The Second Egyptian–Ottoman War lasted from 1839 until 1841 and was fought mainly in Syria . It has sometimes been referred to as the Syrian War or Second Syrian War .
150-726: Ottoman Albania was a period in Albanian history from the Ottoman conquest in the late 15th century to the Albanian declaration of Independence and official secession from the Ottoman Empire in 1912. The Ottomans first entered Albania in 1385 upon the invitation of the Albanian noble Karl Thopia to suppress the forces of the noble Balša II during the Battle of Savra . They had some previous influence in some Albanian regions after
300-605: A 1911 uprising by the mountain tribes against the Young Turks regime that grew into a widespread revolt. Unable to control the Albanians by force, the Ottoman government granted concessions on schools, military recruitment, and taxation and sanctioned the use of the Latin script for the Albanian language. The government refused, however, to unite the four Albanian-inhabited vilayets into one, Albanian vilayet . Administratively,
450-527: A Turkish pasha into surrendering the Albanian fortress. Skanderbeg then embraced Roman Catholicism and declared a holy war against the Ottoman Empire. On 1 March 1444, Albanian chieftains gathered in the cathedral of Lezhë with the prince of Montenegro and delegates from Venice and proclaimed Skanderbeg commander of the Albanian resistance. All of Albania accepted his leadership against the Ottomans, but local leaders kept control of their own districts. Under
600-550: A crucial role during the Ottoman–Venetian War (1499–1503) , Ottoman–Hungarian Wars and Ottoman–Habsburg wars before gaining Independence. Ottoman Empire would be heavily dependent on Albanian Mercenaries in its warfare between the early 1600s to middle 1800s until the reforms of Tanzimat . The weakening of Ottoman central authority and the timar system brought anarchy to the Albanian-populated lands. In
750-507: A de juro independent principality and expand the lands under his control by playing off Austria and Russia against the Sublime Porte. In 1785, Kara Mahmud's forces attacked and conquered Montenegrin territory, and Austria offered to recognize him as the ruler of all Albania if he would ally himself with Vienna against the Sublime Porte. Seizing an opportunity, Kara Mahmud sent the sultan the heads of an Austrian delegation in 1788, and
900-534: A divide-and-rule policy to keep the local beys from uniting and posing a threat to Ottoman rule itself, but with little success. Ottoman-Albanian relations worsened in the year 1826 during the reign of Mahmud II , he had instigated the notorious Auspicious Incident and the turmoil that followed caused the violent dissolution of the Janissary , Devşirme and the entire Balkan Muslim leadership in Rumelia causing
1050-569: A landing at Jounieh with 1,500 Turks and Marines to operate against Ibrahim, who was prevented by the revolt from doing more than trying to hold the coastal cities. Due to the illness of the Brigadier-General of the army, Sir Charles Smith, Napier was instructed to command the land force and made a successful sortie against a force of Albanians at Nahr-el-Kelb (Kelbson). He then, with a mixed squadron of British, Turkish and Austrian ships, bombarded Sidon on September 26 and landed with
1200-541: A month after a Young Turk rebellion in Macedonia supported by an Albanian uprising in Kosovo and Vardar Macedonia escalated into widespread insurrection and mutiny within the imperial army, Sultan Abdül Hamid II agreed to demands by the Young Turks to restore constitutional rule. Many Albanians participated in the Young Turks uprising, hoping that it would gain their people autonomy within the empire. The Young Turks lifted
1350-524: A new wave of revolts and instability in the gradually weakening Ottoman Empire . After crushing the Bushatis and Ali Pasha, the Sublime Porte introduced a series of reforms, known as the tanzimat , which were aimed at strengthening the empire by reining in fractious pashas. The timars officially became large individual landholdings, especially in the lowlands. In 1835, the Sublime Porte divided
1500-603: A number of battles, including Torvioll , Oranik , Otonetë , Modric , Ohrid and Mokra ; with his most brilliant being in Albulena . However, Skanderbeg did not receive any of the help which had been promised to him by the popes or the Italian states, Venice, Naples and Milan. He died in 1468, leaving no clear successor. After his death the rebellion continued, but without its former success. The loyalties and alliances created and nurtured by Skanderbeg faltered and fell apart and
1650-411: A number of the major sieges: Siege of Krujë (1450) , Second Siege of Krujë (1466–67), Third Siege of Krujë (1467) against forces led by the Ottoman sultans Murad II and Mehmed II . For 25 years Skanderbeg's army of around 10,000 men marched through Ottoman territory winning against consistently larger and better supplied Ottoman forces. Throughout his rebellion, Skanderbeg defeated the Ottomans in
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#17327756393401800-588: A point of crisis that threatened to destabilize the whole of the Levant . On June 24, 1839, an invading Ottoman army (accompanied by Moltke the Elder ) was destroyed in Syria by Muhammad Ali's general Ibrahim Pasha at the Battle of Nezib , putting him in possession of the whole of Syria. This threatened to place Constantinople itself and the rule of the entire Eastern Mediterranean within his grasp. A few days after
1950-599: A power of great importance in Europe." During the ending of the 1700s century and beginning of the 19th century Albanian Pashaliks extended from Bosnia to the south of today's Greece in Peloponnese matching a climax of power which Albanians would never achieve again. South of the Shkumbini River, the mostly peasant Tosks lived in compact villages under elected rulers. Some Tosks living in settlements high in
2100-451: A red flag bearing Skanderbeg's heraldic emblem, an Albanian force of about 10,000-15.000 men held off Ottoman campaigns against their lands for twenty-four years when Skanderbeg was commander in chief and for another 11 years after his death. Three times the Albanians overcame sieges of Krujë. In 1450, the Albanians routed Sultan Murad II himself. Later, they repulsed attacks led by Sultan Mehmed II in 1466 and 1467. In 1461, Skanderbeg went to
2250-570: A reflection of the Divine. Women, veiled, participate in Bektashi ceremonies and the celebrants use wine despite the ban on alcohol in most Islamic interpretations of the Sharia . The Bektashis became a fringe zealous religious group in southern Albania after the sultan disbanded the janissaries in 1826. Bektashi leaders played key roles in the Albanian nationalist movement of the late 19th century. In
2400-536: A result of about 50 years of Communist rule (especially under the regime of Enver Hoxha ) that banned the practice of religion . History of Albania During classical antiquity , Albania was home to several Illyrian tribes such as the Albanoi , Ardiaei , Bylliones , Dassaretii , Enchele , Labeatae , Taulantii , Parthini , Penestae , Amantes , and many others, but also Bryges and Epirote tribes, as well as several Greek colonies established on
2550-640: A war against the Ottoman Empire which resulted in defeat of Gjon Kastrioti but victory in 4 battles for Gjergj Arianiti and 1 victory for Andrea Thopia . These Albanian victories opened the way for the coming of Skanderbeg in 1443 in Kruja. Independence for most of the Albanian regions was maintained during 1443–1479, with the uprising under the lead of Skanderbeg that together with other Albanian nobles such Gjergj Arianiti , Andrea Thopia and Lek Dukagjini achieved remarkable result of 30+ victories against
2700-606: Is known as Egyptian-Ottoman War (1839-1841) and only European Powers would stop Mehmet Ali and his son Ibrahim Pasha to seize Constantinople and replace the Ottoman dynasty with the Albanian one by thus resolving the Oriental Crisis of 1840 . Albanian communities exist up to this day in Egypt and other areas of Levant such as Syria and Palestine. The territory which today belongs to the Republic of Albania remained part of
2850-712: Is last mentioned in the sources among other local leaders, in a meeting with George Akropolites in Durrës in 1256. Arbanon was a beneficiary of the Via Egnatia trade road, which brought wealth and benefits from the more developed Byzantine civilization. After the fall of the Principality of Arber in territories captured by the Despotate of Epirus , the Kingdom of Albania was established by Charles of Anjou . He took
3000-520: The Aetolians . Agron's (second) wife was Queen Teuta , who acted as regent after Agron's death. According to Polybius , she ruled "by women's reasoning". Teuta started to address the neighbouring states malevolently, supporting the piratical raids of her subjects. After capturing Dyrrhachium and Phoenice, Teuta's forces extended their operations further southward into the Ionian Sea , defeating
3150-461: The Bushati family , who dominated most of northern Albania from 1757 to 1831, and Ali Pasha Tepelena of Janina (now Ioánnina, Greece), a brigand-turned-despot who ruled over southern Albania and northern Greece from 1788 to 1822. Those pashas created separate states within the Ottoman state until they were overthrown by the sultan. In the 1870s, the Sublime Porte 's reforms aimed at checking
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#17327756393403300-726: The Enchelei in the east, the Bylliones in the south and several others . In the westernmost parts of the territory of Albania, along with the Illyrian tribes, lived the Bryges , a Phrygian people, and in the south lived the Greek tribe of the Chaonians . In the 4th century BC, the Illyrian king Bardylis united several Illyrian tribes and engaged in conflicts with Macedon to
3450-531: The Illyrian coast in cooperation with the local Illyrians, notably Epidamnos-Dyrrhachium and Apollonia . The Enchele's polity was the earliest to emerge and centered in Albania. Also the earliest known Illyrian king, Bardylis , emerged in what is now Albania around 400 BC, aiming to make Illyria a regional power interfering with Macedon . He united many southern Illyrian tribes under his realm and defeated
3600-479: The Janissary and Devşirme (in many cases sons of Albanian nobles) and later on through becoming Muslims they opened their path for very successful military and political carriers, persuading other Albanians to do so Albanians would enter later on in the 15th and especially 16th and 17th centuries, a period of Islamization. Albanians through converting to Islam would eventually dominate the Ottoman power structures disporportinally to their small population considering
3750-633: The Kingdom of Albania (1928–1939) , replaced the republic. The country endured occupation by Italy just prior to World War II (1939–1945). After the Armistice of Cassibile between Italy and the Allies , Albania was occupied by Nazi Germany . Following the collapse of the Axis powers , Albania became a one-party communist state , the People's Socialist Republic of Albania , which for most of its duration
3900-606: The Kingdom of Albania , was intended by the dynamic Sicilian ruler, Charles of Anjou , to become the launchpad for an overland invasion of the Byzantine Empire. The Byzantines, however, managed to recover most of Albania by 1274, leaving only Valona and Dyrrhachium in Charles' hands. Finally, when Charles launched his much-delayed advance, it was stopped at the Siege of Berat in 1280–1281. Albania would remain largely part of
4050-519: The Kingdom of Naples and the Vatican , resistance to the Ottoman Empire continued for 36 years. Krujë fell to the Ottomans only in 1478, ten years after the death of Skanderbeg; Shkodër succumbed in 1479 after a failed siege in 1474 and a stronger siege in 1478 that ended with Venice ceding Shkodra to the Ottomans. The Venetians then evacuated Durrës, in 1501. The conquests triggered a great exodus of Albanian nobles to Venice and Italy, especially to
4200-631: The Late Roman Empire was divided. By 395 AD dioceses in which the region was divided were the Diocese of Dacia (as Pravealitana), and the Diocese of Macedonia (as Epirus Nova). Most of the region of modern Albania corresponds to the Epirus Nova . Christianity came to Epirus nova , then part of the Roman province of Macedonia . Since the 3rd and 4th century AD, Christianity had become
4350-511: The League of Lezhë was established, under the rule of George Kastrioti Skanderbeg , the Albanian national hero. The League was a military alliance of feudal lords in Albania forged in Lezhë on 2 March 1444, initiated and organised under Venetian patronage with Skanderbeg as leader of the regional Albanian and Serbian chieftains united against the Ottoman Empire. The main members of the league were
4500-636: The Macedonians and Molossians several times, expanding his dominion over Upper Macedonia and Lynkestis . Before the Rise of Macedon Illyrians were the dominant power in the region. The kingdom of the Taulantii under Glaukias ' rule was based in central Albania and dominated southern Illyrian affairs in the late 4th century BC, exerting great influence on the Epirote state through the close ties with
4650-576: The Molossian king Pyrrhus . Under the Ardiaei the greatest known Illyrian kingdom emerged in the 3rd century BC encompassing also northern Albania in its core territory. It became a formidable power both on land and sea by assembling a great army and fleet, and directly ruling over a large area made up of different Illyrian tribes and cities that stretched from the Neretva River in the north to
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4800-753: The Neolithic era, and they are dated between 6,000 and the end of the EBA. The most important are found in Maliq , Gruemirë , Dushman (Dukagjin) , on the Erzen river (close to Shijak ), near Durrës , Ziçisht , Nepravishtë , Finiq , and Butrint . The next period in the prehistory of Albania coincides with the Indo-Europeanization of the Balkans, which involved Pontic steppe migrations which brought
4950-525: The Ottoman Empire until it declared independence in 1912, during the Balkan Wars . The Ottomans expanded their control from Anatolia to the Balkans in the middle of the 14th century. They entered European territory in 1352, and they defeated a Balkan coalition army led by Serbs, that also included some Albanians and Bosnians in the Battle of Kosovo in 1389. Ottoman pressure lessened in 1402 when
5100-463: The Ottoman Empire 's disintegration had failed. The image of the "Turkish yoke" had become fixed in the nationalist mythologies and psyches of the empire's Balkan peoples and their march toward independence quickened. The Albanians , because of the higher degree of Islamic influence, their internal social divisions, and the fear that they would lose their Albanian-speaking territories to the emerging Serbia , Montenegro , Bulgaria , and Greece , were
5250-697: The Roman Empire was divided into eastern and western halves in AD 395, Illyria east of the Drinus River ( Drina between Bosnia and Serbia ), including the lands form Albania, were administered by the Eastern Empire but were ecclesiastically dependent on Rome . Though the country was in the fold of Byzantium , Christians in the region remained under the jurisdiction of the Pope until 732. In that year
5400-519: The Sanjak of Albania in 1420. and than Kruja was established as the center of Sanjak of Albania after Gjergj Arianiti defeated the Ottomans between 1431 and 1435. The Ottomans allowed Albanian clan chiefs to maintain their positions, rule and property, but they had to pay tribute, and sometimes send their sons to the Ottoman court as hostages, and provide the Ottoman army with auxiliary troops. However many Albanian clans and Principalities did not recognize
5550-518: The Sanjak of Albania . Major combatants included members of the Dukagjini , Zenebishi , Thopia , Kastrioti and Arianiti families. In the initial phase, the rebels were successful in capturing some major towns such as Dagnum. Protracted sieges such as that of Gjirokastër , the capital of the Sanjak, gave the Ottoman army time to assemble large forces from other parts of the empire and to subdue
5700-615: The Via Egnatia ran inside modern Albania, ending at Dyrrachium . Illyricum was later divided into the provinces of Dalmatia and Pannonia . The Roman province of Illyricum or Illyris Romana or Illyris Barbara or Illyria Barbara replaced most of the region of Illyria . It stretched from the Drilon River in modern Albania to Istria ( Croatia ) in the west and to the Sava River ( Bosnia and Herzegovina ) in
5850-484: The flag under which the Albanian national movement rallied centuries later. 11 years after the death of Skenderbeg and the fall of Krujë, the Ottoman Empire gained control of the ethnic Albanian territories and made many political changes. The Albanian population gradually began to convert to Islam through the teachings of Bektashism , which offered considerable material advantages in Ottoman trade networks, bureaucracy and army. Many Albanians were recruited initially into
6000-687: The 10th century with many thriving towns such as Devol , Glavinitsa ( Ballsh ) and Belgrad ( Berat ). When the Byzantines managed to conquer the First Bulgarian Empire the fortresses in eastern Albania were some of the last Bulgarian strongholds to submit to the Byzantines. Later the region was recovered by the Second Bulgarian Empire . In the Middle Ages , the name Arberia began to be increasingly applied to
6150-514: The 16th century and early 17th century, Albanians converted to Islam in large numbers. Within a century, the Muslim Albanian community was the largest religious community in the country, losing their previous entirely Orthodox and Catholic religious identity. Albanians in this time were divided into two distinct tribal and dialectal groupings: the Gegs and Tosks (see Albanian language ). In
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6300-478: The 1750s with the era of the so called Independent Albanian Pashas. In 1754 the autonomous Albanian Pashalik of Bushati family would be established with center the city of Shkodra called Pashalik of Shkodra . Later on the same autonomous Pashalik of Berat would be established and culminating with the Albanian Pashalik of Ali Pashe Tepelena in 1787. The Albanian Pashaliks would end in 1831 with
6450-696: The 18th century, two Albanian centers of power emerged: Shkodër , under the Bushati family; and Ioannina , under Ali Pasha of Tepelenë . When it suited their goals, both places cooperated with the Sublime Porte , and when it was expedient to defy the central government, each acted independently. The Bushati family initially dominated the Shkodër region through a network of alliances with various highland tribes and later expanded in huge areas in today's Montenegro , Northern Albania , Kosovo , Macedonia , southern Serbia . Kara Mahmud Bushati attempted to establish
6600-400: The 1990s. The crisis peaked in the Albanian Turmoil of 1997 . An amelioration of the economic and political conditions in the early years of the 21st century enabled Albania to become a full member of NATO in 2009. The country is applying to join the European Union . The first traces of human presence in Albania, dating to the Middle Paleolithic and Upper Paleolithic eras, were found in
6750-401: The 19th century, the Ottoman sultans tried in vain to shore up their collapsing empire by introducing a series of reforms aimed at reining in recalcitrant local officials and dousing the fires of nationalism among its myriad peoples. The power of nationalism, however, proved too strong to counteract. Nowadays, Albanians tend to not have strong affiliations to their varied religious identities as
6900-508: The Albanian people, as it strengthened their solidarity, made them more conscious of their national identity, and served later as a great source of inspiration in their struggle for national unity, freedom and independence. Upon the Ottomans return in 1479, a large number of Albanians fled to Italy, Egypt and other parts of the Ottoman Empire and Europe and maintained their Arbëresh identity. Many Albanians won fame and fortune as soldiers, administrators, and merchants in far-flung parts of
7050-414: The Albanian people, as it strengthened their solidarity, made them more conscious of their national identity, and served later as a great source of inspiration in their struggle for national unity, freedom, and national identity. The memory of the mid-15th century resistance under Skanderbeg continues to be important to Albanians, and his family's banner, bearing a black two-headed eagle on a red field, became
7200-489: The Albanian-populated lands into the vilayets of Janina and Rumelia and dispatched officials from Constantinople to administer them. This provoked a series of revolts in 1843–1844, but they were suppressed by the Ottoman army. After 1865, the central authorities redivided the Albanian lands between the vilayets of Scutari , Janina , and Monastir . The reforms angered the highland Albanian chieftains, who found their privileges reduced with no apparent compensation, and
7350-492: The Albanians' national hero, captured the sultan's attention. Renamed Iskander when he converted to Islam, the young man participated in military expeditions to Asia Minor and Europe becoming one of the main Ottoman generals. When appointed to administer a Balkan district, Iskander became known as Skanderbeg . After Ottoman forces under Skanderbeg's command suffered defeat in a battle near Niš (intentionally by him) present-day Serbia in 1443, Skanderbeg rushed to Krujë and tricked
7500-554: The Albanians' unity and used the Muslim clergy to try to impose the Arabic alphabet, while also banning the Albanian national flag . The Albanians refused to submit to the Young Turks' campaign to "Ottomanize" them by force. New Albanian uprisings began in Kosovo and the northern mountains in early April 1910. Ottoman forces quashed these rebellions after three months, outlawed Albanian organizations, disarmed entire regions, and closed down schools and publications. Montenegro, preparing to grab Albanian-populated lands for itself, supported
7650-496: The Arianiti, Balšić, Dukagjini, Muzaka, Spani, Thopia and Crnojevići. For 25 years, from 1443 to 1468, Skanderbeg's 10,000-man army marched through Ottoman territory winning against consistently larger and better supplied Ottoman forces. Threatened by Ottoman advances in their homeland, Hungary, and later Naples and Venice – their former enemies – provided the financial backbone and support for Skanderbeg's army. By 1450 it had certainly ceased to function as originally intended, and only
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#17327756393407800-435: The Byzantine empire until the Byzantine civil war of 1341–1347 when it fell shortly to the hands of the Serbian ruler Stephen Dushan . During this time, the territory became Albanian majority as the Black Death wiped out much of its Greek population . In the mid-9th century, most of eastern Albania became part of the Bulgarian Empire . The area, known as Kutmichevitsa , became an important Bulgarian cultural center in
7950-443: The Convention of Alexandria took place. British Admiral Charles Napier reached an agreement with the Egyptian government, where the latter abandoned its claims to Syria and returned the Ottoman fleet in exchange of the recognition of Muhammad Ali and his sons as the only legitimate rulers of Egypt. The war was the climax of the long power-struggle between the Ottoman Empire and the Pasha of Egypt , Muhammad Ali , which had reached
8100-400: The Empire. As the centuries passed, however, Ottoman rulers lost the capacity to command the loyalty of local pashas , which threatened stability in the region. The Ottoman rulers of the 19th century struggled to shore up central authority, introducing reforms aimed at harnessing unruly pashas and checking the spread of nationalist ideas. Albania would be a part of the Ottoman Empire until
8250-492: The Indo-European languages in the region and the formation of the Paleo-Balkan peoples as the result of fusion between the Indo-European-speaking population and the Neolithic population. In Albania, consecutive movements from the northern parts of the region which became known as Illyria in the Iron Age had a significant impact in the formation of the new post-Indo-European migration population. The ancestral groups to Iron Age Illyrians are usually identified in Albania towards
8400-459: The League of Lezhë. Gibbon reports that the "Albanians, a martial race, were unanimous to live and die with their hereditary prince", and that "in the assembly of the states of Epirus, Skanderbeg was elected general of the Turkish war and each of the allies engaged to furnish his respective proportion of men and money". Under a red flag bearing Skanderbeg's heraldic emblem, an Albanian force held off Ottoman campaigns for twenty-five years and overcame
8550-620: The League participated in battles against Montenegro and successfully wrestled control over Plav and Gusinje after brutal warfare with Montenegrin troops. In August 1878, the Congress of Berlin ordered a commission to determine the border between the Ottoman Empire and Montenegro . Finally, the Great Powers blockaded Ulcinj by sea and pressured the Ottoman authorities to bring the Albanians under control. Albanian diplomatic and military efforts were successful in wresting control of Epirus, however some lands were still ceded to Greece by 1881. The League's founding figure Abdyl Frashëri influenced
8700-413: The League to demand autonomy and wage open war against the Ottomans. Faced with growing international pressure "to pacify" the refractory Albanians, the sultan dispatched a large army under Dervish Turgut Pasha to suppress the League of Prizren and deliver Ulcinj to Montenegro. The League of Prizren's leaders and their families were arrested and deported. Frashëri, who originally received a death sentence,
8850-468: The Mirditë Catholics. Large numbers of Tosks emigrated to join sizable Albanian émigré communities in Romania, Egypt, Bulgaria , Constantinople, southern Italy, and later the United States. In 1906, opposition groups in the Ottoman Empire emerged, one of which evolved into the Committee of Union and Progress, more commonly known as the Young Turks , which proposed restoring constitutional government in Constantinople, by revolution if necessary. In July 1908,
9000-441: The Mongol leader Timur (Tamerlane) attacked Anatolia from the east, killed the Sultan, and sparked a civil war. When order was restored, the Ottomans renewed their westward progress. In 1453, Sultan Mehmed II 's forces overran Constantinople and killed the last Byzantine emperor. The division of the Albanian-populated lands into small, quarreling fiefdoms ruled by independent feudal lords and tribal chiefs made them easy prey for
9150-406: The Ottoman Empire they still had autonomy to rule over their lands, but the southern part which was put under the direct rule of the Ottoman Empire , prompted by the replacement of large parts of the local nobility with Ottoman landowners, centralized governance and the Ottoman taxation system, the population and the nobles, led principally by Gjergj Arianiti , revolted against the Ottomans. During
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#17327756393409300-441: The Ottoman Empire. The Albanian resistance and war against Ottomans continued for 48 years. The last towns captured by the Ottomans were Shkodër in 1480, Durrës in 1501 and Himara in 1509. Albanians would enter later on in a period of Islamization, starting in the late 14th century and early 15th century, and increasing especially in the 16th and 17th centuries. Albanians through converting to Islam would eventually dominate
9450-508: The Ottoman administration, which severely disadvantaged the Catholic community since conversion to Islam came with numerous upper-class affiliations. About 48 Albanians rose to the position of grand vizier , chief deputy to the sultan himself. In the second half of the 17th century, the Albanian Köprülü family provided 6 grand viziers, who fought against corruption, temporarily shored up eroding central government control over rapacious local beys, and won several military victories by max expanding
9600-419: The Ottoman armies. In 1385, the Albanian ruler of Durrës , Karl Thopia , appealed to the sultan for support against his rivals, the Balsha noble family . An Ottoman force quickly marched into Albania along the Via Egnatia and routed Balsha II in the Battle of Savra . Some of the Albanian Principalities soon started to become vassals of the Ottoman Empire after 1420. Gjirokastra became the county town of
9750-459: The Ottoman authority and did not pay tribute. The Albanians' resistance to the Ottomans in the 14th century and especially in the 15th century won them acclaim all over Europe. Gjon Kastrioti of Krujë was one of the Albanian nobles and clan leaders who submitted to Ottoman suzerainty in 1425. He was compelled to send his four sons to the Ottoman capital to be trained for military service. The youngest, George Kastrioti (1403–68), who would become
9900-401: The Ottoman ban on Albanian-language schools and on writing the Albanian language. As a consequence, Albanian intellectuals meeting in Manastir (present day town of Bitola ) in 1908 chose the Latin alphabet as a standard script. The Young Turks, however, were set on maintaining the empire and not interested in making concessions to the myriad nationalist groups within its borders. After securing
10050-407: The Ottoman defeat in the Battle of Niš at the hands of the Hungarians , Skanderbeg deserted in November 1443 and began a rebellion against the Ottoman Empire. After his desertion, Skanderbeg re-converted to Christianity and declared war against the Ottoman Empire, which he led from 1443 to 1468. Skanderbeg summoned the Albanian princes to the Venetian-controlled town of Lezhë where they formed
10200-413: The Ottoman fleet sailed to Alexandria and surrendered to Muhammad Ali. Britain, Austria and other European nations, rushed to intervene and force Egypt into accepting a peace treaty. From September to November 1840, a combined naval fleet, made up of British and Austrian vessels, cut off Ibrahim's sea communications with Egypt, followed by the occupation of Beirut and Acre by the British. On 27 November 1840,
10350-439: The Ottoman power structures disproportionally to their small population considering the large territory and huge population of the Ottoman Empire. They would become one of the most important and prestigious nations in the Empire playing an important role in the 15th and 16th centuries and especially a striking role in the 17th,18th and 19th centuries. A period of the semi-independence started for local Albanian rulers in Balkans in
10500-423: The Ottoman states to the gates of Vienna and middle Ukraine.. As early as the 18th century, a mystic Islamic sect, the Bektashi dervishes , spread into the empire's Albanian-populated lands. Probably founded in the late 13th century in Anatolia , Bektashism became the janissaries' official faith in the late 16th century. The Bektashi sect contains features quite distinct from normative Islam and emphasizes man as
10650-501: The Ottomans appointed him governor of Shkodër. When he attempted to wrest the final lands from the last free tribes in Montenegro in 1796, however, he was killed by an ambush in northern Montenegro. Kara Mahmud's brother, Ibrahim Bushati , cooperated with the Sublime Porte until his death in 1810, but his successor, Mustafa Pasha Bushati , proved to be recalcitrant despite important participation in Ottoman military campaigns against Greek revolutionaries and rebel pashas. He cooperated with
10800-701: The Ottomans divided the Albanian-inhabited lands among a number of districts, or vilayets . The Ottoman authorities did not stress conversion to Islam and the conversion was done initially by Albanian nobles in the end of the 14th century and beginning of 15th one and was gradually accepted by the mass.The Ottomans persecuted non Muslim Albanians and murdered their children and women in masses and those whom they did not murder they cut their tongues or eyes, or they burnt their eyes, as mentioned in Meshari of Gjon Buzuku additional by Gjon Buzuku, when he talked of
10950-557: The Ottomans reconquered the territory of Albania, culminating with the siege of Shkodra in 1479. However, some territories in Northern Albania remained under Venetian control . Shortly after the fall of the castles of northern Albania, many Albanians fled to neighbouring Italy, giving rise to the Arbëreshë communities still living in that country. Skanderbeg's long struggle to keep Albania free became highly significant to
11100-594: The Progon family, the same year, Arbanon was successively controlled subsequently by the Despotate of Epirus , the Bulgarian Empire and, from 1235, by the Empire of Nicaea . During the conflicts between Michael II Komnenos Doukas of Epirus and Emperor John III Doukas Vatatzes , Golem (ruler of Arbanon at the time) and Theodore Petraliphas, who were initially Michael's allies, defected to John III in 1252. He
11250-557: The Roman province of Macedonia . When the Roman Empire was divided into East and West in 395, the territories of modern Albania became part of the Byzantine Empire . Beginning in the first decades of Byzantine rule (until 461), the region suffered devastating raids by Visigoths , Huns , and Ostrogoths . In the 6th and 7th centuries, the Slavic migrations to Southeastern Europe forced Albanians and Vlachs to pull back into
11400-481: The Romans split the region into three administrative divisions, called meris . Beginning in the 7th century BC, Greek colonies were established on the Illyrian coast. The most important were Apollonia , Aulon (modern-day Vlorë ), Epidamnos (modern-day Durrës ), and Lissus (modern-day Lezhë ). The city of Buthrotum (modern-day Butrint), a UNESCO World Heritage Site , is probably more significant today than it
11550-522: The abdication of Abdül Hamid II in April 1909, the new authorities levied taxes, outlawed guerrilla groups and nationalist societies, and attempted to extend Constantinople's control over the northern Albanian mountain men. In addition, the Young Turks legalized the bastinado , or beating with a stick, even for misdemeanors, banned carrying rifles, and denied the existence of an Albanian nationality. The new government also appealed for Islamic solidarity to break
11700-711: The admiration and the criticism of his contemporaries. His court was in Ioannina, but the territory he governed incorporated most of Epirus and the western parts of Thessaly and Greek Macedonia in Northern Greece. Many Albanians gained prominent positions in the Ottoman government, Albanians highly active during the Ottoman era and leaders such as Ali Pasha of Tepelena might have aided Husein Gradaščević . The Albanians proved generally faithful to Ottoman rule following
11850-477: The aid of his suzerain, King Alfonso I of Naples , against the kings of Sicily by practically defeating all his rivals in southern Italy. Albanians also defeated Venice in 1449 in 3 battles in Albanian–Venetian War . Sometimes the government under Skanderbeg was unstable, however, and at times local Albanian rulers cooperated with the Ottomans against him. With political and minor material support from
12000-612: The aim of opposing the Young Turk policies of consolidation of the Ottoman Empire . Following the eventual weakening of the Ottoman Empire in the Balkans , Serbia , Greece , and Bulgaria declared war, seizing the remaining Ottoman territory in Europe . The territory of Albania was occupied by Serbia in the north and Greece in the south, leaving only a patch of land around the southern coastal city of Vlora . The short-lived Albanian Control Commission (17 October 1912 to 30 May 1913)
12150-587: The army. As a result, many Albanians came to serve in the elite Janissary and the administrative Devşirme system. Among these were important historical figures, including Iljaz Hoxha , Hamza Kastrioti , Koca Davud Pasha , Zağanos Pasha , Köprülü Mehmed Pasha (head of the Köprülü family of Grand Viziers ), the Bushati family, Sulejman Pasha , Edhem Pasha , Nezim Frakulla , Haxhi Shekreti , Hasan Zyko Kamberi , Ali Pasha of Gucia , Muhammad Ali ruler of Egypt , Ali Pasha of Tepelena rose to become one of
12300-422: The authorities eventually abandoned efforts to control them. Ottoman troops crushed local rebellions in the lowlands, however, and conditions there remained bleak. The religious division of the northern Albanian tribes brought them into opposition. The Muslim northern Albanian tribes participated in the Ottoman campaigns against Christian Albanian tribes, such as in 1876 when they devastated the territory populated by
12450-561: The balcony of the Assembly of Vlorë , in the presence of hundreds of Albanians . This flag was sewn after Skanderbeg 's principality flag, which had been used more than 500 years earlier. Egyptian-Ottoman War (1839-1841) In 1839, the Ottoman Empire moved to reoccupy lands lost to Muhammad Ali in the First Turko-Egyptian War . This resulted in the Battle of Nezib , which led to an Ottoman defeat. On 1 July,
12600-510: The battle of Savra in 1385 but not direct control. The Ottomans placed garrisons throughout southern Albania by 1420s and established formal jurisdiction in central Albania by 1431. Even though The Ottomans claimed rule of all Albanian lands, most Albanian ethnic territories were still governed by medieval Albanian nobility who were free of Ottoman rule. The Sanjak of Albania was established in 1420 or 1430 controlling mostly central Albania, while Ottoman rule became more consolidated in 1481, after
12750-474: The battle the Ottoman Sultan, Mahmud II , died, leaving his Empire in the hands of his 16-year-old heir Abdülmecid . Meanwhile, the Ottoman fleet had defected to Muhammad Ali. Britain, Russia and Austria were all pledged to support the tottering Ottoman Empire and to force Muhammad Ali (who had the support of France and Spain) to withdraw from Syria. Although the new Sultan's ministers moved to resolve
12900-567: The beginning Iron Age in the Balkans during the early 1st millennium BC. The Illyrians were a group of tribes who inhabited the western Balkans during the classical times . The territory the tribes covered came to be known as Illyria to Greek and Roman authors, corresponding roughly to the area between the Adriatic Sea in the west, the Drava river in the north, the Morava river in
13050-713: The borders of Epirus in the south, while its influence extended throughout Epirus and down into Acarnania . The dominant power of the Illyrian kingdom in the region ceased after the Illyrian defeat in the Illyro-Roman Wars (229–168 BC). The last known "King of the Illyrians" was Gentius , of the Labeatae tribe. In the early 2nd century BC, the area was annexed by Rome and became part of the Roman provinces of Dalmatia , Macedonia and Moesia Superior . Afterwards,
13200-580: The combined Achaean and Aetolian fleet in the Battle of Paxos and capturing the island of Corcyra . Later on, in 229 BC, she clashed with the Romans and initiated the Illyrian Wars . These wars, which were spread out over 60 years, eventually resulted in defeat for the Illyrians by 168 BC and the end of Illyrian independence when King Gentius was defeated by a Roman army after heavy clashes with Rome and Roman allied cities such as Apollonia and Dyrrhachium under Anicius Gallus . After his defeat,
13350-477: The core of the alliance under Skanderbeg and Araniti Comino continued to fight on. After Skanderbeg's death in 1468, the sultan "easily subdued Albania," but Skanderbeg's death did not end the struggle for independence, and fighting continued until the Ottoman siege of Shkodra in 1478–79, a siege ending when the Republic of Venice ceded Shkodra to the Ottomans in the peace treaty of 1479. Ottoman supremacy in
13500-555: The crisis by offering to cede the rule of Syria to Muhammad Ali, the British, Austrian and Russian ambassadors forced them to rescind this offer and stand firm against him. There was even a possibility of war with France, who looked to Muhammad Ali's success to increase its sphere of influence in the Near East. The English Historical Review No. 69 from January, 1903, has a letter Palmerston wrote to defend not notifying France about
13650-677: The date of the intervention. In June 1840, Admiral Sir Robert Stopford , commanding the British Mediterranean Fleet , sent Commodore Charles Napier with a small squadron to the Syrian (now the Lebanese) coast. He was then ordered to proceed to Beirut to compel the Egyptians to withdraw. The situation on the ground was extremely volatile, and called for quick and decisive action; this Napier provided, acting as if his
13800-619: The early 20th century. The Ottoman period that followed was characterized by a change in the landscape through a gradual modification of the settlements with the introduction of bazaars , military garrisons and mosques in many Albanian regions. Part of the Albanian population gradually converted to Islam, with many joining the Sufi Order of the Bektashi . Converting from Christianity to Islam brought considerable advantages, including access to Ottoman trade networks, bureaucratic positions and
13950-469: The early phases of the revolt, many land ( timar ) holders were killed or expelled. As the revolt spread, the nobles, whose holdings had been annexed by the Ottomans, returned to join the revolt and attempted to form alliances with the Holy Roman Empire . While the leaders of the revolt were successful in defeating successive Ottoman campaigns, they failed to capture many of the important towns in
14100-683: The east and the mouth of Vjosë river in the south. The first account of the Illyrian peoples comes from the Coastal Passage contained in a periplus , an ancient Greek text of the middle of the 4th century BC. Several Illyrian tribes that resided in the region of Albania were the Ardiaei , Taulantii and Albanoi in central Albania, the Parthini , the Abri and the Caviii in the north,
14250-683: The end of the EBA with movements from north of Albania and are linked to the construction of tumuli burial grounds of patrilineally organized clans. Some of the first tumuli date to the 26th century BCE. These burial mounds belong to the southern expression of the Adriatic-Ljubljana culture (related to Cetina culture ) which moved southwards along the Adriatic from the northern Balkans. The same community built similar mounds in Montenegro (Rakića Kuće) and northern Albania (Shtoj). In
14400-400: The end of the resistance led by Skanderbeg, and accepted Islam more easily than their neighbors. A period of semi-independence started during the mid 18th century. As Ottoman power began to decline in the 18th century, the central authority of the empire in Albania gave way to the local authority of autonomy-minded lords. The most successful of those lords were three generations of pashas of
14550-462: The established religion in Byzantium , supplanting pagan polytheism and eclipsing for the most part the humanistic world outlook and institutions inherited from the Greek and Roman civilizations. The Durrës Amphitheatre (Albanian: Amfiteatri i Durrësit) is a historic monument from the time period located in Durrës, Albania, that was used to preach Christianity to civilians during that time. When
14700-639: The fall of Shkodra and League of Lezhe with the country (including areas of today's Kosovo, Montenegro and Macedonia) being mostly free in the period of 1443–1481. Albanians revolted again in 1481 but the Ottomans finally controlled Albania by 1488. The term used in Ottoman sources for the country was Arnavudluk ( Ottoman Turkish : آرناوودلق), including areas such as present-day Albania , Kosovo , western North Macedonia , southern Serbia , southern Montenegro and parts of northern Greece . In 1431, Many Albanian princes including Gjergj Arianiti , Zenevisi family , Andrea Thopia and Gjon Kastrioti started
14850-433: The hereditary landholdings of economically and politically powerful families who squeezed wealth from their hard-strapped Christian and Muslim tenant farmers. The beys, like the clan chiefs of the northern mountains, became virtually independent rulers in their own provinces, had their own military contingents, and often waged war against each other to increase their landholdings and power. The Sublime Porte attempted to press
15000-553: The iconoclast Byzantine emperor Leo III , angered by archbishops of the region because they had supported Rome in the Iconoclastic Controversy , detached the church of the province from the Roman pope and placed it under the patriarch of Constantinople . When the Christian church split in 1054 between Eastern Orthodoxy and Catholicism , the region of southern Albania retained its ties to Constantinople , while
15150-543: The independent Archdiocese of Ohrid until Dyrrachion and Nicopolis , were re-established as metropolitan sees. Thereafter, only the dioceses in inner Albania ( Elbasan , Krujë ) remained attached to Ohrid . In the 13th century during the Venetian occupation, the Latin Archdiocese of Durrës was founded. After the region fell to the Romans in 168 BC it became part of Epirus nova that was, in turn, part of
15300-552: The kingdom of Naples, as well as to Sicily , Romania and Egypt . Most of the Albanian refugees belonged to the Orthodox Church. The Albanians of Italy significantly influenced the Albanian national movement in future centuries, and Albanian Franciscan priests , most of whom were descended from émigrés to Italy, played a significant role in the preservation of Catholicism in Albania's northern regions. Skanderbeg's long struggle to keep Albania free became highly significant to
15450-983: The large territory and huge population of the Ottoman Empire. They would become one of the most important and prestigious nations in the Empire playing a stringing role since the 15th century, but especially in the 17th,18th and 19th centuries. For example, 48 Grand Viziers were of Albanian origin who managed the Ottoman state approximately 190 years. Some of the most prominent Albanians during Ottoman rule were: George Kastrioti Skanderbeg , Ballaban Badera , Koca Davud Pasha , Hamza Kastrioti , Iljaz Hoxha , Pargalı Ibrahim Pasha , Mimar Sinan , Nezim Frakulla , Köprülü Mehmed Pasha , Ali Pasha , Edhem Pasha , Omer Vrioni , Patrona Halil , Haxhi Shehreti , Ali Pasha of Gucia , Ibrahim Pasha of Berat , Köprülü Fazıl Ahmed , Muhammad Ali of Egypt , Kara Mahmud Bushati , Kara Murad Pasha , Ahmet Kurt Pasha , Mustafa Bushati , Ibrahim Bushati , Sedefkar Mehmed Agha . Albanians also played
15600-689: The last of the Balkan peoples to desire division from the Ottoman Empire . With the rise of the Albanian National Awakening, Albanians regained a sense of statehood and engaged in military resistance against the Ottoman Empire as well as instigating a massive literary revival. Albanian émigrés in Bulgaria, Egypt, Italy, Romania and the United States supported the writing and distribution of Albanian textbooks and writings. In
15750-606: The last one being the Bushati Pashalik. These de facto independent Albanian Pashaliks would extend from Bosnia to south of Morea (Peloponnese) in today's southern Greece. Meanwhile, an Ottoman Albanian commander Mehmet Ali of Egypt , would seize power in Egypt in 1805 through his Albanian mercenaries by establishing a dynasty lasting up to 1954. He would take over Sudan and many regions of Saudi Arabia by 1824 and would take over Levant later on in 1831 by even defeating Ottomans in 1833. The conflict would rise again in what
15900-420: The late 15th centuries, most of modern-day Albania was dominated by Albanian principalities , when the Albanian principalities fell to the rapid invasion of the Ottoman Empire . Albania remained under Ottoman control as part of the province of Rumelia until 1912; with some interruptions during the 18th and 19th century with the establishment of autonomy-minded Albanian lords. The first independent Albanian state
16050-480: The late Bronze Age and early Iron Age a number of possible population movements occurred in the territories of modern Albania, for example the settlement of the Bryges in areas of southern Albania-northwestern Greece and Illyrian tribes into central Albania. The latter derived from early an Indo-European presence in the western Balkan Peninsula . The movement of the Byrgian tribes can be assumed to coincide with
16200-420: The local noblemen. During 1271 they made several trips between Albania and Italy eventually succeeding in their mission. On 21 February 1272, a delegation of Albanian noblemen and citizens from Durrës made their way to Charles' court. Charles signed a treaty with them and was proclaimed King of Albania "by common consent of the bishops, counts, barons, soldiers and citizens" promising to protect them and to honor
16350-471: The main revolt by the end of 1436. Because the rebel leaders acted autonomously without a central leadership, their lack of coordination of the revolt contributed greatly to their final defeat. Ottoman forces conducted a number of massacres in the aftermath of the revolt. Many Albanians had been recruited into the Janissary corps, including the feudal heir George Kastrioti who was renamed Skanderbeg (Iskandar Bey) by his Turkish officers at Edirne . After
16500-405: The most powerful Muslim Albanian rulers in western Rumelia . His diplomatic and administrative skills, his interest in modernist ideas and concepts, his popular religiousness, his religious neutrality, his win over the bands terrorizing the area, his ferocity and harshness in imposing law and order, and his looting practices towards persons and communities in order to increase his proceeds cause both
16650-441: The mountain tribes and brought a large area in Balkans under his control like Kara Mahmud Bushati. Visiting Albania and Ali Pasha in 1814, Charles Robert Cockerell admired Ali Pasha's governance, stating: "There is law — for everyone admits his impartiality as compared with that of rulers in other parts of Turkey — and there is commerce. He [Ali Pasha] has made roads, fortified the borders, put down brigandage, and raised Albania into
16800-547: The mountainous regions and adopt nomadic lifestyle, or flee into Byzantine Greece . In general, the invaders destroyed or weakened Roman and Byzantine cultural centres in the lands that would become Albania. In the late 11th and 12th centuries, the region played a crucial part in the Byzantine–Norman wars ; Dyrrhachium was the westernmost terminus of the Via Egnatia , the main overland route to Constantinople, and
16950-453: The mountains maintained their independence and often escaped payment of taxes. The Tosks of the lowlands, however, were easy for the Ottoman authorities to control. The Albanian tribal system disappeared there, and the Ottomans imposed a system of military fiefs under which the sultan granted soldiers and cavalrymen temporary landholdings, or timars, in exchange for military service. By the 18th century, many military fiefs had effectively become
17100-520: The north reverted to the jurisdiction of Rome. This split marked the first significant religious fragmentation of the country. After the formation of the Slav principality of Dioclia (modern Montenegro ), the metropolitan see of Bar was created in 1089, and dioceses in northern Albania ( Shkodër , Ulcinj ) became its suffragans. Starting in 1019, Albanian dioceses of the Byzantine rite were suffragans of
17250-530: The north. Salona (near modern Split in Croatia) functioned as its capital. The regions which it included changed through the centuries though a great part of ancient Illyria remained part of Illyricum . South Illyria became Epirus Nova , part of the Roman province of Macedonia. In 357 AD the region was part of the Praetorian prefecture of Illyricum one of four large praetorian prefectures into which
17400-516: The northern Albanian mountains recognized no law but the Code of Lekë Dukagjini ( Kanuni i Lekë Dukagjinit ), a collection of tribal laws transcribed in the 14th century by a Roman Catholic priest. The code regulates a variety of subjects, including blood vengeance. Even today, many Albanian highlanders regard the canon as the supreme law of the land. Four centuries of Ottoman rule grouped the Albanian people along religious, regional, and tribal lines. In
17550-527: The order and continued with the attack against Ibrahim's army. The fighting, on October 9 was furious but victory was secured. Napier then left the land forces to Smith. Meanwhile, the Egyptians had abandoned Beirut on October 3. The fleet was then instructed to retake Acre , which was the only coastal position left in Egyptian hands. The Mediterranean Fleet, commanded by Stopford, and supported by small Austrian and Turkish squadrons, moved into position against
17700-464: The privileges they had from Byzantine Empire. The treaty declared the union between the Kingdom of Albania (Latin: Regnum Albanie ) with the Kingdom of Sicily under King Charles of Anjou ( Carolus I, dei gratia rex Siciliae et Albaniae ). He appointed Gazzo Chinardo as his Vicar-General and hoped to take up his expedition against Constantinople again. Throughout 1272 and 1273 he sent huge provisions to
17850-495: The prospect of bloody chaos in Egypt, was not part of the Allies' plan, and Stopford sent Napier to command the squadron at Alexandria and to observe the situation. Here, acting independently again, he appeared before the city with part of his squadron on November 25 and enforced a blockade. Then without reference to his Admiral or the British government he personally negotiated a peace with Muhammad Ali, guaranteeing him and his heirs
18000-562: The region now comprising the nation of Albania. The first undisputed mention of Albanians in the historical record is attested in a Byzantine source for the first time in 1079–1080, in a work titled History by Byzantine historian Michael Attaliates , who referred to the Albanoi as having taken part in a revolt against Constantinople in 1043 and to the Arbanitai as subjects of the duke of Dyrrhachium . A later reference to Albanians from
18150-584: The river Aoos and Corcyra. During his reign, the Ardiaean Kingdom reached the height of its power. The army and fleet made it a major regional power in the Balkans and the southern Adriatic. The king regained control of the Adriatic with his warships ( lembi ), a domination once enjoyed by the Liburnians . None of his neighbours were nearly as powerful. Agron divorced his (first) wife. Agron suddenly died, c. 231 BC , after his triumph over
18300-438: The rugged northern mountains, Geg shepherds lived in a tribal society often completely independent of Ottoman rule. In the south, Muslim and Orthodox Tosks worked the land for Muslim beys , provincial rulers who frequently revolted against the sultan's authority. In the 15th and especially 16th and 17th centuries, many Albanian converts to Islam migrated elsewhere to escape the Ottoman Empire. Some attained powerful positions in
18450-465: The same Attaliates, regarding the participation of Albanians in a rebellion around 1078, is undisputed. In 1190, the Principality of Arbër (Arbanon) was founded by archon Progon in the region of Krujë . Progon was succeeded by Gjin Progoni and then Dhimitër Progoni . Arbanon extended over the modern districts of central Albania , with its capital located at Krujë . The principality of Arbanon
18600-714: The second quarter of the 19th century, after the fall of the Albanian pashaliks and the Massacre of the Albanian Beys , an Albanian National Awakening took place and many revolts against the Ottoman Empire were organized. These revolts included the Albanian Revolts of 1833–1839 , the Revolt of 1843–44 , and the Revolt of 1847 . A culmination of the Albanian National Awakening was the League of Prizren. The league
18750-577: The south-east, but was defeated. Bardyllis was succeeded by Grabos II , then by Bardylis II , and then by Cleitus the Illyrian , who was defeated by Alexander the Great . Around 230 BC, the Ardiaei briefly attained military might under the reign of king Agron. Agron extended his rule over other neighbouring tribes as well. He raided parts of Epirus , Epidamnus , and the islands of Corcyra and Pharos. His state stretched from Narona in Dalmatia south to
18900-570: The sovereignty of Egypt, and pledging to evacuate Ibrahim's beleaguered army back to Alexandria, if Muhammad Ali in turn renounced all claims to Syria, submitted to the Sultan and returned the Ottoman fleet. Stopford and the British ambassador were furious with this outcome. Stopford repudiated it immediately when he had heard the news and several of the Allied powers declared it void. Despite Napier’s long-standing personal friendship with Lord Palmerston ,
19050-484: The storming column. Sidon capitulated in two days. While preparing to attack the Egyptian positions on the heights of Boharsef, Napier received an order to retire from the command of the land forces to make way for Brigadier-General Smith, who had recovered from his illness, and also had received command of the Turkish force in the allied army. To do this, Napier would need to retreat from his position; he decided to disobey
19200-402: The territory remained under Roman and Byzantine control until the Slavic migrations of the 7th century. It was integrated into the Bulgarian Empire in the 9th century. In the Middle Ages , the Principality of Arbër and a Sicilian union known as the medieval Kingdom of Albania were established. Some areas became part of the Venetian and later Serbian Empire . Between the mid-14th and
19350-571: The title of King of Albania in February 1272. The kingdom extended from the region of Durrës (then known as Dyrrhachium) south along the coast to Butrint. After the failure of the Eighth Crusade, Charles of Anjou returned his attention to Albania. He began contacting local Albanian leaders through local catholic clergy. Two local Catholic priests, namely John from Durrës and Nicola from Arbanon, acted as negotiators between Charles of Anjou and
19500-491: The towns of Durrës and Vlorë. This alarmed the Byzantine Emperor, Michael VIII Palaiologos, who began sending letters to local Albanian nobles, trying to convince them to stop their support for Charles of Anjou and to switch sides. However, the Albanian nobles placed their trust on Charles, who praised them for their loyalty. Throughout its existence the Kingdom saw armed conflict with the Byzantine empire. The kingdom
19650-424: The treatment of the Albanian people by Turk governance. By 1479, the entire country, except for Durrës , Ulcinj and Bar , was under Ottoman suzerainty. Prominent viziers and pashas hailed from Albania, and were appointed to their posts long before the majority of Albanians professed Islam. The Ottoman sultan considered himself God's agent on Earth, the leader of a religious—not a national—state whose purpose
19800-509: The tribute of children levied in the Ottoman Empire's Balkan lands. Many of the best fighters in the sultan's elite guard, the janissaries , were conscripted as young boys from Christian Albanian families, and high-ranking Ottoman officials often had Albanian bodyguards. According to historian Zija Shkodra, Albania was developed as much as the rest of the Balkans . In the mountains north of the Shkumbini River, Geg herders maintained their self-governing society base on clans. An association of clans
19950-631: The village of Xarrë, near Sarandë and Dajti near Tirana . The objects found in a cave near Xarrë include flint and jasper objects and fossilized animal bones, while those found at Mount Dajt comprise bone and stone tools similar to those of the Aurignacian culture . The Paleolithic finds of Albania show great similarities with objects of the same era found at Crvena Stijena in Montenegro and north-western Greece . There are several archaeological sites in Albania that carry artifacts dating from
20100-456: The walls of the fortifications falling on their crews. The sailing ships of the line were in two lines with steamers manoeuvring in between. At 16:20 a shell penetrated the main magazine in the south of the city, which exploded killing 1,100 men. The guns ashore fell silent and that night the city was occupied. British losses were light: 18 men killed and 41 wounded. The ships had fired 48,000 rounds. The rapid collapse of Muhammad Ali's power, with
20250-474: The weakening of Constantinople following its pillage during the Fourth Crusade . However, Arbanon lost its large autonomy ca. 1216, when the ruler of Epirus , Michael I Komnenos Doukas , started an invasion northward into Albania and Macedonia , taking Kruja and ending the independence of the principality of Arbanon following the death of Dhimitër. After the death of Demetrius, the last ruler of
20400-506: The west Balkan region began in 1385 with their success in the Battle of Savra . Following that battle, the Ottoman Empire in 1415 established the Sanjak of Albania covering the conquered parts of Albania, which included territory stretching from the Mat River in the north to Chameria in the south. In 1419, Gjirokastra became the administrative centre of the Sanjak of Albania. The northern Albanian nobility, although tributary of
20550-503: The western and southern sides of Acre on November 3-4 and opened fire at 14:00. The ships anchored closer to the shore than expected, at 450–800 metres, and the Egyptian guns were aimed too high. The fire of the ships was devastatingly accurate thanks to the training associated with the Royal Navy's new gunnery school, HMS Excellent . The Egyptians had no opportunity to correct their error; their guns were disabled by direct hits and by
20700-495: Was an entirely independent command. On August 11, 1840, Napier's ships appeared off Beirut and he called upon Suleiman Pasha , Muhammad Alis governor, to abandon the town and leave Syria, whose population shortly revolted against Muhammad Ali's occupying army. With such a small force, there was little that Napier could do against 15,000 Egyptian troops until September, when Stopford's ships joined up with him. Open war broke out on September 11, when Napier bombarded Beirut and effected
20850-568: Was called a bajrak . Taxes on the northern tribes were difficult if not impossible for the Ottomans to collect because of the rough terrain and fierceness of the Albanian highlanders. Some mountain tribes succeeded in defending their independence through the centuries of Ottoman rule, engaging in intermittent guerrilla warfare with the Ottomans, who never deemed it worthwhile to subjugate them. Until recent times, Geg clan chiefs, or bajraktars, exercised patriarchal powers, arranged marriages, mediated quarrels, and meted out punishments. The tribesmen of
21000-640: Was dominated by dictator Enver Hoxha (died 1985). Hoxha's political heir Ramiz Alia oversaw the disintegration of the " Hoxhaist " state during the wider collapse of the Eastern Bloc in the later 1980s. The communist regime collapsed in 1990, and the former communist Party of Labour of Albania was routed in elections in March 1992, amid economic collapse and social unrest. The unstable economic situation led to an Albanian diaspora , mostly to Italy , Greece , Switzerland , Germany and North America during
21150-399: Was established in 1190 by the native archon Progon in the region surrounding Kruja , to the east and northeast of Venetian territories. Progon was succeeded by his sons Gjin and then Demetrius (Dhimitër), who managed to retain a considerable degree of autonomy from the Byzantine Empire . In 1204, Arbanon attained full, though temporary, political independence, taking advantage of
21300-495: Was formed at a meeting of 47 Ottoman beys in Prizren on 18 June 1878. An initial position of the league was presented in a document known as Kararname . Through this document Albanian leaders emphasized their intention to preserve and maintain the territorial integrity of the Ottoman Empire in the Balkans by supporting the porte , and "to struggle in arms to defend the wholeness of the territories of Albania". In this early period,
21450-545: Was founded by the Albanian Declaration of Independence following a short occupation by the Kingdom of Serbia . The formation of an Albanian national consciousness dates to the later 19th century and is part of the larger phenomenon of the rise of nationalism under the Ottoman Empire . A short-lived monarchical state known as the Principality of Albania (1914–1925) was succeeded by an even shorter-lived first Albanian Republic (1925–1928). Another monarchy,
21600-546: Was imprisoned until 1885 and exiled until his death seven years later. A similar league was established in 1899 in Peja by former League member Haxhi Zeka . The league ended its activity in 1900 after an armed conflict with the Ottoman forces. Zeka was assassinated by a Serbian agent Adem Zajmi in 1902. The initial sparks of the First Balkan war in 1912 were ignited by the Albanian uprising between 1908 and 1910, which had
21750-437: Was introduced and it replaced the Byzantine Pronoia . In 1371, the Serbian Empire was dissolved and several Albanian principalities were formed including the Principality of Kastrioti , Principality of Albania and Despotate of Arta as the major ones. In the late 14th and the early 15th century the Ottoman Empire conquered parts of south and central Albania. The Albanians regained control of their territories in 1444 when
21900-506: Was one of the main targets of the Normans (cf. Battle of Dyrrhachium (1081)). Towards the end of the 12th century, as Byzantine central authority weakened and rebellions and regionalist secessionism became more common, the region of Arbanon became an autonomous principality ruled by its own hereditary princes. In 1258, the Sicilians took possession of the island of Corfu and the Albanian coast, from Dyrrhachium to Valona and Buthrotum and as far inland as Berat. This foothold, reformed in 1272 as
22050-431: Was reduced to a small area in Durrës. Even before the city of Durrës was captured, it was landlocked by Karl Thopia's principality. Declaring himself as Angevin descendant, with the capture of Durrës in 1368 Karl Thopia created the Princedom of Albania . During its existence Catholicism saw rapid spread among the population which affected the society as well as the architecture of the Kingdom. A Western type of feudalism
22200-401: Was set up by them to rule Albania. The unsuccessful uprising of 1910 , 1911 and the successful and final Albanian revolt in 1912 , as well as the Serbian and Greek occupation and attempts to incorporate the land into their respective countries, led to a proclamation of independence by Ismail Kemal in Vlorë on 28 November 1912. The same day, Kemal waved the national flag of Albania, from
22350-605: Was to defend and propagate Islam. Non-Muslims paid extra taxes and held an inferior status, but they could retain their old religion and a large measure of local autonomy. By converting to Islam, individuals among the conquered could elevate themselves to the privileged stratum of society. In the early years of the empire, all Ottoman high officials were the sultan's bondsmen the children of Christian subjects chosen in childhood for their promise, converted to Islam, and educated to serve. Some were selected from prisoners of war, others sent as gifts, and still others obtained through devshirme,
22500-440: Was when Julius Caesar used it as a provisions depot for his troops during his campaigns in the 1st century BC. At that time, it was considered an unimportant outpost, overshadowed by Apollonia and Epidamnos. The lands comprising modern-day Albania were incorporated into the Roman Empire as part of the province of Illyricum above the river Drin , and Roman Macedonia (specifically as Epirus Nova ) below it. The western part of
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