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Albanians
Shqiptarë

File:Famous Albanians.jpgSkanderbeg · Ali Pasha · Muhammad Ali of Egypt · Lekë Dukagjini
Total population
Over 8,000,000
Regions with significant populations
Albania	3,438,789 (2008) 95% of Albania's population
Kosovo	1,871,503 (2007 est.) 88% of Kosovo's population
Turkey	1,300,000
Macedonia	509,083 (2002)
Greece	443,550
Serbia	50,000 est (2007)
Montenegro	31,163 (2004)
Italy	401,949 (2007)
United States	157,540 (2006)
Canada	22,395
Sweden	35,000
Switzerland	92,000
Germany	100,000
Croatia	15,082
Australia	11,815
Russia	300
Languages
Albanian
Religion
Nominally mainly Muslims (Sunni and Bektashi) with a large Christian minority (Orthodox and Catholic). But, the majority are non-practicant or atheist.
Related ethnic groups
Arvanites, Arbëreshë

The Albanian people (Template:Lang-sq), from southeast Europe, live in Albania and neighbouring countries and speak the Albanian language. About half of Albanians live in Albania, with other large groups residing in Kosovo, the Republic of Macedonia, Serbia, and Montenegro. There are also Albanian minorities and immigrant communities in a number of other countries (Turkey, Greece and Italy).

History of the term

Albanians are the descendants of a Paleo-Balkans people, perhaps the ancient Illyrians or the Thracians and Dacians. Scholarly opinion is divided on specifics. Names similar to the ones used to describe the Albanians, albeit much later, were used 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), to describe an Illyrian tribe situated in what 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 the Illyrian tribe. 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:

Distribution

Europe

Approximately 6 million Albanians are to be found within the Balkan peninsula with only 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, Croatia, Slovenia and Romania. Approximately 1,5 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.

Greece

Albanians in Greece are divided into different groupings, due to distinct historical waves of migration. The first comprises the Chams, a group of ethnic Albanians who originally resided in areas of Greek Epirus but today live mainly in Albania, Turkey and United States. Chams speak the Albanian language and are predominantly Muslim. The designation of the Orthodox Christian Albanophone minority of Epirus as Chams is controversial, as most prefer to identify as Arvanites. The Arvanites are descendants of Albanian immigrants from the 11th to the 15th century that have been largely assimilated by the dominant Greek-speaking population and generally self-identify as Greeks. They reside mainly in Attica, Euboea and Morea. Finally, Albanian nationals who entered Greece during the 1990s, mainly as illegal immigrants, comprise the largest single expatriate group in the country. According to the 2001 census, there were 481,663 holders of Albanian citizenship in Greece. The Watson Institute raised this number to 600,000 Albanians in Greece in 2008.

At the end of World War II, nearly all Muslim Chams in Greece were expelled to Albania. They were accused by EDES for having collaborated with occupation forces. Indeed, several hundred Chams had collaborated with the Axis Powers, as part of the Balli Kombëtar. However, approximately the same amount of Muslim Chams provided military support to the Greek resistance forces of the ELAS (Greek People's Liberation Army), while the rest were civilians uninvolved in the war. Since the war, no criminal of Cham origin was ever brought to trial.

According to Miranda Vickers, Greek Orthodox Chams remained in Greece, but have suffered from assimilation and public suppression of their Albanian heritage and language.

Kosovo and Republic of Macedonia

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Both the 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).

In February 2008, Kosovo declared its independence, becoming the second Albanian majority state in Europe after Albania.

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.

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 Albanians living in Turkey. The history of Albanians in Turkey began during the Ottoman Wars. The Ottoman king better known as Sultan would take young Albanian men to train them in his army. The reason he would do that is to keep their son’s family honest to the Ottoman Empire. One of the great soldiers who had to undergo the same treatment was later known as Gjergj Kastrioti Skenderbeu. One of the cities of modern day Turkey with a large Albanian population is Izmir. Due to the pressure by the Turkish government, the Albanians consider themselves Turkish rather than Albanian.

Rest of the world

Americas: In the United States the number reaches 500,000 according to the latest 2006 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.

Religion

Part of a series on
Albanians
Geographical distribution Native Albania Kosovo Croatia Greece Italy Montenegro North Macedonia Serbia Diaspora Greece Italy Australia Bulgaria Denmark Egypt Finland Germany Norway Romania South America Spain Sweden Switzerland Turkey Ukraine United Kingdom United States
Albanian culture Architecture Art (Traditional tattooing) Besa Cuisine Customary law Dance Dress Epic poetry (Kângë Kreshnikësh) Folklore Gjakmarrje Gjamë/Vajtim Literature Music Oda Paganism Symbols Traditions Tribes (farefisní)
Albanian language Gheg Arbanasi Upper Reka Istrian Tosk Arbëresh Arvanitika Cham Lab
Religion Christianity Catholicism Italo-Albanian Church Albanian Greek-Catholic Church Orthodoxy Islam Sunnism Bektashism Judaism
History of Albania Origin of the Albanians
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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 (Template:Lang-sq) held yearly on March 14 in the city of Elbasan. It is a national holiday.

Most of the Muslim Albanians in Albania are nominal Sunni Muslims and Bektashis. It is estimated that 92% of ethnic Albanians in the Republic of Kosovo are nominal Muslims. The statistics, however are pre-WWII and with the collapse of communism there has been a revival of religiosity. There are also Orthodox Christians, predominantly in Southern Albania, bordering Greece, and Roman Catholics 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 Jehova Witnesses, Mormons, Hindus, Bahá'í, Scientologists, 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. Many left for Israel circa 1990-1992 after borders were open due to fall of communist regime in Albania.

Other ethnonyms

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Indo-European topics
Languages List of Indo-European languages Extant Albanoid Albanian Armenian Balto-Slavic Baltic Slavic Celtic Germanic Hellenic Greek Indo-Iranian Indo-Aryan Iranian Nuristani Italic Romance Extinct Anatolian Tocharian Paleo-Balkan Dacian Illyrian Liburnian Messapic Mysian Paeonian Phrygian Thracian Reconstructed Proto-Indo-European language Phonology: Sound laws, Accent, Ablaut Hypothetical Balkanic Daco-Thracian Graeco-Albanian Graeco-Armenian Graeco-Aryan Graeco-Phrygian Indo-Hittite Italo-Celtic Thraco-Illyrian Grammar Vocabulary Root Verbs Nouns Pronouns Numerals Particles Other Proto-Albanian Proto-Anatolian Proto-Armenian Proto-Germanic (Proto-Norse) Proto-Italo-Celtic (Proto-Celtic · Proto-Italic) Proto-Greek Proto-Balto-Slavic (Proto-Slavic · Proto-Baltic) Proto-Indo-Iranian (Proto-Iranian)
Philology Hittite inscriptions Hieroglyphic Luwian Linear B Rigveda Avesta Homer Behistun Greek epigraphy Phrygian epigraphy Messapic epigraphy Latin epigraphy Gaulish epigraphy Runic epigraphy Ogham Gothic Bible Bible translations into Armenian Tocharian script Old Irish glosses Albanian Kanun
Origins Homeland Proto-Indo-Europeans Society Religion Mainstream Kurgan hypothesis Indo-European migrations Eurasian nomads Alternative and fringe Anatolian hypothesis Armenian hypothesis Beech argument Indigenous Aryanism Baltic homeland Paleolithic continuity theory
Archaeology Chalcolithic (Copper Age) Pontic Steppe Domestication of the horse Kurgan Kurgan stelae Kurgan culture Steppe cultures Bug–Dniester Sredny Stog Dnieper–Donets Samara Khvalynsk Yamnaya Mikhaylovka culture Novotitarovskaya culture Caucasus Maykop East Asia Afanasievo Eastern Europe Usatovo Cernavodă Cucuteni Northern Europe Corded ware Baden Middle Dnieper Bronze Age Pontic Steppe Chariot Yamnaya Catacomb Multi-cordoned ware Poltavka Srubnaya Northern/Eastern Steppe Abashevo culture Andronovo Sintashta Europe Globular Amphora Corded ware Bell Beaker Únětice Trzciniec Nordic Bronze Age Terramare Tumulus Urnfield Lusatian South Asia BMAC Yaz Gandhara grave Iron Age Steppe Chernoles Europe Thraco-Cimmerian Hallstatt Jastorf Caucasus Colchian India Painted Grey Ware Northern Black Polished Ware
Peoples and societies Bronze Age Anatolian peoples (Hittites) Armenians Mycenaean Greeks Indo-Iranians Iron Age Indo-Aryans Indo-Aryans Iranians Iranians East Asia Wusun Yuezhi Europe Celts Gauls Celtiberians Insular Celts Cimmerians Hellenic peoples Italic peoples Germanic peoples Paleo-Balkan/Anatolia Thracians Dacians Illyrians Paeonians Phrygians Scythians Middle Ages East Asia Tocharians Europe Albanians Balts Slavs Norsemen/Medieval Scandinavians Middle Ages Indo-Aryan Medieval India Iranian Greater Iran
Religion and mythology Reconstructed Proto-Indo-European mythology Proto-Indo-Iranian paganism Historical Vedic religion Ancient Iranian religion Historical Hittite Indo-Aryan Vedic Hinduism Buddhism Jainism Sikhism Iranian Persian Zoroastrianism Kurdish Yazidism Yarsanism Scythian Ossetian Others Armenian European Paleo-Balkan (Albanian · Illyrian · Thracian · Dacian) Greek Roman Celtic Irish Scottish Breton Welsh Cornish Germanic Anglo-Saxon Continental Norse Baltic Latvian Lithuanian Slavic Practices Fire rituals Horse sacrifice Sati Winter solstice/Yule
Indo-European studies Scholars Marija Gimbutas J. P. Mallory Institutes Copenhagen Studies in Indo-European Publications Encyclopedia of Indo-European Culture The Horse, the Wheel, and Language Journal of Indo-European Studies Indogermanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch Indo-European Etymological Dictionary
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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) in use from the 18th century (but probably earlier) to the present, the literal translation of which is subject of the eagle. The term Šiptari is a derivation used by Yugoslavs which the Albanians consider derogatory.

Misnaming

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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 changed in Fascist Italy during the 1930s (for instance, Piana dei Greci became Piana degli Albanesi).
• 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.

Historical individuals

Prominent Albanians have included the defender of Albania during the mid-15th century Skenderbeg, Nobel Prize winner Mother Teresa, the writer Ismail Kadare, the painter Ibrahim Kodra, the composer Simon Gjoni, the Olympic athlete Klodiana Shala, 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 United States after WWII. The American actress Eliza Dushku was born of an Albanian father and a half-Danish mother, while Nobel Prize winner Ferid Murad has an Albanian father and an American mother.

See also

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Notes and references

1. CIA - The World Factbook - Albania
2. CIA - The World Factbook - Kosovo
3. "Türkiyedeki Kürtlerin Sayısı!" (in Turkish). Milliyet. 2008-06-06. Retrieved 2008-06-07.
4. Republic of Macedonia 2002 census -
5. CIA - The World Factbook - Macedonia
6. ^
7. - New Kosova Report - Birthate picks up again in Kosovo - Society}
8. Yugoslavian Federation 2003 census -
9. |Italy: Foreigner Citizens -- 2007
10. 2006 Community Survey
11. Ethnocultural Portrait of Canada Highlight Tables, 2006 Census
12. Hot tvingar kosovoalbaner att flytta
14. 95,000 speakers of Albanian as first language as of 2000: see Demographics of Switzerland
15. Federal Republic of Germany -
16. Croatian Bureu of statistics -
17. 2006 Census Table : Australia
18. Ethnic groups of Russia
19. Instantanés d'Albaníe, un autre regard sur les Balkans Template:Fr icon
20. Adherents.com
21. Albania
22. Barjarba, Kosra. "Migration and Ethnicity in Albania". Waston Institute for International Studies, 2004. Retrieved on 29 January 2007.
23. Mazower, Mark. After The War Was Over: Reconstructing the Family, Nation and State in Greece, 1943-1960. Princeton University Press, 2000, ISBN 0691058423, p. 25. "The war saw communal relations worsen quickly. In October 1940, the Greek authorities disarmed 1,800 Cham conscripts and put them to work on local roads; the following month they seized all Albanian males not called up and deported them to camps or to island exile. Not surprisingly, when the Italians finally took control of mainland Greece in 1941, they found Cham activists willing to call for unification of the region with Albania. Several hundred were conscripted into the anti-communist Bal Komitare to act as local gendarmes. From the autumn of 1943, these armed bands took part alongside the Wehrmacht in burning Greek villages. Such actions, it seems, were not supported by many of the local beys, nor by the Mufti. By the summer of 1944 it was obvious that a German withdrawal from Epiros was imminent. After the Cham bands turned down a demand from EDES to join it against the left-wing ELAS, EDES's leader Napoleon Zervas ordered a general attack on the Cham villages. Two attacks took place, in July and August, with the participation of the EDES Tenth Division and local Greek peasants, eager to gain revenge for the burning of their homes: many of the Cham villages were burned, and the remaining inhabitants–some 18,000–fled across the border into Albania."
24. Mazower, Mark. After The War Was Over: Reconstructing the Family, Nation and State in Greece, 1943-1960. Princeton University Press, 2000, ISBN 0691058423, p. 26. "Unlike EDES and the local Greek peasantry in Thesprotia, ELAS was opposed to the idea of collective punishment of the Cham community. Several hundred Chams had enlisted in its ranks, and it had fairly good relations with the communist-led resistance in Albania itself."
25. Vickers, Miranda. The Cham Issue - Where to Now? Paper prepared for the British MoD, Defence Academy, 2002.
26. Vickers, Miranda. The Cham Issue - Albanian National & Property Claims in Greece. Paper prepared for the British MoD, Defence Academy, 2002. "Today there are approximately 250,000 Chams in Albania and an estimated 400,000 in the wider diaspora, mostly in the USA and Turkey."
27. Milliyet, Türkiyedeki Kürtlerin Sayısı. 2008-06-06.
28. Albania. The World Factbook.
29. Muslims in Europe: Country guide: Albania. BBC.
30. International Religious Freedom Report 2008 - Kosovo
31. 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

• Edith Durham. The Burden of the Balkans (1905)

v t e Albanian diaspora
Europe	Albania Austria Bulgaria Belgium Bosnia Croatia Arbanasi Denmark Finland France Germany Greece Albanians of Western Thrace Cham Hungary Italy Arbëreshë Kosovo Montenegro Netherlands North Macedonia Norway Romania Serbia Slovenia Spain Sweden Switzerland Ukraine United Kingdom
Americas	Argentina Canada Chile United States
Asia	Syria Turkey
Africa	Egypt
Oceania	Australia New Zealand
Category

External links

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

• Albanian people
• Ethnic groups in Europe
• Ethnic groups in Albania
• Ethnic groups in Kosovo
• Ethnic groups in the Republic of Macedonia
• Ethnic groups in Montenegro
• Ethnic groups in Serbia
• Ethnic groups in Russia
• Ethnic groups in Bosnia and Herzegovina
• Ethnic groups in Greece
• Ethnic groups in Italy
• Indo-European peoples
• Muslim communities
• Ethnic groups in Balkans