: A transient flag of a different contour with moderately outstretched wings was used at the Congress of Përmet and subsequently at the first Anti-Fascist Youth Congress (BRASH). A golden star was added to the national flag on 10 January 1946. Law nr.5506, dated 28 December 1976 of the constitution of the People's Socialist Republic of Albania in Chapter III, Article I, Title CVIII describes the flag as follows: § Article CVIII – Flag The state flag of
2300-659: A white bend ; the golden lily is the Lilium bosniacum , which is a native lily to the area. The flag chosen in 1992 has a white background with the Bosnian lily in the center. It was and it still is the main Bosniak national flag. Though it is no longer an official flag of the state, the flag continues to be used unofficially by Bosniak civilians as their ethnic flag , used at football games, as part of political rallies, and other such events. The Bosnian Serbs , before and after
2415-667: Is also spoken by 450,000 Albanian immigrants in Greece, making it one of the commonly spoken languages in the country after Greek. Albanian is the third most common mother tongue among foreign residents in Italy . This is due to a substantial Albanian immigration to Italy. Italy has a historical Albanian minority of about 500,000, scattered across southern Italy, known as Arbëreshë . Approximately 1 million Albanians from Kosovo are dispersed throughout Germany , Switzerland and Austria . These are mainly immigrants from Kosovo who migrated during
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#17327826175412530-709: Is also spoken in Greece and by the Albanian diaspora , which is generally concentrated in the Americas , Europe and Oceania . Albanian is estimated to have as many as 7.5 million native speakers. Albanian and other Paleo-Balkan languages had their formative core in the Balkans after the Indo-European migrations in the region. Albanian in antiquity is often thought to have been an Illyrian language for obvious geographic and historical reasons, or otherwise an unmentioned Balkan Indo-European language that
2645-601: Is an Indo-European language and the only surviving representative of the Albanoid branch , which belongs to the Paleo-Balkan group . It is the native language of the Albanian people . Standard Albanian is the official language of Albania and Kosovo , and a co-official language in North Macedonia and Montenegro , as well as a recognized minority language of Italy , Croatia , Romania and Serbia . It
2760-608: Is considered the closest language to Albanian, grouped in a common branch titled Illyric in Hyllested & Joseph (2022). Hyllested & Joseph (2022) in agreement with recent bibliography identify Greco-Phrygian as the IE branch closest to the Albanian-Messapic one. These two branches form an areal grouping – which is often called "Balkan IE" – with Armenian. The hypothesis of the " Balkan Indo-European " continuum posits
2875-495: Is described as follows: "The predominant colors are the colors of the national flag (red background and black eagle) and the golden color has been added which symbolizes strength, prosperity and endurance. The decorative symbols of the flag are the black eagle taken from the coat of arms of the House of Kastrioti , accepting it as one of the most ancient symbols used by the Albanian leader, the (golden) Skanderbeg helmet positioned in
2990-687: Is explicitly mentioned in a letter attested from 1332, and the first preserved books, including both those in Gheg and in Tosk, share orthographic features that indicate that some form of common literary language had developed. By the Late Middle Ages , during the period of Humanism and the European Renaissance , the term lingua epirotica ' Epirotan language ' was preferred in the intellectual, literary, and clerical circles of
3105-579: Is given to this thesis in the testimony of Syrja bey Vlora who in his book of memoirs titled "From the End of Ottoman Rule to the War of Vlora", writes in page 70 the following: "On 28 November, with the desire and consent of all, it was decided to raise the flag of Albania and declare National Independence. As it was not possible to prepare the flag that day, a flag was taken from our house, which my son Eqrem had been guarding with full respect since 1908(?). It rose amid
3220-576: Is often used also for official purposes by the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina , one of the constituent entities of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Used by Stjepan II Kotromanic . The flag of the Kingdom of Bosnia was based on coat of arms of the Bosnian dynasty Kotromanić , king Tvrtko I and his successors. The flag of medieval Bosnia was white with the coat of arms of the Kotromanić dynasty in
3335-582: Is one of Stjepan Vukčić Kosača, Bosnian noble and duke from 14th century. The original medieval coat of arms had a white background and two red stripes in the top of the shield. It was Similar to the old flag of the Western Bosnian Flag. During the interwar period Kingdom of Yugoslavia , Bosnia and Herzegovina had neither a status within it nor a flag to go with. It was not until after World War II in Yugoslavia and disestablishment of
3450-455: Is similar to the national flag, except that the eagle is on a white field, and the lower portion of the flag has a red stripe. The eagle of the flag of Albania is depicted on the reverse of the Albanian five lekë coin, issued in 1995 and 2000. Beginning in 1969, the flag of Albania was widely unofficially flown in Kosovo by the country's ethnic Albanian population. The flag was the symbol of
3565-598: Is spoken in North-western Greece, while Arvanitika is spoken by the Arvanites in southern Greece. In addition, Arbëresh is spoken by the Arbëreshë people, descendants of 15th and 16th century migrants who settled in southeastern Italy, in small communities in the regions of Sicily and Calabria . These settlements originated from the (Arvanites) communities probably of Peloponnese known as Morea in
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3680-486: Is spoken in the south, and Gheg spoken in the north. Standard Albanian is based on the Tosk dialect. The Shkumbin River is the rough dividing line between the two dialects. Gheg is divided into four sub-dialects: Northwest Gheg, Northeast Gheg, Central Gheg and Southern Gheg. It is primarily spoken in northern Albania, Kosovo , and throughout Montenegro and northwestern North Macedonia . One fairly divergent dialect
3795-576: Is the Upper Reka dialect , which is however classified as Central Gheg. There is also a diaspora dialect in Croatia , the Arbanasi dialect . Tosk is divided into five sub-dialects, including Northern Tosk (the most numerous in speakers), Labërisht , Cham , Arvanitika , and Arbëresh . Tosk is spoken in southern Albania, southwestern North Macedonia and northern and southern Greece. Cham Albanian
3910-399: Is the most probable. Although Albanian shares lexical isoglosses with Greek , Germanic , and to a lesser extent Balto-Slavic , the vocabulary of Albanian is quite distinct. In 1995, Taylor, Ringe , and Warnow used quantitative linguistic techniques that appeared to obtain an Albanian subgrouping with Germanic, a result which the authors had already reasonably downplayed. Indeed,
4025-569: Is the official language of Albania and Kosovo and a co-official language in North Macedonia and Montenegro . Albanian is a recognised minority language in Croatia , Italy , Romania and in Serbia . Albanian is also spoken by a minority in Greece , specifically in the Thesprotia and Preveza regional units and in a few villages in Ioannina and Florina regional units in Greece. It
4140-514: Is thought to have been inspired by Marigo Posio. The weekly Albanian language newspaper Zër' i Popullit ( Albanian : The People's Voice ), based in New York City , published on the cover page of its 7th issue, dated 17 December 1912, a color illustration of the Albanian flag. It shows a striking resemblance to another illustration found on the cover page of the 16th issue of the 2nd annual edition of Perlindja e Shqipëniës newspaper,
4255-408: The Congress of Dibra decided that Albanian schools would finally be allowed. Albanian is an isolate within the Indo-European language family; no other language has been conclusively linked to its branch . The only other languages that are the sole surviving members of a branch of Indo-European are Armenian and Greek. The Albanian language is part of the Indo-European language family and
4370-518: The Italian occupation of Albania . After World War II , the communist regime added a five-pointed golden star , which was removed on 7 April 1992 after the communist government in Albania collapsed. Albania's maritime flags —the civil ensign and the naval ensign —are both different from the national flag. The civil ensign consists of three horizontal bands of red, black, and red. The naval ensign
4485-629: The Janissary of Muhammad Ali Pasha , an Albanian who became Wāli , and self-declared Khedive of Egypt and Sudan . In addition to the dynasty that he established, a large part of the former Egyptian and Sudanese aristocracy was of Albanian origin. In addition to the recent emigrants, there are older diasporic communities around the world. Albanian is also spoken by Albanian diaspora communities residing in Australia and New Zealand . The Albanian language has two distinct dialects, Tosk which
4600-808: The Korçë District , Kamnik in Kolonja , Kolsh in the Kukës District , Rashtan in Librazhd , and Nezir in the Mat District . As in other parts of Europe, these PreIE people joined the migratory Indo-European tribes that entered the Balkans and contributed to the formation of the historical Paleo-Balkan tribes. In terms of linguistics, the pre-Indo-European substrate language spoken in the southern Balkans probably influenced pre-Proto-Albanian ,
4715-812: The League of Prizren and culminated with the Congress of Manastir held by Albanian intellectuals from 14 to 22 November 1908, in Manastir (present day Bitola ), which decided on which alphabet to use, and what the standardised spelling would be for standard Albanian. This is how the literary language remains. The alphabet is the Latin alphabet with the addition of the letters ⟨ ë ⟩ , ⟨ ç ⟩ , and ten digraphs : dh , th , xh , gj , nj , ng , ll , rr , zh and sh . According to Robert Elsie : The hundred years between 1750 and 1850 were an age of astounding orthographic diversity in Albania. In this period,
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4830-463: The National History Museum . In 1930, the minister of foreign affairs Rauf Fico , began a correspondence with Eqrem bey Vlora, who at the time was serving as the ambassador of Albania in Athens . In these communications, Eqrem bey strongly emphasizes that the flag raised on the day of the declaration of independence is indeed the one that was given to him by Aladro Kastriota. He goes on to explain that
4945-632: The Ottoman Empire in 1912. During John Hunyadi 's campaign in Niš in 1443, Skanderbeg and a few hundred Albanians defected from the Turkish ranks; for twenty-five years he scored remarkable victories against the Ottomans. He adopted the similar Eastern Roman imperial flag, with the double-headed eagle and the red background, and his victories brought him the papal title Athleta Christi . The eagle
5060-692: The 14th century, but they failed to cite specific words. The oldest surviving documents written in Albanian are the " formula e pagëzimit " (Baptismal formula), Un'te paghesont' pr'emenit t'Atit e t'Birit e t'Spertit Senit . ("I baptize thee in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit ") recorded by Pal Engjelli, Bishop of Durrës in 1462 in the Gheg dialect, and some New Testament verses from that period. The linguists Stefan Schumacher and Joachim Matzinger (University of Vienna) assert that
5175-593: The 1830s revolt by Husein Gradaščević the green flag with a yellow crescent and star was used. The revolt's aim was for Bosnia to gain autonomy from the Ottoman Empire . When the Austro-Hungarian Empire annexed Bosnia and Herzegovina the flag was changed. The province of Bosnia used a flag that was a horizontal bicolour of red and yellow, but the province of Herzegovina used the same flag but with reversed colors (yellow and red). The coat of arms
5290-531: The 1990s. In Switzerland , the Albanian language is the sixth most spoken language with 176,293 native speakers. Albanian became an official language in North Macedonia on 15 January 2019. There are large numbers of Albanian speakers in the United States, Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, and Canada . Some of the first ethnic Albanians to arrive in the United States were the Arbëreshë. The Arbëreshë have
5405-505: The Albanian and Germanic branches share a relatively moderate number of lexical cognates. Many shared grammatical elements or features of these two branches do not corroborate the lexical isoglosses. Albanian also shares lexical linguistic affinity with Latin and Romance languages. Sharing linguistic features unique to the languages of the Balkans , Albanian also forms a part of the Balkan linguistic area or sprachbund . The place and
5520-560: The Albanian language was on 14 July 1284 in Ragusa in modern Croatia ( Dubrovnik ) when a crime witness named Matthew testified: "I heard a voice crying on the mountain in the Albanian language" ( Latin : Audivi unam vocem, clamantem in monte in lingua albanesca ). The Albanian language is also mentioned in the Descriptio Europae Orientalis dated in 1308: Habent enim Albani prefati linguam distinctam
5635-435: The Albanian language was put to writing in at least ten different alphabets – most certainly a record for European languages. ... the diverse forms in which this old Balkan language was recorded, from the earliest documents to the beginning of the twentieth century ... consist of adaptations of the Latin, Greek, Arabic, and Cyrillic alphabets and (what is even more interesting) a number of locally invented writing systems. Most of
5750-656: The Council of Ministers, the national flag is raised at half-mast. According to researcher and art conservator Frederik Stamati and his colleague Ariola Prifti, an ethnographic fund specialist at the Center for Albanological Studies , there is no trace evidence of the original flag that was raised in Vlorë on 28 November 1912, the day Albania declared its independence. This viewpoint is reaffirmed in an editorial by news media Top Channel dated 1 November 2012 and titled "The mystery of
5865-428: The Flag Museum in Korçë . The flag used at the Congress of Lushnjë was identified for the first time on 25 November 2011 inside the archives of the Ethnographic Fund at the Center for Albanological Studies . The flag is made of dark red silk or taffeta (xanthocellulose artificial silk) and has in its center a black two-headed eagle, stylized in the shape of the same eagle used by the provisional government, since
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#17327826175415980-415: The Kingdom of Albania in its 1940–XVIII edition, describes in Title I, Article II of the Constitutional Charter the following: The Albanian flag is red, charged at the center with the black double-headed eagle and the sign of the lictor fasces . Images of the flag used during this time are available at the Istituto Luce archive. The flag is displayed at different public events, from the inauguration of
6095-404: The Middle Ages. Among them the Arvanites call themselves Arbëror and sometime Arbëresh. The Arbëresh dialect is closely related to the Arvanites dialect with more Italian vocabulary absorbed during different periods of time. The Albanian language has been written using many alphabets since the earliest records from the 15th century. The history of Albanian language orthography is closely related to
6210-427: The People's Socialist Republic of Albania represents a red field with a black double-headed eagle in the center, on top of which is a red star with five corners, embroidered all around in gold. The ratio between the width and the length of the flag is 1:1-40. The flag symbols were designed by painter Sadik Kaceli . On 7 April 1992, the Assembly formed after the early elections , in the afternoon session voted to remove
6325-443: The Shkumbin river since the Post-Roman and Pre-Slavic period, straddling the Jireček Line . Centuries-old communities speaking Albanian dialects can be found scattered in Greece (the Arvanites and some communities in Epirus , Western Macedonia and Western Thrace ), Croatia (the Arbanasi ), Italy (the Arbëreshë ) as well as in Romania , Turkey and Ukraine . The Malsia e Madhe Gheg Albanian and two varieties of
6440-412: The Tosk dialect, Arvanitika in Greece and Arbëresh in southern Italy, have preserved archaic elements of the language. Ethnic Albanians constitute a large diaspora , with many having long assimilated in different cultures and communities. Consequently, Albanian-speakers do not correspond to the total ethnic Albanian population, as many ethnic Albanians may identify as Albanian but are unable to speak
6555-478: The ancestor idiom of Albanian. The extent of this linguistic impact cannot be determined with precision due to the uncertain position of Albanian among Paleo-Balkan languages and their scarce attestation. Some loanwords, however, have been proposed, such as shegë ' pomegranate ' or lëpjetë ' orach '; compare Pre-Greek λάπαθον , lápathon ' monk's rhubarb '. Flag of Bosnia and Herzegovina The national flag of Bosnia and Herzegovina contains
6670-433: The cheerful manifestations and cheers of the people." Historian Valentina Duka provides further insights into this argument in her book "History of Albania, 1912–2000", where she publishes authentic documents from the archives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs . From these documents, we learn of the efforts made by the government of Prime Minister Kostaq Kotta , to collect historical objects of this era and to house them at
6785-430: The communist emblem as the official symbol of the state, the removal of the golden star from the flag and initiated a parliamentary commission tasked with studying the proposals of a new emblem of the state. The symbols of the presidency , which include the flag, the emblem and the "Mother Teresa" Decoration , were approved by a presidential decree dated 10 July 2014 by President Bujar Nishani . The presidential flag
6900-399: The contact between the various languages. The concept of this linguistic group is explained as a kind of language league of the Bronze Age (a specific areal-linguistics phenomenon), although it also consisted of languages that were related to each other. A common prestage posterior to PIE comprising Albanian, Greek, and Armenian, is considered as a possible scenario. In this light, due to
7015-578: The cultural orientation and knowledge of certain foreign languages among Albanian writers. The earliest written Albanian records come from the Gheg area in makeshift spellings based on Italian or Greek. Originally, the Tosk dialect was written in the Greek alphabet and the Gheg dialect was written in the Latin script . Both dialects had also been written in the Ottoman Turkish version of the Arabic script , Cyrillic , and some local alphabets ( Elbasan , Vithkuqi , Todhri , Veso Bey, Jan Vellara and others, see original Albanian alphabets ). More specifically,
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#17327826175417130-411: The day really came that Don Aladro had prophesied. Suddenly and quite by chance, this flag was raised as a symbol of Albania's Independence. Well, on November 28, the main object of the day, the flag as a symbol of independence, with that typical Albanian carelessness was forgotten… then, my friend Hydai efendi gets up and says that in the bedroom of Eqrem bey hangs an Albanian flag on the wall, enclosed in
7245-404: The desks of officials in state institutions and by legal entities; in buildings and vehicles of representatives of the Republic of Albania serving abroad and in all cases when Albania is officially represented as an involved party. The national flag is laid in the most visible place or in the same place where the other flags are laid. 4. In case of a national mourning, announced by a decision of
7360-423: The diagonal stripes. Instead it had a horizontal tricolor pattern of blue, white, and red (from top to bottom), similar to that of the former Yugoslavia . The first Westendorp alternative flag was a highly similar one to today's flag, a diagonally divided top-hoist to bottom-fly yellow over light blue flag with line of 9 white five-pointed stars in the light blue field along the diagonal. The only major difference
7475-502: The first Albanian flag" . It concludes that "there is no definitive proof" on how the raised flag looked on the day Albania declared its independence, while providing ten hypotheses. A model of the flag often perceived as the original is seen in a 1913 postcard that shows alongside it a photograph of Don Aladro Kastriota in uniform. Eqrem bey Vlora writes in his memoirs, published posthumously as "Lebenserinnerungen", Munich (1968–1973), that sometime in 1909 while visiting Paris , he had
7590-411: The first literary records of Albanian date from the 16th century. The oldest known Albanian printed book, Meshari , or "missal", was written in 1555 by Gjon Buzuku , a Roman Catholic cleric. In 1635, Frang Bardhi wrote the first Latin–Albanian dictionary. The first Albanian school is believed to have been opened by Franciscans in 1638 in Pdhanë . One of the earliest Albanian dictionaries
7705-422: The flag along with other personal possessions, were confiscated and burned during 1915, by the government of the so called Autonomous Republic of Northern Epirus in the home of a family friend in Delvinë . They had been transferred there for safekeeping from the rebel forces of Central Albania that had invaded Vlorë . Kristo Floqi writes in the weekly newspaper Arbënia in 1936, that "the national flag that
7820-400: The flag in a deteriorated form, without the shielded peacock and with a gold star on top. A similar model can be corroborated in Artan Lame's book "Princi i Shqiptarëve" that shows a shielded purple-colored peacock and the eagle wingspan in a more compact form with the historically accurate five-pointed white star hovering at the top. A 2012 auction in Genoa , Italy unveiled for the first time
7935-432: The flag is described as "a thin red woven cloth, 3 meters long and 2 meters wide and on which a black double-headed vulture was branded" . Floqi may have had such knowledge of the flag as his brother Thanas was one of the signatories of the Declaration of Independence and Floqi himself was married to Urani Poçi, the sister of Marigo Posio. This second hypothesis is also supported by Posio's assistant, Thina Ferra who claims
8050-486: The flag of the principality, physically intact, displayed inside a square laminated wooden frame with the descriptive title shown at the bottom in golden letters embossed onto a black coated strip. The flag which was found in Durrës on 20 December 1915, had been taken from there by italian diplomat Baron Carlo Aliotti aboard the Austrian destroyer SMS Lika . The protocol agreement on the Autonomous Province of Korçë states in Article IX: "The Kaza of Korytza flag will be
8165-407: The flag. It was one of three banners brought to Malësia by Palokë Traboini, student in Austria. The other two banners were used by Ujka of Gruda and Prelë Luca of Triepshi . The Albanian flag has gone through a number of changes over the years as different regimes have modified it. During the reign of King Zog (r. 1928–1939), a crown was added to the flag and was replaced by two fasces during
8280-404: The following episode occurred: "After dinner, a servant brought a red velvet box on a silver tray and placed it in front of Don Aladro. He got up and gave a beautiful speech… and then opened the velvet box and took out an Albanian flag, a black double-headed eagle on the red field and gave it to me…" For five years I kept this flag in the bedroom hanging with a nail on the side of the bed, until
8395-492: The following: Marigo painted the eagle with black holes herself and that I warmed this flag near the brazier to dry it quickly. The flag that we did was a bit like whitened, in red pepper paint. We painted a lot of other flags to distribute to the people, including a small Albanian eagle that we sealed on the white shell caps of all the labs who participated in the manifestations. Vinçenc Prennushi ( O.F.M. ) wrote in "Gjeth e Lule" his immortal romance "Grueja Shqyptare" which
8510-656: The former socialist-era Yugoslav flag instead. The first flag that was proposed in the First Set of Proposals was the "Czech Pattern", similar to the flag of the Czech Republic . It was intended to represent all three constitutive nations living in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The next proposal was the "Laurel branch". It is based on the light blue color of the United Nations Flag . It would have had
8625-544: The good fortune to meet Don Aladro, a wealthy spanish-basque diplomat and a strong supporter of the Albanian cause who at one point had announced his candidacy for the Albanian throne by claiming descent from the House of Kastrioti through his paternal grandmother, a noblewoman that lived during the era of Charles III . With his financial means and some propaganda, he made known the Albanian cause for independence in European political circles. During their meeting, Vlora asserts
8740-541: The language. Standard Albanian is a standardised form of spoken Albanian based on Tosk . The language is spoken by approximately 6 million people in the Balkans, primarily in Albania, Kosovo , North Macedonia , Serbia , Montenegro and Greece . However, due to old communities in Italy and the large Albanian diaspora , the worldwide total of speakers is much higher than in Southern Europe and numbers approximately 7.5 million. The Albanian language
8855-601: The larger number of possible shared innovations between Greek and Armenian, it appears reasonable to assume, at least tentatively, that Albanian was the first Balkan IE language to branch off. This split and the following ones were perhaps very close in time, allowing only a narrow time frame for shared innovations. Albanian represents one of the core languages of the Balkan Sprachbund . Glottolog and Ethnologue recognize four Albanian languages. They are classified as follows: The first attested written mention of
8970-465: The latter alphabets have now been forgotten and are unknown, even to the Albanians themselves. Albanian constitutes one of the eleven major branches of the Indo-European language family , within which it occupies an independent position. In 1854, Albanian was demonstrated to be an Indo-European language by the philologist Franz Bopp . Albanian was formerly compared by a few Indo-European linguists with Germanic and Balto-Slavic , all of which share
9085-399: The law is written below: § Article II – Definition 1. The national flag is a national symbol. § Article III – Shapes and dimensions of the national flag 1. The national flag represents a blood red field, with a black double-headed eagle in the center, with open wings on the sides. Each of the eagle's wings has nine feathers, while the tail has seven feathers. 2. The dimensions of
9200-671: The middle which consisted of a blue shield with six gold fleur de lys displayed around a white bend . The green flag with the white crescent and star pointing to the left was used by Bosniak landlords in border parts in southern and western Herzegovina . The flag was most commonly used in wars. It also accompanied the troops of the Eyalet of Bosnia during the second siege of Khotyn in Moldavia . It differs from Ottoman flag by size and direction of crescent, as well as its swallow-shape, similar to some West-European jacks and ensigns. In
9315-436: The monarchy that this changed, as Bosnia and Herzegovina became its own republic within the newly established federal Yugoslavia . Without constitutional recognition, the mid-war Federal State of Bosnia and Herzegovina first adopted the flag flown by Bosnian-Herzegovinian Partisans during the war—a wholly red flag with a narrowly gold-bordered red star in its centre, both symbolizing socialism and communism. The flag
9430-429: The names for fish and for agricultural activities (such as ploughing ) are borrowed from other languages. A deeper analysis of the vocabulary, however, shows that could be a consequence of a prolonged Latin domination of the coastal and plain areas of the country, rather than evidence of the original environment in which the Albanian language was formed. For example, the word for 'fish' is borrowed from Latin, but not
9545-407: The national flag have an aspect ratio of 1:1.4 3. The appearance of the national flag, the strength of its colors and the ratios are those defined in appendix no.1, which is attached to this law and is an integral part of it. § Article IV – Usage of the national flag 1. Every Albanian citizen has the right to hold, raise or use the national flag. 2. All public institutions are obliged to place
9660-447: The national flag inside or outside their facilities. It is forbidden to raise or place foreign flags, except in cases of receptions or protocol ceremonies and other solemnities, provided by law, but always accompanied by the national flag. In this case the national flag can not be smaller than other flags. 3. The national flag is used in cases of ceremonial meetings of state institutions with representatives of foreign countries; freely at
9775-552: The newly independent Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina continued to use the flag of the Socialist Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina until a new flag was adopted on 20 May 1992. The flag picked was the arms of the Kings of Bosnia Kotromanić dynasty , who ruled from 1377 until 1463 over the area that is present day Bosnia and Herzegovina and Dalmatia , consisted of a blue shield with six golden lilies displayed around
9890-456: The north and Tosk spoken to the south of the Shkumbin river . Their characteristics in the treatment of both native words and loanwords provide evidence that the split into the northern and the southern dialects occurred after Christianisation of the region (4th century AD), and most likely not later than the 6th century AD, hence possibly occupying roughly their present area divided by
10005-518: The number of people in Turkey with Albanian ancestry and or background upward to 5 million. However, the vast majority of this population is assimilated and no longer possesses fluency in the Albanian language, though a vibrant Albanian community maintains its distinct identity in Istanbul to this day. Egypt also lays claim to about 18,000 Albanians, mostly Tosk speakers. Many are descendants of
10120-597: The official publication of the newly formed Albanian State, dated 7 March 1914. Recently, while researching the archives of the German Ministry of Foreign Affairs, scholar Marenglen Kasmi observed a paper envelope which contained a letter signed by Essad Pasha Toptani and addressed by the Austro-Hungarian royal imperial embassy in Berlin to the German Ministry of Foreign Affairs, dated 7 May 1915. In it,
10235-481: The one initially flown by liberation movements, and not in national pan-Slavic tricolors of Serbs and Croats which were argued to have been an "import" from a later stage of the war. This discussion was in response to the first proposed flag from 15 November 1946, which matched the federal flag except with an additional golden star placed behind the existing gold-bordered red star in the centre, with their rays positioned interchangeably. Belgrade officials listened to
10350-412: The only surviving representative of its own branch , which belongs to the Paleo-Balkan group . Although it is still uncertain which ancient mentioned language of the Balkans it continues, or where in the region its speakers lived. In general, there is insufficient evidence to connect Albanian with one of those languages, whether Illyrian , Thracian , or Dacian . Among these possibilities, Illyrian
10465-670: The period of the Republic were always shown in square form. This was preponderant with the national flag, state emblem, presidential insignia and even symbols used in commerce. The flag of the republic is seen for the first time in Teki Selenica's encyclopedic guide book Shqipria më 1927, e illustruar , page 124. Article III of the Fundamental Statute of the Albanian Kingdom describes the flag as red with
10580-471: The public opinion, but proceeded to add the federal Yugoslav tricolor to the canton of a plain red flag to symbolize the republic's affiliation to the Federation, and as such it was officially adopted on 31 December 1946. In the real-world usage, this flag had a variant with a much larger canton which was offset from the edges and bordered in white. This variant was eventually proposed sometime in 1947, but
10695-514: The rules of heraldry, begins with the peripheral color followed by the nearest color. RGB : 255–0–0 HSL : 0°–100%–100% HSV : 0°–100%–50% CMYK : 0 –100% – 100% – 0 XYZ : 41.2400–21.2600–1.9300 LAB : 53.2329–80.1093–67.2201 Luminance : 54% Distance : 1 RGB : 0–0–0 HSL : 0°–0%–0% HSV : 0°–0%–0% CMYK : 0 – 0 – 0 –100% XYZ : 0.0000–0.0000–0.0000 LAB : 0.0000–0.0000–0.0000 Luminance : 0% Distance : 0 A summarized translation of
10810-446: The self-declared proto-state Republic of Kosova during the 1990s. Kosovo uses a different flag that was designed to avoid any symbols associated with a particular ethnic group, similarly to the flags of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Cyprus . The national flag of Albania was standardized by Law Nr.8926, dated 22 July 2002 of the constitution and defined in articles II, III and IV. The color scheme laid out below, pertaining to
10925-690: The signing of the Dayton Agreement , viewed the flag with the six fleurs-de-lys as only representing the Bosniaks (i.e. Bosnian Muslims) of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The flag of the state was eventually changed into the current, post-1998 flag. The current flag was introduced by the UN High Representative Carlos Westendorp after the Parliament of Bosnia and Herzegovina could not decide on a solution that
11040-419: The territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The stars, representing Europe , are meant to be infinite in number and thus they continue from top to bottom. The flag features colors often associated with neutrality and peace – white, blue, and yellow. They are also colors traditionally associated with Bosnian culture and history. The blue background is evocative of the flag of Europe . The Bosnian national flag
11155-478: The time that the Albanian language was formed are uncertain. The American linguist Eric Hamp has said that during an unknown chronological period a pre-Albanian population (termed as "Albanoid" by Hamp) inhabited areas stretching from Poland to the southwestern Balkans. Further analysis has suggested that it was in a mountainous region rather than on a plain or seacoast. The words for plants and animals characteristic of mountainous regions are entirely original, but
11270-510: The time, and used as a synonym for the Albanian language. Published in Rome in 1635, by the Albanian bishop and writer Frang Bardhi, the first dictionary of the Albanian language was titled Latin : Dictionarium latino-epiroticum ' Latin-Epirotan dictionary ' . During the five-century period of the Ottoman presence in Albania , the language was not officially recognised until 1909, when
11385-459: The traditional standard of Skanderbeg with the tricolor tie in the colors of the French flag." A transient flag was previously raised from the second floor balcony of the prefecture building by the police prefect Themistokli Gërmenji . Present in the public ceremony were the French commander Henri Descoings and his military personnel. Official surviving flags of this period are currently housed at
11500-572: The treatment of the native words and loanwords from other languages are evidence that the dialectal split preceded the Slavic migrations to the Balkans , which means that in that period (the 5th to 6th centuries AD), Albanians were occupying nearly the same area around the Shkumbin river, which straddled the Jireček Line . References to the existence of Albanian as a distinct language survive from
11615-421: The word for 'gills' which is native. Indigenous are also the words for 'ship', 'raft', 'navigation', 'sea shelves' and a few names of fish kinds, but not the words for 'sail', 'row' and 'harbor'; objects pertaining to navigation itself and a large part of sea fauna. This rather shows that Proto-Albanians were pushed away from coastal areas in early times (probably after the Latin conquest of the region) and thus lost
11730-544: The writers from northern Albania and under the influence of the Catholic Church used Latin letters, those in southern Albania and under the influence of the Greek Orthodox church used Greek letters, while others throughout Albania and under the influence of Islam used Arabic letters. There were initial attempts to create an original Albanian alphabet during the 1750–1850 period. These attempts intensified after
11845-556: Was acceptable to all parties. Aside from the colors, the current flag contains no historical or other references to the Bosnian state. The flag is rarely ever seen in Republika Srpska , whose residents prefer to fly either that entity's regional flag or the Serbian national flag instead. Some Bosniaks dislike or have no particular affinity for the flag, preferring the former Bosnian national flag used from 1992 to 1998, or
11960-409: Was closely related to Illyrian and Messapic . The Indo-European subfamily that gave rise to Albanian is called Albanoid in reference to a specific ethnolinguistically pertinent and historically compact language group. Whether descendants or sisters of what was called ' Illyrian ' by classical sources, Albanian and Messapic , on the basis of shared features and innovations, are grouped together in
12075-510: Was ever published specifying the color of the outline, but it probably would have been white. The Second Set of Proposals had flags that were truly representative of Bosnia and Herzegovina as a whole. The first flag design was a diagonally striped tricolor pattern of red to white to blue (different colors but in the same pattern as the Flag of the Republic of the Congo ). In the centre there would be
12190-409: Was kept, but the diagonal white stripe was made wider so that the angle was not perfectly 45 degrees. In the center there was a yellow map of Bosnia and Herzegovina outlined in green and under it there were two green olive branches. The olive branch pattern was the same one that the United Nations uses in its flag. The final fourth design was kept the same emblem from the third design, but did not have
12305-416: Was never adopted. Bosnia and Herzegovina also had a new coat of arms during Yugoslav rule; it was a symbol of Bosnian industrialism at the time. A red flag with central elements of this coat of arms in the canton was erroneously reported in one contemporary book to have been the flag of Bosnia and Herzegovina. On 3 March 1992 Bosnia and Herzegovina declared its independence from Yugoslavia . Initially
12420-499: Was raised for the first time had been "crafted" with her own hands by Marigo Posio from a cloth purchased by a local drapery merchant named Diamanti and based on the model drawn by Dom Mark Vasa and Petro Fotografi". In a later correspondence that Floqi writes to the editor of Drita Newspaper, dated 17 January 1937 and titled "The designer of the flag that was flown in Vlorë for the declaration of our independence", in response to Kol Rodhe,
12535-565: Was raised in possibly over 400 years is the Battle of Deçiq (6 April) in the Albanian revolt of 1911 . It was raised by the rebellion leader Ded Gjo Luli on the peak of Bratila (present-day Tuzi Municipality ) after victory was secured. The phrase Tash o vllazën do t’ju takojë të shihni atë që për 450 vjet se ka pa kush (Now brothers you have earned the right to see that which has been unseen for 450 years) has been attributed to Ded Gjo Luli by later memoirs of those who were present when he raised
12650-415: Was that the color of the background was UN blue. The second Carlos Westendorp alternative flag is a light blue flag (using the United Nations' flag's colors) with 5 bars interchangeably coming out of hoist and not reaching the other end. The colors are interchangeably yellow and white. In the third alternative flag, the field was light blue and had five narrow yellow bars. Westendorp's decision ended up being
12765-679: Was the first ruling government following the war of liberation , was published for the first time in the War Bulletin of National Liberation ( Albanian : Buletin i Luftës Nacional-Çlirimtare ), issue nr.51 dated 28 November 1944. The usage of this specific flag is widely seen in public events and military court sessions. It has also been confirmed in the 1980 publication by the Marxist-Leninist Studies Institute titled "Epopeja e Luftës Antifashiste Nacionalçlirimtare e Popullit Shqiptar 1939–1944". Prior to this,
12880-472: Was the first unified Albanian state in the Middle Ages and the oldest representative political body in the country with extant records. The symbol of the double-headed black eagle on a red background was re-used by Albanian nationalists during the 19th and early 20th centuries as a symbol of their campaign for their country's independence from the Ottoman Empire . In Ottoman territory, the first time it
12995-517: Was used for heraldic purposes in the Middle Ages by a number of noble families in Albania and became the symbol of the Albanians . The Kastrioti 's coat of arms , depicting a black double-headed eagle on a red field, became famous when he led a revolt against the Ottoman Empire resulting in the independence of Albania from 1443 to 1479. This was the flag of the League of Lezhë , which
13110-475: Was usually accompanied on official buildings by the flag of the federal Yugoslavia and the flag of the League of Communists of Yugoslavia . A smaller version of the flag served as the civil ensign while an elongated banner version was seen flown in front of the Yugoslav parliament . Wide public discussion ahead of constitutional adoption resulted in the overall opinion that the state flag should be red, like
13225-681: Was written in 1693; it was the Italian manuscript Pratichae Schrivaneschae authored by the Montenegrin sea captain Julije Balović and includes a multilingual dictionary of hundreds of the most frequently used words in everyday life in Italian, Slavic, Greek, Albanian, and Turkish . Pre-Indo-European (PreIE) sites are found throughout the territory of Albania. Such PreIE sites existed in Maliq , Vashtëmi , Burimas , Barç , Dërsnik in
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