ALBANIA, Mod. iil'rth-ne'A.
(Turk...II-nail/1. A country in the western part of the Balkan Peninsula. embracing, in the est sense of the name, the Turkish vilayets of Janina, Monastir, Scutari, and a part of Kos sovo (Slap: Turkey in Europe, C 4). It takes in ancient Illyria, most of Epirus, and parts of Macedonia, and covers an area estimated at from 16,000 to 22,000 square miles, according as the name is taken in a narrower or broader sense. It borders on Montenegro and the Sanjak of Novibazar on the north. Macedonia on the east, Greece on the south, and the Adriatic Sea on the west. The whole region is traversed by numer ous high mountain chains, separated by long and narrow valleys, running from northwest to southeast. The elevated plateaus found among the mountain chains. are mostly fruitful and well populated, and some of them inclose lakes. The rivers of Albania, of which the most im portant are the Boyana, Drin, Devol, and Voyns sa, have an exceedingly tortuous course, on ac count of the mountainous character of the sur face. The climate is healthful and moderate. and the soil for the most part fertile. Grain and tobacco grow well, and the olive is cultivated ex tensively and exported on a considerable scale. Some fish and sea salt are also exported. The population of Albania, within the broader limits given above, is probably not far from 2.000,000, but Albania proper. or the region which is in habited mainly by Albanians, has a much smaller population. The Albanians, or Arnauts, who in their own language call themselves Slikipetars ( Skipetars), are the descendants of the ancient Illyrians, and occupy a unique position among the Caucasian races. Only slightly civilized and very warlike. they keep the country in a constant. state of turmoil. The differences in religion of the various tribes. their strong feeling
of clanship, together with the warlike spirit of the people, afford ample opportunity for civil strife. In their form of government the Alba nians still retain some of the patriarchal insti tutions, and Turkish authority is only slightly recognized. The Mohammedan religion is pro fessed by most of them, while the Christians number 190.000, divided almost equally between Roman and Greek Catholics. There are nearly 200,000 Albanians in Greece, found chiefly in Attica, Megaris, and the islands of the _Egean; about 100,000 in southern Italy, and smaller groups in the Slavonic provinces of southern Austria. The turbulent tribes which inhabited the region in antiquity resisted all attempts at subjugation, and except during the reign of Pyrrhus of Epirus (296-272 n.c.) never acknowl edged any supreme authority. In the Middle Ages the inhabitants displayed the same obsti nacy in their resistance to the Turkish power. Their great leader, George Castriota, or Seamier beg (1404-68), overwhelmed twenty-three Otto man armies, of them commanded by the sultan in person. and though after the fall of Scutari, in 1478, the nominal authority of the Porte was acknowledged, the country at all times enjoyed a very large measure of freedom. From I S07 to 1822 Albania was practically inde pendent under the rule of Ali Pasha (q.v.). the Lion of Janina. The feeling of inveterate hos tility for the Greeks kept the Albanians from embracing their cause in the war of liberation. Consult: H. Callan,"Albania and the Albanians," in Scottish Geographical Magazine. Volume XV. ( Edinburgh. 18991: P. Traeger, "Mittheilungen and Funde au: Albanien,'' in fiir Ethnologic, Volume XXXT1. (Berlin, 1900).