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• History of Christianization of Europe
• Soviet Union, Communist influence
• Map of European ethnic groups
• Map of Fascism in Europe (1922-75)
• History of Islamic conquest in Europe
• Religions & ethnic groups in Russia
• Detailed map of French colonization
• Detailed map of British colonization
• Napoleon's conquests & legacy
• Ethnic & religious map of pre-Nazi Poland

--MORE & NON-ENGLISH--

• Muhammad cartoon crisis in pictures
• Stalin's private summer home
• Ravenna: capital of Gothic empire
• Czar Nicholas II's Ukrainian palace
• European traditional costumes/dress
• Inside the Vatican, house of all wealth

--MORE & NON-ENGLISH--

• Islamic Mujahidin vs. Spain & El Cid
• Poland-Lithuania vs. Teutonic Order
• Nevskiy's Russia vs. German Crusaders
• Prussia vs. France (Nazi Propaganda)
• Qadafi: Europe will soon be Islamic
• Ivan the Terrible vs. Muslim Tatars
• Soviet Propaganda: Defeat of Germany 

--MORE & NON-ENGLISH--

• The Gypsies in history and today, Europe's public enemy
• History of Jihad in Chechnya
& Caucasus vs. Russians
• Post-WWII expulsion of 8 million ethnic German civilians
• Ethnic & religious history of Serbs, Croats, & Bosnians
• Breakaway states and independence movements in Europe
• The ancient Germanic Runic alphabet and Runestones
• Teutonic Order and their 800-year legacy in Eastern Europe
• 510-year struggle for Albanian homeland, and 552 for Kosovo
• 4,000-year-old white mummies of China, bringers of Buddhism 

--MORE & NON-ENGLISH--

Albanians: The 510-year struggle for a homeland, and

552 years in Kosovo
by James Mayfield (Chairman, European Heritage Library)

Print this Article    •    About the Author    •    Bibliography/Sources

This article shows the long history of Albanian struggle for the establishment of an independent national homeland in both Albania and Kosovo. It is an effort not only to reveal the difficult and unique history of the Albanian European people, but also to bring light to both sides of the Kosovo conflict to balance with our other articles like the Serb perspective.

You can get a rare inside look (with pictures) of my experiences in the remote nation of Albania in my article Inside Albania.

The Albanians are easily Europe's most linguistically, culturally, and historically unique ethnicity. They are Europe's only Muslim culture (Bosnians having a slight Christian majority), and live in Albania, Montenegro, Kosovo, Greece, Italy, and Macedonia. They are often dismissed as backward, almost subhuman, by Greeks and Slavs to whose nations they emigrate to seek better economic opportunities. Despite this negative image, the Albanians are a remarkably proud culture, drawing (at least in their minds) from a history that stretches back to ancient Greek cities and the Roman Empire. The struggle of the Albanians for an independent homeland is outstanding in history: in what is now Albania, Albanians endured foreign rule for nearly 500 years before finally wresting themselves of outside influences in only 1978, and in Kosovo, they only attained their goal for independence from Serbia in 2008. It is important to understand the Albanians' history of independence-seeking conflict in order to appreciate the Albanian perspective on the Kosovo issue, as well as the history of the Balkans altogether.

The flag of Albania, based upon the Byzantine emblem, that was designed by the Albanian unifier Skanderbeg who rallied the Albanian Christians against Islamic Jihad

Brief pre-history of the Albanians, or “Illyrians”:

The most intriguing feature of the Albanians is their questionable origin. Although most credible history dictates that the Albanian culture and people entered the region far later (they may even have been Slavs who emigrated in the 6th century, Albanians have created an ancient heritage for themselves to justify their right to existence. The territory of what is now Albania (formerly called Illyria and Epirus) was in early history occupied by the Illyrians, a coastal maritime state that profited from pirate raids on the bounty of Phoenecian, Greek, and Italian vessels. Even the ethnic roots of the Illyrians is difficult, although it can be argued from their geography and culture that they may have been Greeks. This early history is very difficult considering that the modern Albanian culture and language have no certified link to the Illyrians. So too, many populations have settled this region since the destruction of Illyria by the Romans in 168BCE, including the Thracians, Italians, Germans, and especially the Slavs. There is no evidence to indicate a link between Albanians and ancient Illyrians, but Albanian nationalism finds great passion in supporting these ancient roots in order to distinguish their proud identity from being more than “just another ex-Yugoslav state” in popular minds.

The geography of Albanians make them vulnerable to more advanced powers

The resemblance with the Greeks is blatant

An Albanian national consciousness emerges in the face of Islamic Jihad:

Before the 15th century, there was no unified Albanian state or culture. The region was, as it remained even as late as the 20th century, bitterly divided between warring tribes, clans, and principalities. The mountains of Albania were divided between the Tosk tribe of the south and the Gheg (pronounced “Jeg”) tribe of the north and Kosovo. The tribes lived with virtual autonomy, but were frequently de facto ruled by proximal ruling empires such as Serbia and the Byzantines for centuries. The lack of unified identity among “Albanians” has acted as a problematic obstacle to the establishment of Albanian nationhood in both Kosovo and Albania. Kosovo had no Albanian population until the Turkish invasion, and remained firmly disputed between Bulgarian and Serbian kingdoms for a half-millennium. The Albanians were also highly divided in matters of religion. Catholic missionaries from the Italian states, as well as Orthodox clerics from Byzantium and Serbia brought both Christian sects to the Albanian tribes, and the deadlock of religious heterogeneity further stifled collective development and enculturation.

Our exclusive map of the history of Islamic conquest in Europe. The red is the domain of the Turkish Muslims. (CLICK TO ENLARGE)

My photo of a reiatlvely old Christian church in Albania

My photo of a new and obviously simple mosque in Albania

In the 15th century, the Muslim Turks of the Ottoman empire began their awesome conquest and conversion of southeastern Europe and the Balkans. What is now Greece, Bulgaria, Romania, southern Ukraine (Crimea), Serbia, Bosnia, Montenegro, Macedonia, and the Gheg and Tosk tribes of Albania became Ottoman domains. The Muslim conquest that was entirely unprovoked in the Balkans saw the emergence of Albania's first unifier and cultural hero, SKANDERBEG. Opposing the foreign domination of the Albanian peoples, Skanderbeg rallied the Tosk and Gheg behind a common struggle for liberation. He reverted from Islam to Christianity (as the Muslim rulers not only conscripted Christian civilians but demanded that families forfeit one of their children), and led a new pan-Albanian “national” revolt against Muslim occupation. The revolution ultimately failed, but imbued the Albanian tribes with a recurring sense of struggle for liberation against alien oppression. The Tosk and Ghegs thereafter remained firmly under Islamic rule and gradual conversion for more than 400 years to follow.

A statue of Skanderbeg in Tirana

Albanians unify culturally and religiously under Islamic occupation:

Despite formally ruling the Albanians from 1468 until 1912, the Albanian tribes operated with ultimate autonomy, although they depended upon the political authority of the Muslim rulers in Istanbul for survival and protection from Christian rivals. The autonomy of the Albanian Christian tribes, as well as the problematic mountainous geography of Albania, allowed the Tosk and Ghegs to retain and protect the distinct cultural Albanian identity without being assimilated into greater Turkish or even European culture. It is this unique experience that has made Albanians, fascinatingly, easily Europe's most independent cultures despite being ruled by so many empires for millennia.

Foreign Islamic occupation for four centuries led to the Islamization of the Albanian tribes. Non-Muslims (kafiruna/infidels) were forced to pay exorbitant taxes called the jizyah in order to enrich the Islamic state as well as to foster conversion through stable and practical means. It was highly difficult for Balkan farmers, barely capable of subsistence farming in many regions, to forfeit large portions of their yields and income to occupying forces. The Ottoman devshirme system required (at different frequencies) European Christian families to forfeit a varying number of their children to be converted to Islam and conscripted into the Janissary units. Thereafter, they would never see their families again, and to would be used by Turks to fight their own Christian brothers in Europe to serve the interests of the occupying sultanate that conquered their homelands. Although the Turks are unique in history for their practical allowance of limited forms of free worship of their conquered subjects, Turkish economic policy made conversion to Islam inevitable and necessary for social and financial survival. The squabbling lack of cohesion among Albanians, and their lack of unified traditions and statehood, led to mass conversions of Albanians from Christendom to Islam. Albanian warlords recognized the benefit of conversion as a way to gain prominence over Albanian rival chieftains with Turkish support. The religious homogenization of the Albanian tribes led to the creation of a common culture, identity, heritage, language, and religion for the first time. Interestingly, with the exception of Albania's very Turkish-sounding music and Sufi-style traditional dress, Albanian culture is vastly unique and distinct from both Turkish and European roots. This is a source of pride for this resilient and battered people ever since.

White Europeans forcibly converted to Islam and taken from Europe to fight their brethren

Kosovo and the peripheral regions of what is now Albania had no Albanian populations until Islamic rule. Kosovo was an integral part of the Serbian cultural and national heritage until 2008, and is the site of some of the Slavic Orthodox world's greatest Christian artwork and religious artifacts. During Islamic rule of the entire region, the demographic situation changed. Albanians, recently converted to Islam, were given dominance over the second-class Christians of the Balkans, and were encouraged to settle in Kosovo to undermine staunch Serbian revolt. Albanian Muslim persecution of Christian Serbs led to the mass exodus of Slavs from Kosovo northward to Serbia. This is the reason for Kosovo's shift from being a firmly Slavic Christian land to the very Muslim Albanian region of today. Here lies the source of the modern Kosovo conflict: Serbs emphasize their longstanding claim to the region before Muslim imperial hegemony, and Albanians espouse the glory of the Albanian identity and their majority presence in the region.The Muslim occupation incited the coalescence of a singular Albanian identity. The Tosk and Gheg more and more looked at themselves as a common community, although still equally plagued by regional warlordry and clan honor killings. With increasing frequency, the struggle of the Albanian tribes went from one of liberation struggle to one seeking the establishment of a sovereign Albanian nation.

The EHL map of Kosovo. Note that Albanian nationalists consider a land almost twice this size to be proper Albanian land

The birth of an illusory Albanian “nation”, and its domination by European powers:

As the Ottoman empire gradually collapsed in the face of European burgeoning supremacy in the 19th and 20th centuries, the Albanian experience changed. The quest for an independent nation largely ceased as Christian powers like Serbia, Bulgaria, Austria-Hungary, and Italy more and more viewed Albania as a crucial buffer zone to continental dominance. Albanians now aligned with the Islamic Ottoman state for protection. Although the Tosk and Gheg intensely pushed for local autonomy within the empire, Albanians willingly affiliated with the power that had occupied, pillaged, and converted their “ancient Illyrian” homeland for centuries. The devshirme system of forced conversion and conscription of native European families placed Albanians in high station in the Ottoman government because of their acceptance of Islam. The 19th-century schism of Ottoman Egypt from the Istanbul sultanate that saw Egyptian independence was led by the Albanian Muhammad Ali Pasha. This convenient alliance to be spared from European Christian conquest reversed yet again as the Ottoman government reformed in the late 19th and 20th centuries. The new Turkish ultranationalism and centralization turned Albanians to the European powers for support despite their previous tensions. This dissolved all Albanian hopes for recognition of their own distinct culture and identity.

The Albanian Muhammad Ali Pasha of Egypt

Although Christian Serbia, Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria, and newly-unified Italy had no interest in rescuing this “wild frontier” heathen culture, they realized the significance of Albania as a coastal region crucial in the battle for colonial supremacy. Kosovo and what is now Macedonia were the last Slavic province under Ottoman rule. In order to liberate their Slavic Christian brothers from Islamic domination, Bulgaria, Montenegro, Serbia, and Greece launched the First Balkan War in 1913. By the end of the triumphant war, Kosovo and Macedonia were liberated from Ottoman rule. Kosovo, Macedonia, and later Montenegro became integral parts of Serbia (and thus later Yugoslavia) until 2008, and their huge Muslim Albanian populations with them.

Seizing the opportunity after finally being free from Turkish rule, Albanian political lobbyists under Ismail Kemal formally declared the establishment of an independent and unified Albania for the first time in history. This was merely a hopeful illusion; Albanians would not see full statehood until 1928. Nonetheless, the declaration of an Albanian nation saw the birth of a unified cultural and political consciousness.

Ismail Kemal, the first "president" of Albania

As Albanians owed their independence to European powers, it was the British, Italians, and Germans (Austrians) who agreed to place the German prince Wied on the illusory throne of Albania as the king of the new nation. Bulgaria, Albania, and the new nation of Greece were all ruled by German kings. This puppet king was considered illegitimate in comparison with the “legitimate” council government under Kemal and Essad Pasha. Albania was effectively a vassal under the Italian, German, and British authority. The situation in Albania deteriorated so rapidly that King Wied of Albania left and never returned, leaving Albania in a state of total civil war, still far from the goal of the establishment of the first Albanian nation. Albania was a warzone of local warring clans under the fanciful regulation of an imaginary parliament. From 1912 until 1928, Albania lacked a functional government.

The German prince Wied, King of Albania

Albanians in Serbia (i.e. Kosovo, Montenegro, and Macedonia) suffered as impoverished and disenfranchised second-class citizens under Slavic Christian rule. Muslim massacres of Christian civilians in Kosovo were met with bitter reprisals by the Serbian military. In the early years alone following “independence”, some 12,371 Albanians were killed by the Serbs, and 22,000 jailed (Swire, Albania, 291).

Albania finally established under King Zog, and the end of independence in WWII:

The so-called “nation” of Albania still remained a buffer zone between colonial expanding empires. Mussolini's ultranationalist and expansionist Italy, seeking to reverse the humiliation of being the nation with the only colonial failure in Africa (Ethiopia), gradually began to erode the partial autonomy of Albanians altogether. Intense development and investment by Italian entrepreneurs and politicians created a dependency that ultimately made Albania an Italian colony. This fiscal expansion also allowed for the stabilization of the Albanian warring clans under government authority. By 1925, an upstanding local Muslim leader and political lobbyist for Albanian independence called Ahmed Zogu was elected leader of the Albanian people. In 1928, in reaction to Albanian fears of being colonized by the next imperial power, Zogu formally declared the total independence of the Albanian nation, changed his name to the more Europeanized Zog, and was crowned the king of the first united Albanian nation as KING ZOG I. A strict dictator was necessary in Albania, as it was under Enver Hoxha, as the weakness of liberal democracy were unable to ensure stability as seen in modern democratic Albania. The struggle for independence of the Albanian people was finally complete by 1930, nearly 20 years after Albania was firstly “established” after the First Balkan War.

King Zog (Ahmed Zogu) of Albania, its first true modern leader, indeed responsible for stability

Albania's vulnerability and geographic significance made the region an inevitable target of Axis conquest during World War II. In 1939, Albania's united Tosk and Gheg tribes under King Zog were conquered by Fascist Italy with ease. Albania remained one of Italy's few formal holdings in the war until 1944. With the defeat of the Italians in 1944 and the murder of Mussolini by Communist rebels, Germany occupied Albania with brutal policies that pushed the Albanians towards a system of anti-capitalist, anti-Fascist equity and security that was manifest in Communist theory.

Albanians of Kosovo and Macedonia, both regions being part of Serbia's then-capitalist Kingdom of Yugoslavia, were conquered by the Germans by 1940. This forever changed the demographic and political situation of the Albanian community. Albanians of Albania and Macedonia became greatly entrenched in rebellious Communist ideology with the goal of ultimate liberation from Fascist domination. Albanian Muslims of Kosovo, however, offered broad support for the German invasion in hopes of being liberated from Serbian Christian rule. The Skanderbeg legion of the SS was one of many ethnic Albanian units who joined Hitler's war against Communist hegemony. The Albanian struggle for cohesive nationhood, so disrupted before by Tosk-Gheg divisions, would for the next decade be stifled by Communist-Fascist agitations that prevented all coalescence of the Albanian people. The ignition of violent revolt in Kosovo has, in part, the German invasion to thank.

Skanderbeg-SS emblem. Albanians in Kosovo, as with most of the Muslim world from the Grand Mutfi of Jerusalem to the Tatars of Russia, supported the Nazi invasion

SS Muslim soldiers from Kosovo or Greater Albania

Kosovars and Albania under socialist rule, and Albania under Soviet dominance:

The end of World War II and the triumph of the Soviet Union and its ideology again completely redesigned the political experience of Albanians. The Communist guerrilla campaigns of Jozip “Broz” Tito in the Balkans led to the reestablishment of Yugoslavia as a new socialist state. This new socialist realm included the Albanians of Kosovo, Montenegro, and Macedonia, and would remain as such until the fall of Yugoslavia in the 1990s. Albania itself, so harshly divided between Communists, Islamists, and royalist during Italian Axis rule, was also seized by Communist militias exploiting the vulnerability of Mussolini's retreat. Yugoslavia was ruled by the Serb-dominated Communist Party, and Albania endured total supremacy of the socialist vanguard party under ENVER HOXHA (pronounced “Hoe-d-ja”).

Enver Hoxha, Communist dictator of Albania. Despite being often viewed as the source of Albania's economic collapse (although it is difficult to collapse a bankrupt nation in the first place), Hoxha is often considered Albania's national hero because he, finally, created a completely stable and free Albania.

The Albanian nation was re-established with a stable and distinctly Albanian government free of Italian and German dominance. Albanian hopes of a vivid future for their distinct identity were yet again stifled by the wicked poverty, extreme underdevelopment, borderline starvation, and land access inequity of the nation. This dire situation forced independent Albania, yet again, to become dependent upon foreign powers for survival, especially under the aura of fear of the coming “Western capitalist invasion”. Although not occupied by Russian or Yugoslav troops, Albania would remain economically and political aligned and reliant upon socialist Yugoslavia and the USSR for more than a decade. Excluding the few years of independence under King Zog, the “Albanian nation” still had yet to exist with total independence. Enver Hoxha's reign would epitomize the struggle for Albanian self-determination and total freedom, making Hoxha the Albanians' one cultural hero next to Skanderbeg.

Yugoslavia under president Tito politically considered Albania – with Kosovo and Macedonia – dependent vassal regions of the Socialist People's Republic of Yugoslavia. Although Albania enjoyed its own government, it was de facto ruled by the more powerful, wealthy, and stable Yugoslav state. As a part of the Soviet Communist sphere of world influence, Albania was equally dependent upon the USSR. It was a member of the Warsaw Pact, the mutual alliance of Soviet vassal states in Eastern Europe that gave the illusion of freedom, from 1955-1968. Because of China's early bond with the Soviet Union, Albania enjoyed a relationship of friendship and economic aid with the People's Republic of China that remained even after Albanian schism from the USSR and Yugoslavia. Billions of dollars in investment and economic subsidy were poured into Albania to the great revelry of Hoxha and the Albanian population so battered by poverty and starvation. For Albanians, the dream of a universally independent and sovereign homeland was still no more than a dream.

Tito, president of Yugoslavia and, in his mind, de facto leader of Albania

Our map of the Warsaw Pact. Notice Albania's schism from the Warsaw Pact, as well as the fact that Albania was part of the Warsaw Pact (i.e. foreign-ruled) without even bordering the USSR.

The break of Albania from Yugoslavia, USSR, and China:

Albania's close relationship with China, the USSR, and Yugoslavia led to the booming development of the impoverished state. Industry, agriculture, and education grew to relatively modern proportions, and the Albanian starvation situation had improved into one in which Albania even exported food supplies to Yugoslavia. The new stability of Communist Albania under Hoxha's rule allowed Albania, for the first time, to pursue its own political interests without subservience to foreign influence. Yugoslavia and the USSR had regressed from one of intranational cooperation and collective prosperity to one of increasing centralization. Tito's successors in Yugoslavia reversed Tito's relative friendship with Kosovar Albanians by refusing to allow regional autonomy for Kosovo, and even intimated that Albania should be absorbed into Yugoslavia. Khrushchev demanded total political subordination to Moscow from Soviet vassals in the Warsaw Pact (including Albania). Albanian perceptions of the increasing belligerence of Yugoslavia and the USSR as the next phase of colonial rule led to Albania's estrangement from the Soviet world. The Russian invasion of Hungary and Czechoslovakia to reverse “bourgeois” political liberalization led to Albania's total divorce from the Soviet Union and the Warsaw Pact in 1968.

Nikita Khrushchev

As a result of Yugoslavia's intensifying move towards political centralization, Albanian Muslims in Kosovo, Montenegro, and Macedonia initiated violent campaigns of slaughter of Serbian civilians and the burning of churches in the hopes of merging with Albania. This created the image of Albanians as enemies of the Yugoslav state, which resulted in massacres performed both by Slavic Christians and Albanian Muslims. Kosovo would remain a domain of Yugoslavia and Serbia thereafter until 2008.

Hoxha's Albania and their bond with Mao's China (from http://www.iisg.nl/~landsberger/ff-al.html)

Enver Hoxha's intense paranoia of foreign invasion led to a total dissolution of relations with all nations except for Mao's China on which Albania still depended for foreign aid. Hoxha became incensed by the cooperative peace talks between the hated capitalist United States and Mao's more liberal successors. In 1978, Hoxha's perception of Chinese “betrayal” of Communism led to Albania's formal divorce from all relations with China.

Albanians finally establish their permanent independence, and absolute isolation:

The Albanian community had struggled so long for complete self-determination that they, under Enver Hoxha, pursued a policy of absolute economic and political socialist isolation in order to ensure this independence. Albania was an autarky, or closed economy, with virtually no trade, a closed border, almost no tourism, no political elections, and absolutely no social liberal rights. Hoxha considered Albania the only true socialist state, and thus Albania in the 1980s can be viewed in many ways as the only legitimate Communist experiment. Truly paranoid, Hoxha ordered the construction of tens of thousands of family concrete bunkers (my photo seen below) not only to energize Albanians behind a common cause but to defend against invasion. Oddly, they all faced towards Greece and Yugoslavia (both countries nearly at war with Albania), even though both countries could easily have invaded from the sea. As the “first atheist state”, Islam and Christendom were declared illegal, all land was redistributed, universal equality of men and women was granted, and all companies were nationalized. For the first time in history, Albania was truly and indisputably free, albeit not internally.

My photograph of an Albanian family concrete bunker built under the isolation

Albanians living in Yugoslavia (Macedonia, Montenegro, and Kosovo) endured a very different social and religious experience. Yugoslavia did not persecute nor abolish religion, and thus Albanian Islam survived in Kosovo as opposed to Communist Albania. The lack of strict abolition of religion, as well as the intense feeling of foreign Christian oppression from the Serbs, has caused Kosovar Albanians to be a far more conservatively Islamic and militant people than their brothers in Albania. Liberation struggles during Milosevic's reign for Kosovar independence was often imbued with Islamic rhetoric, including jihad, and enjoyed the support of foreign Mujahidin (Jihadists) from Saudi Arabia and Bosnia. The struggle for Albanian sovereignty in diaspora communities outside Albania has lasted far longer than in Albania itself.

In 1985, Enver Hoxha died. The hasty liberalization of Albania under his successor Alia struck Albanians with the reality of their sociopolitical situation. Although it was Hoxha who had made Albania – for the first time – totally independent, his isolation policy had set the nation back technologically to the feudal age. This reality, plus the cronyism of Hoxha's successors, led to the complete dismissal of the Communist government by 1992. The Republic of Albania under Berisha endured so much corruption in the new “democracy” that it approached civil war and total collapse. Pyramid schemes, closely linked with the Berisha government, left tens of thousands homeless. Greek minorities massacred Albanian civilians in Epirus and seized whole parts of southern Albania for Magna Grecia. Corruption and instability caused by the crippling weakness of the democratic structure has made Albania one of the very poorest nation of Europe with massive hyperinflation, unemployment, and extreme public debt. To get an inside look at this wickedly poor nation from my vacation to Albania, read my article Inside Albania. Albania is finally independent and free of foreign hegemony, but at great economic and social cost. After enjoying only two decades of total freedom, Albania now has joined the European Union, and its sovereignty is now yet again being eroded.

My photo of Albania. It is horrifically poor outside of the capital of Tirana.

Albanians in diaspora have, as always, endured a very different experience. The Albanian nationalistic struggle for irredentist, pan-Albanian sovereignty still survives today as it did when the Muslims first invaded in the 15th century over 500 years ago. Albanian communities still live in Macedonia (33% of the population), Kosovo (90%), Montenegro (>17%), and northern Greece (Epirus), where they engage in violent revolt for “liberation” (CIA World Factbook). Kosovo, ruled by NATO (in reality, the United States) since 1999 under the Clinton administration, was given freedom in 2008 as Europe's newest Muslim nation without any approval of the sovereign nation of Serbia from which it was seized. Most nations refuse to recognize the breakaway state as the next example of colonial domination of sovereign nations.The Albanian experience is unique in the fact that the Albanian community has played a role in the history of the Balkans for more than 500 years, but only achieved a totally free and recognized state in 1978. From their perspective, the violent revolt (and even jihad) performed by Albanians throughout the region is a response to foreign oppression and imperialism. In the mind of the nations to which they flock to enjoy superior economic opportunities, they will remain a hated and backward community secluded to ghettos and housing projects outside Athens, Sofia, Belgrade, and Sarajevo.

________________________________________

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

James Mayfield is the owner and Chairman of the European Heritage Library. I am working for a doctorate in history, with a specific emphasis on Islamic and European histories. I am well versed in all world cultures, ethnicities, religions, languages, politics, and historical evolution in relation to and against each other.

BIBLIOGRAPHY/SOURCES USED:

-CIA World Factbook
-Our History of Islamic Conquest in Europe Map
-Our Islamic populations in Europe Map
-The Albanians, by Miranda Vickers
-Albania, by Swire
-images that are not photographed by me in Albania are given credit below