Albanians

Albanians
Shqiptarët
Skanderbeg Ali Pasha Ismail Qemali King Zog
Faik Konica Abdyl Frashëri Gjergj Fishta Alexander Moissi
Muhammad Ali Pasha Carl Ritter von Ghega Mother Teresa Ferid Murad
Dora d'Istria Ismail Kadare Gjekë Marinaj Lorik Cana
Total population
About 7 million
Regions with significant populations
 Albania 2,837,242[1]
Rest of the Balkans
 Kosovo [a] 1,587,000 [2]
 Macedonia 506,083 [3]
 Greece 274,390 - 600,000 [4][5]
 Serbia 61,647 (2011) [6]
 Montenegro 29,500 (2011) [7]
 Croatia 15,082
Rest of Europe:
 Italy 438,000 [8]
 Germany 320,000 2
 Switzerland 200,000 [9][10]
 Sweden 60,000
 United Kingdom 30,000 [11]
 Romania 10,000 [12]
 Norway 10,000
 Netherlands 8,500 [13]
 Denmark 8,000 [14]
 Ukraine 5,000 [15]
Northern America:
 United States 201,118 [16]
 Canada 16,435 [17]
Middle East
 Turkey 500,000 1 [18]
Languages

Albanian

Religion

Predominantly Islam (Sunni and Bektashi), with large minorities of Orthodox Christianity and Roman Catholicism
(Large number of people without religion)

Footnotes
1 Albanians are not recognized as a minority in Turkey. However approximately 500,000 people are reported to profess an Albanian identity. With the Turkified Albanians in the country the number is about 1,300,000, most of who do not speak Albanian, and some of them have only partial Albanian ancestry.

2 The total number of Albanian immigrants is obscure due to difficulties with identifying them as Albanians from Kosovo or Albania, and because some of them are illegal.[19]

Albanians (Albanian: Shqiptarët) are a nation and ethnic group native to Albania and neighbouring countries. In the context of an ethnicity, they are commonly referred to as ethnic Albanians to distinguish the group from the use of the term Albanians as referring to citizens of Albania. They speak the Albanian language. More than half of all Albanians live in Albania and Kosovo [a]. The Albanian diaspora also exists in a number of other countries.

Contents

Ethnonym

While the exonym Albania for the general region inhabited by the Albanians does hark back to Classical Antiquity, and possibly to an Illyrian tribe, the name was lost within the Albanian language, the Albanian endonym being shqiptar, from the term for the Albanian language, shqip, a derivation of the verb shqiptoj "to utilize a correct Albanian pronunciation ". This theory pertains to Hahn and it holds that perhaps the word is ultimately a loan from Latin excipio.[20] Thus, the Albanian endonym, like Slav and others, is in origin a term for "those who speak [intelligibly, the same language]". However another plausible theory has been advanced by Maximilian Lambertz to explain the endonym as derived from the Albanian noun shqype or shqiponjë (eagle), which, according to Albanian folk etymology, denoted a bird totem dating from the times of Skanderbeg, as displayed on the Albanian flag.[21]

In History written in 1079–1080, the Byzantine historian Michael Attaliates referred to the Albanoi as having taken part in a revolt against Constantinople in 1043 and to the Arbanitai as subjects of the duke of Dyrrachium. It is disputed, however, whether that refers to Albanians in an ethnic sense.[22] However a later reference to Albanians from the same Attaliates, regarding the participation of Albanians in a rebellion around 1078, is undisputed.[23] The first reference to the Albanian language dates to the later 13th century (around 1285).[24]

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

History

Albanians in the Middle Ages

What is possibly the earliest written reference to the Albanians is that to be found in an old Bulgarian text compiled around the beginning of the 11th century.[26] It was discovered in a Serbian manuscript dated 1628 and was first published in 1934 by Radoslav Grujic. This fragment of a legend from the time of Tsar Samuel endeavours, in a catechismal 'question and answer' form, to explain the origins of peoples and languages. It divides the world into seventy-two languages and three religious categories: Orthodox, half-believers (i.e. non-Orthodox Christians) and non-believers. The Albanians find their place among the nations of half-believers. If the dating of Grujic is accepted, which is based primarily upon the contents of the text as a whole, this would be the earliest written document referring to the Albanians as a people or language group.[27]

It can be seen that there are various languages on earth. Of them, there are five Orthodox languages: Bulgarian, Greek, Syrian, Iberian (Georgian) and Russian. Three of these have Orthodox alphabets: Greek, Bulgarian and Iberian. There are twelve languages of half-believers: Alamanians, Franks, Magyars (Hungarians), Indians, Jacobites, Armenians, Saxons, Lechs (Poles), Arbanasi (Albanians), Croatians, Hizi, Germans.

The first undisputed mention of Albanians in the historical record is attested in Byzantine source for the first time in 1079-1080, in a work titled History by Byzantine historian Michael Attaliates, who referred to the Albanoi as having taken part in a revolt against Constantinople in 1043 and to the Arbanitai as subjects of the duke of Dyrrachium. It is disputed, however, whether the "Albanoi" of the events of 1043 refers to Albanians in an ethnic sense or whether "Albanoi" is a reference to Normans from Sicily under an archaic name (there was also tribe of Italy by the name of "Albanoi").[28] However a later reference to Albanians from the same Attaliates, regarding the participation of Albanians in a rebellion around 1078, is undisputed.[23] At this point, they are already fully Christianized, although Albanian mythology and folklore are part of the Paleo-Balkan pagan mythology,[29] in particular showing Greek influence.[30]

From late 11th century the Albanians were called Arbën/Arbër and their country as Arbanon,[31] a mountainous area to the west of Lake Ochrida and the upper valley of the river Shkumbin.[32] It was in 1190, when the rulers of Arbanon (local Albanian noble called Progon and his sons Dhimitër and Gjin) created their principality with its capital at Krujë.[33] After the fall of Progon Dynasty in 1216, the principality came under Grigor Kamona and Gulam of Albania. Finally the Principality was dissolved on 1255. Around 1230 the two main centers of Albanian settlements, one around Devoll river in what is now central Albania,[34] and the other around the region which was known with the name Arbanon.[33]

In 1271 Charles of Anjou after he captured Durrës from Despotate of Epirus, created the Kingdom of Albania. In 14th century a number of Albanian principalities were created.

Albanians under the Ottoman Empire

The Ottoman supremacy in the Balkan region began in 1385 with the Battle of Savra but was briefly interrupted in the 15th century, when George Kastrioti, an Albanian warrior known as Skanderbeg, allied with some Albanian chiefs, formed the League of Lezhe and fought-off Turkish rule from 1443–1478 (although Kastrioti died in 1468). Kastrioti's strongholds included Kruja, Shkodra, Durrës, Lezha, Petrela, Koxhaxhik and Berat.

Upon the Ottomans' return, a large number of Albanians fled to Italy, Greece and Egypt and maintained their Arbëresh identity.

Albanian national awakening

By the 1870s, the Sublime Porte's reforms aimed at checking the Ottoman Empire's disintegration had clearly failed. The image of the "Turkish yoke" had become fixed in the nationalist mythologies and psyches of the empire's Balkan peoples, and their march toward independence quickened. The Albanians, because of the higher degree of Islamic influence, their internal social divisions, and the fear that they would lose their Albanian-populated lands to the emerging Balkan states—Serbia, Montenegro, Bulgaria, and Greece—were the last of the Balkan peoples to desire division from the Ottoman Empire.[35] The Albanian national awakening as a coherent political movement began after the Treaty of San Stefano, according to which Albanian-inhabited areas were to be ceded to other states of the Balkans, and focused on preventing that partition.[36][37] The Treaty of San Stefano was the impetus for the nation-building movement, which was based more on fear of partition than national identity.[37] Even after Albania became independent in 1912, Albanian national identity was fragmented and possible non-existent in much of the new country.[37] The state of disunity and fragmentation would remain until the communist period following World War 2, when the communist nation-building project would achieve greater success in nation-building and reach more people than any previous regime, thus creating Albanian national communist identity.[37]

Distribution

Balkans

Approximately 6 million Albanians are to be found within the Balkan peninsula with about half this number residing in Albania and the other divided between Kosovo, Montenegro, the Republic of Macedonia, Greece and to a much smaller extent Bosnia, Bulgaria, Croatia, Romania, Serbia and Slovenia.

Albania

Albania has an estimated 3 million inhabitants, with ethnic Albanians comprising approximately 95% of the total.[38]

Former Yugoslavia

An estimated 2.2 million Albanians live in the territory of Former Yugoslavia, the greater part (close to two million) in Kosovo[a].

Rights to use the Albanian language in education and government were given and guaranteed by the 1974 Constitution of SFRY and were widely utilized in Macedonia and in Montenegro before the Dissolution of Yugoslavia.[39]

Greece

An estimated 275,000-600,000 Albanians live in Greece, forming the largest immigrant community in the country.[40][41] They are economic migrants whose migration began in 1991, following the collapse of the Socialist People's Republic of Albania.

The Arvanites and Albanian-speakers of Western Thrace are a group descended from Tosk Albanians who migrated to southern and central Greece between the 13th and 16th centuries. They are Greek Orthodox Christians, and though they traditionally speak a dialect of Tosk Albanian known as Arvanitika, they have fully assimilated into the Greek nation and do not identify as Albanians. Arvanitika is in a state of attrition due to language shift towards Greek and large-scale internal migration to the cities and subsequent intermingling of the population during the 20th century.

The Cham Albanians were a group that formerly inhabited a region of Epirus known as Chameria, nowadays Thesprotia in northwestern Greece. Most Cham Albanians converted to Islam during the Ottoman era. Muslim Chams were expelled from Greece during World War II, by an anti-communist resistance group, as a result of their participation in a communist resistance group and the collaboration with the Axis occupation, while Orthodox Chams have largely assimilated into the Greek nation.

Diaspora

Europe

Approximately 1 million are dispersed throughout the rest of Europe, most of these in Italy (438,000), Germany (320,000), Switzerland (200,000), Sweden (60,000), and the UK.

Italy has a historical Albanian minority known as the Arbëreshë (260,000) which are scattered across Southern Italy, but the majority of Albanians in Italy arrived in 1991 and have since surpassed the older populations of Arbëreshë.

Turkey

According to a 2008 report prepared for the National Security Council of Turkey by academics of three Turkish universities in eastern Anatolia, there were approximately 1,300,000 people of Albanian descent living in Turkey.[42] A part of these people have assimilated to the culture of Turkey, and consider themselves more Turkish than Albanian. Nonetheless, more than 500,000 Albanian descents still recognize their ancestry like their languages, culture and traditions.

Egypt

In Egypt there are 18,000 Albanians, mostly Tosk speakers. Many are descendants of 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.

Overseas

According to data from the 2008 Census of the United States Government, there are 201,118 Albanian Americans (US citizens of full or partial Albanian descent).[43]

In Australia and New Zealand 22,000 in total. Albanians are also known to reside in China, India, Iran, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Pakistan and Singapore, but the numbers are generally small. Albanians have been present in Arab countries such as Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria for about 5 centuries as a legacy of Ottoman Turkish rule.

Language

The Albanian language forms a separate branch of Indo-European languages family tree. A traditional view links the origin of Albanian with Illyrian, though this theory is broadly contested and challenged.[44]

Unattested prior to the second half of the 15th century, the Albanian language is one of the youngest languages of Europe in terms of first written account.

Albanian in a revised form of the Tosk dialect is the official language of Albania and Kosovo[a]; and is official in the municipalities where there are more than 20% ethnic Albanian inhabitants in the Republic of Macedonia. It is also an official language of Montenegro where it is spoken in the municipalities with ethnic Albanian populations.

Religion

The Albanians first appear in the historical record in Byzantine sources of the late 11th century.[45] At this point, they were already fully Christianized. Christianity was later overtaken 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 and Roman Catholicism continued to be 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.

A recent Pew Research Center demographic study put the percentage of Muslims in Albania at 79.9%.[46]:22 Most of the Muslims in Albania are Sunni Muslims and Bektashi Muslims[47][48] There are also Orthodox Christians, predominantly in Southern Albania, bordering Greece, and Roman Catholicism is the main religion among those Albanians living predominantly in northern Albania, bordering the Republic of Montenegro. After 1992 an influx of foreign missionaries has brought more religious diversity with groups such as Jehovah's Witnesses, Mormons, Hindus, Bahá'í, a variety of Christian denominations and others. This rich blend of religions has however 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.[49] Many left for Israel circa 1990-1992 after borders were open due to fall of communist regime in Albania, while in modern times about 200 Albanian Jews still live in Albania.

Culture

Albanian music displays a variety of influences. Albanian folk music traditions differ by region, with major stylistic differences between the traditional music of the Ghegs in the north and Tosks in the south. Modern popular music has developed around the centers of Korca, Shkodër and Tirana. Since the 1920s, some composers such as Fan S. Noli have also produced works of Albanian classical music.

Notable Albanians

Gallery

See also

Notes

Footnotes

a.   ^ Kosovo is the subject of a territorial dispute between the Republic of Serbia and the self-proclaimed Republic of Kosovo. The latter declared independence on 17 February 2008, while Serbia claims it as part of its own sovereign territory. Its independence is recognised by 86 UN member states.

Citations

  1. ^ CIA World Factbook 2010
  2. ^ See [1] (Serbo-Croatian) UN estimate, Kosovo’s population estimates range from 1.9 to 2.4 million. The last two population census conducted in 1981 and 1991 estimated Kosovo’s population at 1.6 and 1.9 million respectively, but the 1991 census probably under-counted Albanians. The latest estimate in 2001 by OSCE puts the number at 2.4 Million. The World Factbook gives an estimate of 1,804,838 persons living in Kosovo for the year 2009, 88% of them are Albanians. (see Kosovo entry at The World Factbook).
  3. ^ "2002 Macedonian Census" (PDF). http://www.stat.gov.mk/pdf/kniga_13.pdf. Retrieved 2010-09-22. 
  4. ^ Migration and Migration Policy in Greece. Critical Review and Policy Recommendations. Anna Triandafyllidou. Hellenic Foundation for European and Foreign Policy (ELIAMEP). Data taken from Greek ministry of Interiors. p. 5 "the total number of Albanian citizens residing in Greece, including 185,000 co-ethnics holding special identity cards"
  5. ^ Gialis, Gialis. "Spatial demography of the Balkans: trends and challenges". IVth International Conference of Balkans Demography. pp. 4. http://www.demobalk.org/conferences/fr/BUDVA_10_5-2010/S_2/Gialis_S2.pdf. Retrieved 4 November 2010. , Kees, Groenendijk. "The status of quasi-citizenship in EU member states: Why some states have "almost-citizens"". University of Edinburgh. pp. 415–416. http://www.law.ed.ac.uk/citmodes/files/NATACCh10.pdf. Retrieved 4 November 2010. 
  6. ^ (Serbian) Official Results of Serbian Census 2003–PopulationPDF (441 KB), pp. 12-13
  7. ^ CIA Monenegro
  8. ^ "Microsoft Word - pippo.doc" (PDF). http://www.istat.it/salastampa/comunicati/non_calendario/20090226_00/testo_integrale_20090226.pdf. Retrieved 2010-09-22. 
  9. ^ "Die Albaner in der Schweiz: Geschichtliches – Albaner in der Schweiz seit 1431" (PDF). http://www.schweiz-albanien.ch/fileadmin/Dokumente/Informationen/090808_albsuissealbanerch.pdf. Retrieved 2010-09-22. 
  10. ^ "Im Namen aller Albaner eine Moschee?". Infowilplus.ch. 2007-05-25. http://www.infowilplus.ch/_iu_write/artikel/2007/KW_21/Region/Artikel_8116/. Retrieved 2010-09-22. 
  11. ^ Bennetto, Jason (2002-11-25). "Total Population of Albanians in the United Kingdom". London: Independent.co.uk. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/albanians-taking-over-london-vice-605315.html. Retrieved 2010-09-22. 
  12. ^ "Date demografice" (in Romanian). http://www.divers.ro/albanezi_date_demografice_ro. Retrieved 18 August 2010. 
  13. ^ "CBS - 8,5 duizend Kosovaren in Nederland - Webmagazine". Cbs.nl. http://www.cbs.nl/nl-NL/menu/themas/bevolking/publicaties/artikelen/archief/2008/2008-2411-wm.htm. Retrieved 2010-09-22. 
  14. ^ "National statistics of Denmark". Dst.dk. http://www.dst.dk. Retrieved 2010-09-22. 
  15. ^ Olson, James S., An Ethnohistorical Dictionary of the Russian and Soviet Empires. (Westport: Greenwood Press, 1994) p. 28-29
  16. ^ "US Census Bureau". Factfinder.census.gov. http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/DTTable?_bm=y&-context=dt&-ds_name=D&-CONTEXT=dt&-mt_name=ACS_2008_1YR_G2000_B04003&-tree_id=403&-redoLog=false&-all_geo_types=N&-geo_id=D&-search_results=01000US&-format=&-_lang=en&-SubjectID=14595646. Retrieved 2010-09-22. 
  17. ^ "Canadian Census of 2006". 2.statcan.gc.ca. 2008-06-10. http://www12.statcan.gc.ca/english/census06/data/topics/RetrieveProductTable.cfm?ALEVEL=3&APATH=3&CATNO=97-562-XCB2006015&DETAIL=0&DIM=&DS=99&FL=0&FREE=0&GAL=&GC=99&GK=NA&GRP=0&IPS=97-562-XCB2006015&METH=0&ORDER=&PID=92341&PTYPE=88971&RL=0&S=1&ShowAll=&StartRow=&SUB=&Temporal=2006&Theme=80&VID=&VNAMEE=&VNAMEF=. Retrieved 2010-09-22. 
  18. ^ "Türkiye'deki Kürtlerin sayısı!" (in Turkish). 6 June 2008. http://www.milliyet.com.tr/default.aspx?aType=SonDakika&Kategori=yasam&ArticleID=873452&Date=07.06.2008&ver=16. Retrieved 17 August 2010. 
  19. ^ The Albanian connection
  20. ^ Robert Elsie, A dictionary of Albanian religion, mythology and folk culture, C. Hurst & Co. Publishers, 2001, ISBN 978-1-85065-570-1, p. 79.
  21. ^ "ALBANCI". Enciklopedija Jugoslavije 2nd ed.. Supplement. Zagreb: JLZ. 1984. pp. 1. 
  22. ^ Pritsak, Omeljan (1991). "Albanians". Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium. 1. New York/Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp. 52–53. 
  23. ^ a b The wars of the Balkan Peninsula: their medieval origins G - Reference, Information and Interdisciplinary Subjects Series Authors Alexandru Madgearu, Martin Gordon Editor Martin Gordon Translated by Alexandru Madgearu Edition illustrated Publisher Scarecrow Press, 2008 ISBN 0-8108-5846-0, 9780810858466 It was supposed that those Albanoi from 1042 were Normans from Sicily, called by an archaic name (the Albanoi were an independent tribe from Southern Italy). The following instance is indisputable. It comes from the same Attaliates, who wrote that the Albanians (Arbanitai) were involved in the 1078; rebellion of... p. 25
  24. ^ "Robert Elsie, ''The earliest reference to the existence of the Albanian Language''". Scribd.com. 2007-05-28. http://www.scribd.com/doc/87039/Earlies-Reference-to-the-Existance-of-the-Albanian-Language. Retrieved 2010-09-22. 
  25. ^ L'Albanie entre Byzance et Venise" Volume 248 of Collected studies Variorum Collected Studies Volume 248 of Variorum reprint Author Alain Ducellier Edition illustrated, reprint Publisher Variorum Reprints, 1987 ISBN 0860781968, 9780860781967. "Par deux fois, Anne Comnene laisse entendre que la place forte de Petrela constitue la voie d'acces principale de cette region ..."
  26. ^ R. Elsie: Early Albania, a Reader of Historical Texts, 11th - 17th Centuries, Wiesbaden 2003, p. 3
  27. ^ Extract from: Grujic, Radoslav: Legenda iz vremena Cara Samuila o poreklu naroda. in: Glasnik skopskog naucnog drustva, Skopje, 13 (1934), p. 198 200. Translated from the Old Church Slavonic by Robert Elsie. First published in R. Elsie: Early Albania, a Reader of Historical Texts, 11th - 17th Centuries, Wiesbaden 2003, p. 3. Albanian History
  28. ^ The wars of the Balkan Peninsula: their medieval origins G - Reference, Information and Interdisciplinary Subjects Series Authors Alexandru Madgearu, Martin Gordon Editor Martin Gordon Translated by Alexandru Madgearu Edition illustrated Publisher Scarecrow Press, 2008 ISBN 0-8108-5846-0, 9780810858466 It was supposed that those Albanoi from 1042 were Normans from Sicily, called by an archaic name (the Albanoi were an independent tribe from Southern Italy), p. 25
  29. ^ Bonnefoy, Yves (1993-05-15). American, African, and Old European mythologies. University of Chicago Press. p. 253. ISBN 978-0-226-06457-4. http://books.google.gr/books?id=GYjc5POwJjAC&pg=PA253&dq=Although+Albanian+mythology+has+not+yet+been+the+subject+of+a+monograph&hl=en&ei=QBwVTdPyGYOh8QPZ3rWFBw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=5&ved=0CDEQ6AEwBA#v=snippet&q=Although%20Albanian%20mythology%20has%20not%20yet%20been%20the%20subject%20of%20a%20monograph%2C%20it%20has%20been%20treated%20in%20many%20essays%20and%20articles%20on%20linguistics%2C%20folklore%2C%20and%20ethnology.%20This%20mythology%20can%20be%20considered%20part%20of%20the%20of%20the%20Balkan%20pagan%20tradition&f=false. Retrieved 24 December 2010. 
  30. ^ Mircea Eliade, Charles J. Adams, The Encyclopedia of religion, Macmillan, 1987, ISBN 978-0-02-909700-7, p. 179.
  31. ^ Islam in the Balkans: religion and society between Europe and the Arab world Author H. T. Norris Publisher Univ of South Carolina Press, 1993 ISBN 0872499774, 9780872499775 p.35
  32. ^ Studies in late Byzantine history and prosopography Volume 242 of Collected studies Variorum reprints ; CS242 Volume 242 of Variorum reprint Author Donald MacGillivray Nicol Edition illustrated Publisher Variorum Reprints, 1986 ISBN 0860781909, 9780860781905 page. 160 "The geographical location of the mysterious 'Arbanon' has at last no doubt been settled by the researches of Alain Ducellier. In the 11th century at least it was the name given to the mountainous area to the west of Lake Ochrida and the upper valley of the river Shkumbin..."
  33. ^ a b The New Cambridge Medieval History: c. 1198-c. 1300 Volume 5 of The New Cambridge Medieval History, Rosamond McKitterick, ISBN 0-521-85360-5, 9780521853606 Author David Abulafia Editors David Abulafia, Rosamond McKitterick Contributors David Abulafia, Rosamond McKitterick Edition illustrated, reprint Publisher Cambridge University Press, 1999 ISBN 0-521-36289-X, 9780521362894 page 780
  34. ^ The New Cambridge Medieval History: c. 1198-c. 1300 Volume 5. Cambridge University Press, 1999 ISBN 0-521-36289-X, 9780521362894 page 780-781: "the Albanians dominated the central regions of what is now the Albanian republic, in the areas which are drained by the Devollit river"
  35. ^ Raymond Zickel and Walter R. Iwaskiw, editors. (1994). "National Awakening and the Birth of Albania, mut.us/albania/index.htm". 
  36. ^ Karl Kaser, Frank Kressing. Albania – A country in transition Aspects of changing identities in a south-east European country. Baden-Baden: Nomos-Verlag Extracts, 2002, p. 15
  37. ^ a b c d Tara Ashley O' Brien. Manufacturing Homogeneity in the Modern Albanian Nation-Building Project. University of Budapest, 2008, p. 4-5
  38. ^ "Distribution of family income – Gini index". The World Factbook. CIA. Archived from the original on 23 July 2010. https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/fields/2172.html. Retrieved 1 September 2009. 
  39. ^ Civil resistance in Kosovo By Howard Clark, pg. 12
  40. ^ Migration and Migration Policy in Greece. Critical Review and Policy Recommendations. Anna Triandafyllidou. Hellenic Foundation for European and Foreign Policy (ELIAMEP). Data taken from Greek ministry of Interiors. p. 5 "the total number of Albanian citizens residing in Greece, including 185,000 co-ethnics holding special identity cards"
  41. ^ Gialis, Gialis. "Spatial demography of the Balkans: trends and challenges". IVth International Conference of Balkans Demography. pp. 4. http://www.demobalk.org/conferences/fr/BUDVA_10_5-2010/S_2/Gialis_S2.pdf. Retrieved 4 November 2010. , Kees, Groenendijk. "The status of quasi-citizenship in EU member states: Why some states have "almost-citizens"". University of Edinburgh. pp. 415–416. http://www.law.ed.ac.uk/citmodes/files/NATACCh10.pdf. Retrieved 4 November 2010. 
  42. ^ Milliyet, Türkiyedeki Kürtlerin Sayısı. 2008-06-06.
  43. ^ "Total ancestry categories tallied for people with one or more ancestry categories reported". U.S. Census Bureau. http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/DTTable?_bm=y&-context=dt&-ds_name=ACS_2008_1YR_G00_&-_geoSkip=0&-CONTEXT=dt&-mt_name=ACS_2008_1YR_G2000_C04003&-tree_id=403&-_skip=0&-redoLog=false&-all_geo_types=N&-geo_id=01000US&-search_results=01000US&-_showChild=Y&-format=&-_lang=en&-_toggle=ACS_2008_1YR_G2000_C04003&-SubjectID=14595646,. Retrieved 2010-08-17. 
  44. ^ Hans Henrich Hock, Brian D. Joseph: Language history, language change, and language relationship, pp. 54
  45. ^ Comnena, Anna. The Alexiad, Book IV.
  46. ^ Miller, Tracy, ed. (October 2009) (PDF), Mapping the Global Muslim Population: A Report on the Size and Distribution of the World’s Muslim Population, Pew Research Center, http://pewforum.org/newassets/images/reports/Muslimpopulation/Muslimpopulation.pdf, retrieved 2009-10-08 
  47. ^ Albania. The World Factbook.
  48. ^ Muslims in Europe: Country guide: Albania. BBC.
  49. ^ Rescue in Albania: One Hundred Percent of Jews in Albania Rescued from Holocaust". "The Jews of Albania". California: Brunswick Press, 1997. Retrieved on 29 January 2007.

Further reading

External links