Albanians

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Albanians Shqiptarë
Skanderbeg · Ali Pasha Muhammad Ali of Egypt · Lekë Dukagjini
Total population
Approximately 8 million
Regions with significant populations
Albania 3,500,000 [1]  Kosovo 1,800,000 (est.) [2][3][4]  Rep. Macedonia 509,083 [5][6]  Greece 481,663 (2006) [7]  Montenegro 31,163 (2007) [8]  Italy 375,947 [9]  United States 114,000 [10]  Canada 22,395 [11]  Sweden 35,000 [12][13]  United Kingdom 200,000  France 20,000  Switzerland 95,000 [14]  Germany 100,000 [15]  Netherlands 105,706  Russia 1,200  Slovenia 6,200 [16]  Croatia 15,082 [17]  Romania 10,000  Norway 7,000  Belgium 5,000  Australia 11,815 [18]  Austria 20,000  South Africa 2,000  Egypt 5,000  Bosnia/Herz. 15,000  Luxembourg 4,802  Ukraine 3,300  Finland 5,000  Turkey 65,000 [19][20]  Serbia 61,647 [21]
Languages
Albanian
Religions
Predominantly Islam, the majority of the population adhering to the Sunni and Bektashi schools. Others adhere mainly to Christian denominations such as Eastern orthodoxy and Roman Catholicism.

Albanians (Albanian: Shqiptarët) are defined as an ethnic group, in the sense of sharing a common Albanian culture, speaking the Albanian language as a mother tongue and being of Albanian descent.

About half of Albanians live in Albania, with other large groups residing in Kosovo and the Republic of Macedonia. There are also Albanian minorities and immigrant communities in a number of other countries.

Contents 1 History of the term 1.1 Europe 1.2 Rest of the world 2 Kosovo and Republic of Macedonia 3 Religion 3.1 Development of Modern Albanian Religious Affiliation 4 Other ethnonyms 4.1 Misnaming 5 Historical individuals 6 See also 7 Notes and references 8 Further reading 9 External links

History of the term

Further information: Origin of the Albanians and Albania (toponym)

Albanians are the descendants of a Paleo-Balkans people, perhaps the ancient Illyrians or Thracians/Dacians or a mixture of these, but scholarly opinion is divided on specifics. The name Albanian itself was first mentioned in the 2nd century BCE by Polybius (Arbanios, Arbanitai with their city Arbon), the 1st century CE by Pliny (Olbonensis), and the 2nd century CE by geographer and astronomer Ptolemy (Albanoi), as one of the important Illyrian tribes situated where is now Central Albania with Albanopolis as their main city. The ethnonym applied to the people now known as Albanians is first attested from the 11th century (e.g. Anna Komnene, Alexiad 4.8.4), although such a nominal connection does not prove an actual link to Illyrians. The first reference to a lingua albanesca dates to the later 13th century.

Due to the high rate of migration of various ethnic groups throughout the Balkans in the last two decades, exact figures are difficult to obtain. A tenuous breakdown of Albanians by location is as follows:

Europe

Approximately 7 million Albanians are to be found within the Balkan peninsula with only about half this number residing in Albania and the other divided between Serbia, Kosovo, Montenegro, the Republic of Macedonia, Greece and to a much smaller extent Bosnia, Croatia, Slovenia and Romania.

Albanians in Greece, because of historical migration, are divided into different groupings. The first comprises the Arvanites, descendants of ethnic Albanian immigrants from the 11th to the 15th century that have been largely assimilated by the dominant Greek population and generally self-identify as Greeks. A second group comprises Albanian nationals who migrated during the 1990s, mainly as illegal immigrants. According to the 2001 census, there were 445,000 holders of Albanian citizenship in Greece.^[22] The Watson Institute raised this number to 600,000 in 2004.^[23]

An unknown number of Orthodox Cham Albanians reside in the Greek region of Epirus (Albanian: Çamëria). There is thought to have been a population of around 19,000 Muslim Chams before the end of World War II who left Greece for Albania in 1945. The exact reasons for their departure vary depending on source. (According to Greek sources, it was to avoid the impending military court sentences, a consequence of their collaboration with the Italian/German occupying forces. Albanian sources claim they were forcefully expelled by the EDES troops of the Greek resistance for having collaborated with the Italian/German occupying forces.)

Approximately 1 million are dispersed throughout the rest of Europe, most of these in the United Kingdom, Germany, Switzerland, Sweden, Italy (the majority having arrived since 1991, but also older populations of Arbëreshë), Austria and France.

Rest of the world

Americas: In the United States the number reaches 114,000 according to the latest 2000 US Census, while in Canada approximately 15,000 as of the 2001 census. Oceania: In Australia and New Zealand 12,000 in total. Africa: In Egypt there are 18,000 Albanians, mostly Tosk speakers. Many are descendants of the soldiers of Mehmet Ali. A large part of the former nobility of Egypt was Albanian in origin. A small community also resides in South Africa.

Kosovo and Republic of Macedonia

Both the Province of Kosovo and the western regions of the Republic of Macedonia have in recent years seen armed movements (Kosovo Liberation Army, UCPMB, Macedonian NLA) aiming either for independence, greater autonomy, or increased political rights. Further clashes were also reported in the Preševo Valley during the period between 2000 to 2001 (in the lead-up to the Macedonian conflict).

The fate of Kosovo remains uncertain owing to the reluctance of the Albanian majority in the province to accept the restoration of Serbian sovereignty and the reluctance of the United Nations and NATO to separate the territory from the Republic of Serbia in accordance with UN Security Council Resolution 1244 from 1999. In February 2008, the Provisional Institutions of Self-Government, an assembly under UNMIK, declared Kosovo's independence as the Republic of Kosovo (Albanian: Republika e Kosovës). Its independence is recognized by some countries and opposed by others, including the Republic of Serbia, which continues to claim sovereignty over it as the Autonomous Province of Kosovo and Metohija.

The conflict in the Republic of Macedonia seems to have calmed down. It was resolved by the Macedonian government giving the Albanian minority a greater role in the government and the right to use the Albanian language in areas where the Albanians form a majority.

It is worth mentioning here that rights to use the Albanian language in education and government were given and guaranteed by the Constitution of SFRY and were widely utilized in Serbia, Macedonia, and in Montenegro long before Dissolution of Yugoslavia. The only thing that changed in that matter is that before NATO intervention in 1999, there were information services and news ("Dnevnik") broadcaster in Albanian language on the Serbian National Radio and Television, RTS.

Religion

Main article: Religion in Albania

Part of a series of articles on Albanians Albanian culture Literature · Modern art Music · Sport · Cuisine By region or country Albania · Kosovo Macedonia · Greece Montenegro · Serbia Romania · United States Çamëria · Italy Bulgaria Varieties of Albanian Albanian · Gheg · Tosk Arvanitika · Arbëresh (Italy) Religion Islam Albanian Orthodox Church Greek Catholicism Roman Catholicism Protestanism History of Albanians Origins · History · Illyrians Persecution of Albanians Exodus · Kosovo War v • d • e

Development of Modern Albanian Religious Affiliation

The original culture continued until the Roman and Byzantine Empires crowned Christianity as official religion of the regime, thus suffusing Paganism. Both were later overshadowed by Islam, which kept the scepter of the major religion during the period of Ottoman Turkish rule from the 15th century until year 1912. Eastern Orthodox Christianity, Roman Catholicism and Paganism were continued practiced with less frequency.

During the 20th century the monarchy and later the totalitarian state followed a systematic secularization of the nation and the national culture. This policy was chiefly applied within the borders of the current Albanian state. It produced a secular majority in the population. All forms of Christianity, Islam and other religious practices were prohibited except for old non-institutional Pagan practices in the rural areas, which were seen as identifying with the national culture. The current Albanian state has revived some pagan festivals, such as the lunar Spring festival (Albanian: Dita e Verës) held yearly on March 14 in the city of Elbasan. It is a national holiday.

Most Albanians are Muslims^[24][25] (Sunni Muslims and Bektashis). It is estimated that 70% of Albanians in the Republic of Albania are Muslim, 90% in the Province of Kosovo and 99% in the Republic of Macedonia. (CIA Factbook 2007). There are also Orthodox Christians, predominantly in Southern Albania, bordering Greece, and Roman Catholics, predominantly in Northern Albania, bordering the Republic of Montenegro. After 1992 an influx of foreign missionaries has brought more religious diversity with faiths such as Jehova Witnesses, Mormons, Hindus, Bahá'í, Scientologists, a variety of Christian denominations and others. This rich blend of religions has rarely caused religious strife. People of different religions freely intermarry. For part of its history, Albania has also had a Jewish community. Some of the members of the Jewish community were saved by a group of Albanians during the Nazi occupation. ^[26] Many left for Israel circa 1990-1992 during warfare with the break-up of Yugoslavia.

All over the world, an estimated 78% of Albanians are Muslims, 14% are Orthodox Christians and 8% are Roman Catholics.

Other ethnonyms

Indo-European topics
Indo-European languages
Albanian · Armenian · Baltic Celtic · Germanic · Greek Indo-Iranian (Indo-Aryan, Iranian) Italic · Slavic   extinct: Anatolian · Paleo-Balkans (Dacian, Phrygian, Thracian) · Tocharian
Indo-European peoples
Albanians · Armenians Balts · Celts · Germanic peoples Greeks · Indo-Aryans Iranians · Latins · Slavs historical: Anatolians (Hittites, Luwians) Celts (Galatians, Gauls) · Germanic tribes Illyrians · Italics  · Sarmatians Scythians  · Thracians  · Tocharians Indo-Iranians (Rigvedic tribes, Iranian tribes)
Proto-Indo-Europeans
Language · Society · Religion
Urheimat hypotheses
Kurgan hypothesis · Anatolia Armenia · India · PCT
Indo-European studies

The Albanians are and have been referred to by other terms as well. Some of them are:

• Arbër, Arbën, Arbëreshë; the old native term denoting ancient and medieval Albanians and sharing the same root with the latter. At the time the country was called Arbër (Gheg: Arbën) and Arbëria (Gheg: Arbënia). This term is still used for the Albanians that migrated to Italy during the Middle Ages.
• Arnauts; old term used mainly from Turks and by extension by European authors during the Ottoman Empire. A derivate of Arbër, Albanian.
• Skipetars; the historical rendering of the ethnonym Shqiptar, or Shqyptar by French, Austrian and German authors, mainly during the 18th-20th century. It is similar to Šiptari, the term used by south Slavs which the Albanians consider derogatory.

Misnaming

Because of confounding nationality with religious affiliation many authors from Byzantine times have also called and registered Albanians with the following names:

• Latins; term used during the Middle Ages from Venetian and other European authors to denote Albanians of Catholic faith mainly in the Northern regions up to the 19th century.
• Greeks; old term used generically from Byzantine times up to the 20th century by other European authors to denote Albanians of Orthodox faith in the Southern regions, as also those migrating, during the Ottoman Occupation, from Epirus and Peloponnese to Italy. Toponyms reflecting this historical misnaming began being corrected in Italy during the 1930s.
• Serbs; old term as above, used by authors to denote Albanians of Orthodox faith in the Northern regions up to the 19th century.
• Turks; old term used by ecclesiastical writings and embraced by other European authors to denote Albanians of Muslim faith, and generally all Albanian legions of the Ottoman army.Also called Turkalbanians.
• Epirotes; old term widely used during the Middle Ages by local and foreign authors.

Historical individuals

Prominent Albanians have included the defender of Albania during the mid-15th century Skenderbeg, the writer Ismail Kadare, the painter Ibrahim Kodra, the composer Simon Gjoni, the Nobel Prize winner Ferid Murad, the Olympic athlete Klodiana Shala, the Roman Catholic missionary Mother Teresa and Pope Clement XI.Other well known individuals include the prime minister of the Ottoman Empire Ferhat Pasha and Mehemet Ali the viceroy of Egypt. John Belushi and his brother Jim Belushi were of Albanian parents who emigrated to the USA after WWII. Also the American actress Eliza Dushku was born of an Albanian father and a half-Danish mother.

See also

Albanoi Demographics of Albania History of Albania Cham Albanians Arvanites

Mandritsa Kosovo war List of Albanians List of Albanian-Americans

Notes and references

Further reading

Edith Durham, The Burden of the Balkans (1905)

v • d • e Ethnic groups in Albania Albanians · Greeks · Macedonians · Montenegrins · Aromanians/Vlachs · Bulgarians · Roma

External links

• Albanians in Turkey
• Albanian Canadian League Information Service (ACLIS)
• Albanians in the Balkans U.S. Institute of Peace Report, November 2001