118-540: Meshari ( Albanian for "Missal") is the oldest published book in Albanian . The book was written by Gjon Buzuku , a Catholic cleric in 1555. The book contains 188 pages and is written in two columns. Meshari is the translation of the main parts of the Catholic Liturgy into Albanian. It contains the liturgies of the main religious holidays of the year, comments from the book of prayers, excerpts from
236-768: A Germanisation policy. By the 1860s, the failure of the policy became apparent, leading to the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867 . The creation of a personal union between the Austrian Empire and the Kingdom of Hungary followed. The treaty left Croatia's status to Hungary, which was resolved by the Croatian–Hungarian Settlement of 1868 when the kingdoms of Croatia and Slavonia were united. The Kingdom of Dalmatia remained under de facto Austrian control, while Rijeka retained
354-602: A Stabilisation and Association Agreement with the European Union , submitted a formal application for the EU membership in 2003, was given the status of a candidate country in 2004, and began accession negotiations in 2005. Although the Croatian economy had enjoyed a significant boom in the early 2000s, the financial crisis in 2008 forced the government to cut spending, thus provoking a public outcry. Croatia served on
472-566: A 1568 copy of a lost original, but it is not certain if the original was indeed older than the Branimir inscription. The area known as Croatia today was inhabited throughout the prehistoric period . Neanderthal fossils dating to the middle Palaeolithic period were unearthed in northern Croatia, best presented at the Krapina site . Remnants of Neolithic and Chalcolithic cultures were found in all regions. The largest proportion of sites
590-678: 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
708-640: A campaign of killing, terror, and expulsion of the Croats in the rebel territories, killing thousands of Croat civilians and expelling or displacing as many as 400,000 Croats and other non-Serbs from their homes. Serbs living in Croatian towns, especially those near the front lines, were subjected to various forms of discrimination. Croatian Serbs in Eastern and Western Slavonia and parts of the Krajina were forced to flee or were expelled by Croatian forces, though on
826-497: A church inscription found in Bijaći near Trogir dated to the end of the 8th or early 9th century. The presumably oldest stone inscription with fully preserved ethnonym is the 9th-century Branimir inscription found near Benkovac , where Duke Branimir is styled Dux Cruatorvm , likely dated between 879 and 892, during his rule. The Latin term Chroatorum is attributed to a charter of Duke Trpimir I of Croatia , dated to 852 in
944-850: 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
1062-573: 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
1180-479: A derivation of North-West Slavic * Xərwate , by liquid metathesis from Common Slavic period *Xorvat , from proposed Proto-Slavic *Xъrvátъ which possibly comes from the 3rd-century Scytho-Sarmatian form attested in the Tanais Tablets as Χοροάθος ( Khoroáthos , alternate forms comprise Khoróatos and Khoroúathos ). The origin of the ethnonym is uncertain, but most probably
1298-521: A federal unit, were stopped by World War I . On 29 October 1918, the Croatian Parliament ( Sabor ) declared independence and decided to join the newly formed State of Slovenes, Croats, and Serbs , which in turn entered into union with the Kingdom of Serbia on 4 December 1918 to form the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes . The Croatian Parliament never ratified the union with Serbia and Montenegro. The 1921 constitution defining
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#17327827903611416-472: 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
1534-708: A moderately warm and rainy continental climate as defined by the Köppen climate classification . Mean monthly temperature ranges between −3 °C (27 °F ) in January and 18 °C (64 °F) in July. The coldest parts of the country are Lika and Gorski Kotar featuring a snowy, forested climate at elevations above 1,200 metres (3,900 feet). The warmest areas are at the Adriatic coast and especially in its immediate hinterland characterised by Mediterranean climate , as
1652-475: 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
1770-415: A population of nearly 3.9 million. The Croats arrived in modern-day Croatia in the late 6th century, then part of Roman Illyria . By the 7th century, they had organized the territory into two duchies . Croatia was first internationally recognized as independent on 7 June 879 during the reign of Duke Branimir . Tomislav became the first king by 925, elevating Croatia to the status of a kingdom . During
1888-547: 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
2006-663: A restricted scale and in lesser numbers. The Croatian Government publicly deplored these practices and sought to stop them, indicating that they were not a part of the Government's policy. On 15 January 1992, Croatia gained diplomatic recognition by the European Economic Community , followed by the United Nations. The war effectively ended in August 1995 with a decisive victory by Croatia;
2124-933: 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
2242-667: 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
2360-608: 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
2478-624: Is especially prominent in the Dinaric Alps. Croatia hosts deep caves , 49 of which are deeper than 250 m (820.21 ft), 14 deeper than 500 m (1,640.42 ft) and three deeper than 1,000 m (3,280.84 ft). Croatia's most famous lakes are the Plitvice lakes , a system of 16 lakes with waterfalls connecting them over dolomite and limestone cascades. The lakes are renowned for their distinctive colours, ranging from turquoise to mint green, grey or blue. Most of Croatia has
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#17327827903612596-687: 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
2714-454: Is from Proto-Ossetian / Alanian * xurvæt- or * xurvāt- , in the meaning of "one who guards" ("guardian, protector"). The oldest preserved record of the Croatian ethnonym's native variation *xъrvatъ is of the variable stem, attested in the Baška tablet in style zvъnъmirъ kralъ xrъvatъskъ (" Zvonimir , Croatian king "), while the Latin variation Croatorum is archaeologically confirmed on
2832-592: 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
2950-506: Is in the valleys of northern Croatia. The most significant are Baden , Starčevo , and Vučedol cultures . Iron Age hosted the early Illyrian Hallstatt culture and the Celtic La Tène culture . The region of modern-day Croatia was settled by Illyrians and Liburnians , while the first Greek colonies were established on the islands of Hvar , Korčula , and Vis . In 9 AD, the territory of today's Croatia became part of
3068-564: Is indicative of an earlier tradition in the writing of the Albanian language . The dialect used in Meshari was one of the main subjects of Selman Riza 's works. Meshari was discovered in 1740 by Gjon Nikollë Kazazi , then lost and rediscovered in 1909. In 1930, the book was photocopied for the first time by Father Justin Rrota , who brought a copy to Albania . In 1968 it was published with transliterations and comments by linguists. Below
3186-531: Is situated in Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea . Hungary is to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Montenegro to the southeast and Slovenia to the northwest. It lies mostly between latitudes 42° and 47° N and longitudes 13° and 20° E . Part of the territory in the extreme south surrounding Dubrovnik is a practical exclave connected to
3304-431: Is so far progressing at a faster pace than expected. Full membership is expected in 2025 and is the last big foreign policy goal Croatia still has to achieve. On 1 January 2023, Croatia adopted the euro as its official currency, replacing the kuna , and became the 20th Eurozone member. On the same day, Croatia became the 27th member of the border-free Schengen Area , thus marking its full EU integration. Croatia
3422-598: 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
3540-486: 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
3658-576: 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
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3776-569: Is the first paragraph of the Meshari' s epilogue, written by Buzuku: I, John, son of Benedict Buzuku, having often considered that our language had in it nothing intelligible from the Holy Scriptures, wished for the sake of our people to attempt, as far as I was able, to enlighten the minds of those who understand, so that they may comprehend how great and powerful and forgiving our Lord is to those who love him with all their hearts. I beg of you from today on to go to church more often to hear
3894-399: 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,
4012-633: 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
4130-776: Is the world's 127th largest country. Elevation ranges from the mountains of the Dinaric Alps with the highest point of the Dinara peak at 1,831 metres (6,007 feet) near the border with Bosnia and Herzegovina in the south to the shore of the Adriatic Sea which makes up its entire southwest border. Insular Croatia consists of over a thousand islands and islets varying in size, 48 of which are permanently inhabited . The largest islands are Cres and Krk , each of them having an area of around 405 square kilometres (156 square miles). The hilly northern parts of Hrvatsko Zagorje and
4248-516: The 6 January Dictatorship in 1929. The dictatorship formally ended in 1931 when the king imposed a more unitary constitution. The HSS, now led by Vladko Maček , continued to advocate federalisation, resulting in the Cvetković–Maček Agreement of August 1939 and the autonomous Banovina of Croatia . The Yugoslav government retained control of defence, internal security, foreign affairs, trade, and transport while other matters were left to
4366-582: 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 is also spoken in Greece and by the Albanian diaspora , which
4484-592: The Allies . With Allied support in logistics, equipment, training and airpower, and with the assistance of Soviet troops taking part in the 1944 Belgrade Offensive , the Partisans gained control of Yugoslavia and the border regions of Italy and Austria by May 1945. Members of the NDH armed forces and other Axis troops, as well as civilians, were in retreat towards Austria. Following their surrender, many were killed in
4602-700: The Bible as well as excerpts from the ritual and catechism . It was written to help Christians pray daily religious services. The only original known copy of this book currently is in the Library of the Vatican . Meshari is written in the Gheg Albanian dialect and uses Latin alphabet , one letter ( ћ ) from Serbian Cyrillic , with some modified letters. The book has a rich vocabulary and its orthography and grammatical forms seem to be well established, which
4720-731: The Communists , but having a degree of autonomy within the federation. In 1967, Croatian authors and linguists published a Declaration on the Status and Name of the Croatian Standard Language demanding equal treatment for their language. The declaration contributed to a national movement seeking greater civil rights and redistribution of the Yugoslav economy, culminating in the Croatian Spring of 1971, which
4838-463: 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
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4956-615: The Croatian National Revival , a political and cultural campaign advocating the unity of South Slavs within the empire. Its primary focus was establishing a standard language as a counterweight to Hungarian while promoting Croatian literature and culture. During the Hungarian Revolution of 1848 , Croatia sided with Austria. Ban Josip Jelačić helped defeat the Hungarians in 1849 and ushered in
5074-619: The Erdut Agreement of November 1995, concluding with the UNTAES mission in January 1998. Most sources number the war deaths at around 20,000. After the end of the war, Croatia faced the challenges of post-war reconstruction, the return of refugees, establishing democracy, protecting human rights, and general social and economic development. The 2000s were characterized by democratization, economic growth, structural and social reforms, and problems such as unemployment, corruption, and
5192-411: The European Union (green) Croatia ( / k r oʊ ˈ eɪ ʃ ə / , kroh- AY -shə ; Croatian : Hrvatska , pronounced [xř̩ʋaːtskaː] ), officially the Republic of Croatia (Croatian: Republika Hrvatska listen ), is a country in Central and Southeast Europe , on the coast of the Adriatic Sea . It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to
5310-681: The Great Turkish War (1683–1698), Slavonia was regained, but western Bosnia , which had been part of Croatia before the Ottoman conquest, remained outside Croatian control. The present-day border between the two countries is a remnant of this outcome. Dalmatia , the southern part of the border, was similarly defined by the Fifth and the Seventh Ottoman–Venetian Wars . The Ottoman wars drove demographic changes. During
5428-904: The Illyrian Provinces . In response, the Royal Navy blockaded the Adriatic Sea , leading to the Battle of Vis in 1811. The Illyrian provinces were captured by the Austrians in 1813 and absorbed by the Austrian Empire following the Congress of Vienna in 1815. This led to the formation of the Kingdom of Dalmatia and the restoration of the Croatian Littoral to the Kingdom of Croatia under one crown. The 1830s and 1840s featured romantic nationalism that inspired
5546-517: 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
5664-442: The Kingdom of Yugoslavia . Following the Axis invasion of Yugoslavia in April 1941, most of Croatia was incorporated into a Nazi-installed puppet state, the Independent State of Croatia . A resistance movement led to the creation of the Socialist Republic of Croatia , which after the war became a founding member and constituent of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia . On 25 June 1991, Croatia declared independence , and
5782-458: 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 ,
5900-704: 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,
6018-409: The OECD Council decided to open accession negotiations with Croatia. Throughout the accession process, Croatia was to implement numerous reforms that will advance all spheres of activity – from public services and the justice system to education, transport, finance, health, and trade. In line with the OECD Accession Roadmap from June 2022, Croatia will undergo technical reviews by 25 OECD committees and
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#17327827903616136-459: The OECD . An active participant in United Nations peacekeeping , Croatia contributed troops to the International Security Assistance Force and was elected to fill a non-permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council in the 2008–2009 term for the first time. Croatia is a developed country with an advanced high-income economy and ranks highly in the Human Development Index . Service , industrial sectors , and agriculture dominate
6254-416: The Roman Empire . Emperor Diocletian was native to the region. He had a large palace built in Split , to which he retired after abdicating in AD 305. During the 5th century, the last de jure Western Roman Emperor Julius Nepos ruled a small realm from the palace after fleeing Italy in 475. The Roman period ends with Avar and Croat invasions in the late 6th and first half of the 7th century and
6372-418: The Sabor (parliament) and a Ban (viceroy) appointed by the king. This period saw the rise of influential nobility such as the Frankopan and Šubić families to prominence, and ultimately numerous Bans from the two families. An increasing threat of Ottoman conquest and a struggle against the Republic of Venice for control of coastal areas ensued. The Venetians controlled most of Dalmatia by 1428, except
6490-506: The United Nations Security Council in the 2008–2009 term for the first time, assuming the non-permanent seat in December 2008. On 1 April 2009, Croatia joined NATO . A wave of anti-government protests in 2011 reflected a general dissatisfaction with the current political and economic situation. The protests brought together diverse political persuasions in response to recent government corruption scandals and called for early elections. On 28 October 2011 MPs voted to dissolve Parliament and
6608-410: The War of Independence was successfully fought over the next four years. Croatia is a republic and has a parliamentary system . It is a member of the European Union , the Eurozone , the Schengen Area , NATO , the United Nations , the Council of Europe , the OSCE , the World Trade Organization , a founding member of the Union for the Mediterranean , and is currently in the process of joining
6726-437: The Yugoslav death march of Nazi collaborators . In the following years, ethnic Germans faced persecution in Yugoslavia , and many were interned. The political aspirations of the Partisan movement were reflected in the State Anti-fascist Council for the National Liberation of Croatia , which developed in 1943 as the bearer of Croatian statehood and later transformed into the Parliament in 1945, and AVNOJ —its counterpart at
6844-408: The city-state of Dubrovnik , which became independent. Ottoman conquests led to the 1493 Battle of Krbava field and the 1526 Battle of Mohács , both ending in decisive Ottoman victories. King Louis II died at Mohács, and in 1527, the Croatian Parliament met in Cetin and chose Ferdinand I of the House of Habsburg as the new ruler of Croatia, under the condition that he protects Croatia against
6962-400: The economy . Tourism is a significant source of revenue for the country, with nearly 20 million tourist arrivals as of 2019. Since the 2000s, the Croatian government has heavily invested in infrastructure, especially transport routes and facilities along the Pan-European corridors . Croatia has also positioned itself as a regional energy leader in the early 2020s and is contributing to
7080-402: The 11th century during the reigns of Petar Krešimir IV (1058–1074) and Dmitar Zvonimir (1075–1089). When Stjepan II died in 1091, ending the Trpimirović dynasty, Dmitar Zvonimir's brother-in-law Ladislaus I of Hungary claimed the Croatian crown. This led to a war and personal union with Hungary in 1102 under Coloman . For the next four centuries, the Kingdom of Croatia was ruled by
7198-530: 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
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#17327827903617316-539: The 16th century, Croats from western and northern Bosnia , Lika , Krbava , the area between the rivers Una and Kupa , and especially from western Slavonia , migrated towards Austria . Present-day Burgenland Croats are direct descendants of these settlers. To replace the fleeing population, the Habsburgs encouraged Bosnians to provide military service in the Military Frontier . The Croatian Parliament supported King Charles III 's Pragmatic Sanction and signed their own Pragmatic Sanction in 1712 . Subsequently,
7434-410: 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
7552-453: 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
7670-426: 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
7788-435: 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
7906-491: The Communist Party fragmented along national lines, with the Croatian faction demanding a looser federation. In the same year, the first multi-party elections were held in Croatia, while Franjo Tuđman 's win exacerbated nationalist tensions. Some of the Serbs in Croatia left Sabor and declared autonomy of the unrecognised Republic of Serbian Krajina , intent on achieving independence from Croatia. As tensions rose, Croatia declared independence on 25 June 1991. However,
8024-418: The Croatian Sabor and a crown-appointed Ban. In April 1941, Yugoslavia was occupied by Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy . Following the invasion, a German-Italian installed puppet state named the Independent State of Croatia (NDH) was established. Most of Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the region of Syrmia were incorporated into this state. Parts of Dalmatia were annexed by Italy , Hungary annexed
8142-468: The European Union on 1 July 2013. Croatia was affected by the 2015 European migrant crisis when Hungary's closure of borders with Serbia pushed over 700,000 refugees and migrants to pass through Croatia on their way to other EU countries. On 19 October 2016, Andrej Plenković began serving as the current Croatian Prime Minister. The most recent presidential elections, held on 5 January 2020, elected Zoran Milanović as president. On 25 January 2022,
8260-404: 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
8378-423: The Ottoman Empire while respecting its political rights. Following the decisive Ottoman victories, Croatia was split into civilian and military territories in 1538. The military territories became known as the Croatian Military Frontier and were under direct Habsburg control. Ottoman advances in Croatia continued until the 1593 Battle of Sisak , the first decisive Ottoman defeat, when borders stabilised. During
8496-718: 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
8614-412: 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
8732-446: The Yugoslav level. Based on the studies on wartime and post-war casualties by demographer Vladimir Žerjavić and statistician Bogoljub Kočović , a total of 295,000 people from the territory (not including territories ceded from Italy after the war) died, which amounted to 7.3% of the population, among whom were 125–137,000 Serbs, 118–124,000 Croats, 16–17,000 Jews, and 15,000 Roma. In addition, from areas joined to Croatia after
8850-516: 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 '. Croatia – in Europe (green & dark grey) – in
8968-457: 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
9086-662: The country as a unitary state and abolition of Croatian Parliament and historical administrative divisions effectively ended Croatian autonomy. The new constitution was opposed by the most widely supported national political party—the Croatian Peasant Party (HSS) led by Stjepan Radić . The political situation deteriorated further as Radić was assassinated in the National Assembly in 1928, culminating in King Alexander I 's establishment of
9204-796: 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,
9322-857: The destruction of almost all Roman towns. Roman survivors retreated to more favourable sites on the coast, islands, and mountains. The city of Dubrovnik was founded by such survivors from Epidaurum . The ethnogenesis of Croats is uncertain. The most accepted theory, the Slavic theory, proposes migration of White Croats from White Croatia during the Migration Period . Conversely, the Iranian theory proposes Iranian origin, based on Tanais Tablets containing Ancient Greek inscriptions of given names Χορούαθος , Χοροάθος , and Χορόαθος (Khoroúathos, Khoroáthos, and Khoróathos) and their interpretation as anthroponyms of Croatian people. According to
9440-488: The diversification of Europe's energy supply via its floating liquefied natural gas import terminal off Krk island, LNG Hrvatska . Croatia provides social security , universal health care , and tuition-free primary and secondary education while supporting culture through public institutions and corporate investments in media and publishing . Croatia's non-native name derives from Medieval Latin Croātia , itself
9558-583: The emperor pledged to respect all privileges and political rights of the Kingdom of Croatia , and Queen Maria Theresa made significant contributions to Croatian affairs, such as introducing compulsory education. Between 1797 and 1809, the First French Empire increasingly occupied the eastern Adriatic coastline and its hinterland, ending the Venetian and the Ragusan republics , establishing
9676-554: The event is commemorated each year on 5 August as Victory and Homeland Thanksgiving Day and the Day of Croatian Defenders . Following the Croatian victory, about 200,000 Serbs from the self-proclaimed Republic of Serbian Krajina fled the region and hundreds of mainly elderly Serb civilians were killed in the aftermath of the military operation. Their lands were subsequently settled by Croat refugees from Bosnia and Herzegovina. The remaining occupied areas were restored to Croatia following
9794-459: 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
9912-792: The flat plains of Slavonia in the east which is part of the Pannonian Basin are traversed by major rivers such as Danube , Drava , Kupa , and the Sava . The Danube, Europe's second longest river, runs through the city of Vukovar in the extreme east and forms part of the border with Vojvodina . The central and southern regions near the Adriatic coastline and islands consist of low mountains and forested highlands. Natural resources found in quantities significant enough for production include oil, coal, bauxite, low-grade iron ore, calcium, gypsum, natural asphalt, silica, mica, clays, salt, and hydropower. Karst topography makes up about half of Croatia and
10030-569: The full implementation of the declaration only came into effect after a three-month moratorium on the decision on 8 October 1991. In the meantime, tensions escalated into overt war when the Serbian-controlled Yugoslav People's Army (JNA) and various Serb paramilitary groups attacked Croatia. By the end of 1991, a high-intensity conflict fought along a wide front reduced Croatia's control to about two-thirds of its territory. Serb paramilitary groups then began
10148-687: The inefficiency of public administration. In November 2000 and March 2001, the Parliament amended the Constitution, first adopted on 22 December 1990, changing its bicameral structure back into its historic unicameral form and reducing presidential powers. Croatia joined the Partnership for Peace on 25 May 2000 and became a member of the World Trade Organization on 30 November 2000. On 29 October 2001, Croatia signed
10266-651: 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
10384-601: 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
10502-465: 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
10620-552: The migration and settlement of the Slavs/Croats was in the late 6th and early 7th century. Eventually, a dukedom was formed, Duchy of Croatia , ruled by Borna , as attested by chronicles of Einhard starting in 818. The record represents the first document of Croatian realms, vassal states of Francia at the time. Its neighbor to the North was Principality of Lower Pannonia , at the time ruled by duke Ljudevit who ruled
10738-429: 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
10856-456: 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
10974-408: The northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Montenegro to the southeast, and shares a maritime border with Italy to the west. Its capital and largest city, Zagreb , forms one of the country's primary subdivisions , with twenty counties . Other major urban centers include Split , Rijeka and Osijek . The country spans 56,594 square kilometres (21,851 square miles), and has
11092-519: The northern Croatian regions of Baranja and Međimurje . The NDH regime was led by Ante Pavelić and ultranationalist Ustaše , a fringe movement in pre-war Croatia. With German and Italian military and political support, the regime introduced racial laws and launched a genocide campaign against Serbs , Jews , and Roma . Many were imprisoned in concentration camps ; the largest was the Jasenovac complex . Anti-fascist Croats were targeted by
11210-518: 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
11328-412: 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
11446-501: The protests gradually subsided. President Ivo Josipović agreed to a dissolution of Sabor on Monday, 31 October and scheduled new elections for Sunday 4 December 2011. On 30 June 2011, Croatia successfully completed EU accession negotiations. The country signed the Accession Treaty on 9 December 2011 and held a referendum on 22 January 2012, where Croatian citizens voted in favor of an EU membership. Croatia joined
11564-644: The regime as well. Several concentration camps (most notably the Rab , Gonars and Molat camps) were established in Italian-occupied territories, mostly for Slovenes and Croats. At the same time, the Yugoslav Royalist and Serbian nationalist Chetniks pursued a genocidal campaign against Croats and Muslims , aided by Italy. Nazi German forces committed crimes and reprisals against civilians in retaliation for Partisan actions, such as in
11682-644: The reign of Mislav , or his successor Trpimir I . The native Croatian royal dynasty was founded by duke Trpimir I in the mid 9th century, who defeated the Byzantine and Bulgarian forces. The first native Croatian ruler recognised by the Pope was duke Branimir , who received papal recognition from Pope John VIII on 7 June 879. Tomislav was the first king of Croatia , noted as such in a letter of Pope John X in 925. Tomislav defeated Hungarian and Bulgarian invasions. The medieval Croatian kingdom reached its peak in
11800-413: The rest of the mainland by territorial waters , but separated on land by a short coastline strip belonging to Bosnia and Herzegovina around Neum . The Pelješac Bridge connects the exclave with mainland Croatia. The territory covers 56,594 square kilometres (21,851 square miles), consisting of 56,414 square kilometres (21,782 square miles) of land and 128 square kilometres (49 square miles) of water. It
11918-647: The second-largest contributors to the Partisan movement after Serbs. In per capita terms, Croats contributed proportionately to their population within Yugoslavia. By May 1944 (according to Tito), Croats made up 30% of the Partisan's ethnic composition, despite making up 22% of the population. The movement grew fast, and at the Tehran Conference in December 1943, the Partisans gained recognition from
12036-626: The status of corpus separatum previously introduced in 1779. After Austria-Hungary occupied Bosnia and Herzegovina following the 1878 Treaty of Berlin , the Military Frontier was abolished. The Croatian and Slavonian sectors of the Frontier returned to Croatia in 1881, under provisions of the Croatian–Hungarian Settlement. Renewed efforts to reform Austria-Hungary , entailing federalisation with Croatia as
12154-706: The succession crisis after the Trpimirović dynasty ended, Croatia entered a personal union with Hungary in 1102. In 1527, faced with Ottoman conquest , the Croatian Parliament elected Ferdinand I of Austria to the Croatian throne. In October 1918, the State of Slovenes, Croats, and Serbs , independent from the Habsburg Empire , was proclaimed in Zagreb, and in December 1918, it merged into
12272-492: The territories between the Drava and Sava rivers, centred from his fort at Sisak . This population and territory throughout history was tightly related and connected to Croats and Croatia. Christianisation of Croats began in the 7th century at the time of archon Porga of Croatia , initially probably encompassed only the elite and related people, but mostly finished by the 9th century. The Frankish overlordship ended during
12390-478: 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
12508-564: 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
12626-462: 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
12744-487: The villages of Kamešnica and Lipa in 1944. A resistance movement emerged. On 22 June 1941, the 1st Sisak Partisan Detachment was formed near Sisak , the first military unit formed by a resistance movement in occupied Europe . That sparked the beginning of the Yugoslav Partisan movement, a communist, multi-ethnic anti-fascist resistance group led by Josip Broz Tito . In ethnic terms, Croats were
12862-475: The war, a total of 32,000 people died, among whom 16,000 were Italians and 15,000 were Croats. Approximately 200,000 Croats from the entirety of Yugoslavia (including Croatia) and abroad were killed in total throughout the war and its immediate aftermath, approximately 5.4% of the population. After World War II , Croatia became a single-party socialist federal unit of the SFR Yugoslavia , ruled by
12980-421: 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
13098-504: The word of God. If you do this, may our Lord have mercy upon you. Those who have suffered up to now shall suffer no longer. May you be the elect of our Lord. He will be with you at all times if you pursue righteousness and avoid iniquity. By so doing, the Lord shall give you increase, for your harvest shall last until the vintage and the vintage shall last until the time of sowing. I, moreover, wish to finish my work if it please God. I began it in
13216-539: The work De Administrando Imperio written by 10th-century Byzantine Emperor Constantine VII , Croats arrived in the Roman province of Dalmatia in the first half of the 7th century after they defeated the Avars . However, that claim is disputed: competing hypotheses date the event between the late 6th-early 7th (mainstream) or the late 8th-early 9th (fringe) centuries, but recent archaeological data has established that
13334-544: 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
13452-444: The year 1554 on the 12th day of August and finished it in the year 1555 on the 12th day of August. If perchance mistakes have been made in any part, I pray and beg of those who are more learned than I to correct them. For I should not be surprised if I have made mistakes, this being the very first work, great and difficult to render into our language. Those who printed it had great difficulty and thus could not fail to make mistakes, for I
13570-409: 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
13688-406: Was not able to be with them all the time. Running a church, I had to serve in two places. And now I beg of you all to pray to the Lord on my behalf. Albanian language Albanian ( endonym : shqip [ʃcip] , gjuha shqipe [ˈɟuha ˈʃcipɛ] , or arbërisht [aɾbəˈɾiʃt] ) is an Indo-European language and the only surviving representative of
13806-594: Was suppressed by Yugoslav leadership. Still, the 1974 Yugoslav Constitution gave increased autonomy to federal units, basically fulfilling a goal of the Croatian Spring and providing a legal basis for independence of the federative constituents. Following Tito's death in 1980, the political situation in Yugoslavia deteriorated. National tension was fanned by the 1986 SANU Memorandum and the 1989 coups in Vojvodina, Kosovo, and Montenegro . In January 1990,
13924-735: 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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