Albania

Political Infighting Stalls Progress Ilir Meta, elected prime minister in 1999, rapidly moved forward in his first years to modernize the economy, privatize business, fight crime, and reform the judiciary and tax systems. He resigned in Jan. 2002, frustrated by political infighting. In June 2002, former general Alfred Moisiu was elected president, endorsed by both [...]

Moving Toward Democracy Elections in March 1991 gave the Communists a decisive majority. But a general strike and street demonstrations soon forced the all-Communist cabinet to resign. In June 1991, the Communist Party of Labor renamed itself the Socialist Party and renounced its past ideology. The opposition Democratic Party won a landslide victory in the [...]

History A part of Illyria in ancient times and later of the Roman Empire, Albania was ruled by the Byzantine Empire from 535 to 1204. An alliance (1444–1466) of Albanian chiefs failed to halt the advance of the Ottoman Turks, and the country remained under at least nominal Turkish rule for more than four centuries, [...]

Geography Albania is situated on the eastern shore of the Adriatic Sea, with Montenegro and Serbia to the north, Macedonia to the east, and Greece to the south. Slightly larger than Maryland, Albania is composed of two major regions: a mountainous highland region (north, east, and south) constituting 70% of the land area, and a [...]

Language Main article: Languages of Albania The dominant and official language is Albanian, a revised and merged form of the two main dialects, Gheg and Tosk, but with a bigger influence of Tosk as compared to the Gheg. The Shkumbin River is the dividing line between the two dialects. In the areas inhabited by the Greek minority, a dialect of Greek that [...]

Language Main article: Languages of Albania The dominant and official language is Albanian, a revised and merged form of the two main dialects, Gheg and Tosk, but with a bigger influence of Tosk as compared to the Gheg. The Shkumbin River is the dividing line between the two dialects. In the areas inhabited by the Greek minority, a dialect of Greek that [...]

Demographics Main article: Demographics of Albania Regions with a traditional presence of ethnic or linguistic groups other than Albanian. Tirana, Albania’s capital and largest city. The Albanian population is relatively young by European standards, with a median age of 28.9 years.[54] After 1990 the Albanian population has faced new phenomena like migration, which greatly affected the [...]

Railways Main articles: Rail transport in Albania and Hekurudha Shqiptarë The railways in Albania are administered by the national railway company Hekurudha Shqiptare (HSH) (which means Albanian Railways). It operates a 1,435 mm (4 ft 8 1⁄2 in)gauge (standard gauge) rail system in Albania. All trains are hauled by Czech-built ČKDdiesel-electric locomotives. The railway system was extensively promoted by the totalitarian regime of Enver Hoxha, during which time the [...]

Aviation Tirana International Airport Nënë Tereza The civil air transport in Albania marked its beginnings in November 1924, when the Republic of Albania signed a Governmental Agreement with German Air Company Lufthansa. On the basis of a ten-year concession agreement, the Albanian Airlines Company Adria Aero Lloydwas established.[citation needed] In the spring of 1925, the first domestic [...]

Highways Currently there are three main four lane highways in Albania: the highway connecting the city of Durrës with Tirana, that connecting Durrës with Lushnje and the Albania-Kosovo Highway. The Albania-Kosovo Highway links Kosovo to Albania’s Adriatic coast: the Albanian side was completed in June 2009,[52] and now it takes only two hours and a half to go from [...]