 | McLae“s guide to Albania |  |
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Albania Internet country code: .al International telephone prefix: +355  Franz Kafka Albania (Albanian: Republika e Shqipėrisė) is a Mediterranean country in southeastern Europe. It is bordered by Serbia and Montenegro in the north, the Republic of Macedonia in the east, and Greece in the south; it has a coast on the Adriatic Sea in the west, and a coast on the Ionian Sea in the southwest. The country is an emerging democracy and is formally named the Republic of Albania. Albania consists of mostly hilly and mountainous terrain, the highest mountain, Korab in the district of Dibra reaching up to 2,753 metres (9,032 ft). The country mostly has a continental climate, with cold winters and hot summers. Besides capital city Tirana, with 800,000 inhabitants, the principal cities are Durrės, Elbasan, Shkodėr, Gjirokastėr, Vlorė and Korēė. In Albanian grammar a word can have indefinite and definite forms, and this also applies to city names: so both Tiranė and Tirana, Shkodėr and Shkodra are used. Most of the population is ethnically Albanian (95%), there is a Greek minority (3%), this however could significally vary according to other sources. Many ethnic Albanians also live in the bordering countries of Serbia and Montenegro and the Republic of Macedonia . Also a small number of ethnic Albanians live in Greece which are called Ēam or Cham. Claims over Ēam numbers have ranged from 20,000 to over 200,000 but are believed to be understated because Athens has not considered the local Albanians to be a separate ethnic group. Since 1991, large numbers of Albanians have emigrated, both legally and illegally, to Greece and Italy. The language is Albanian, although Greek is also spoken by the Greek minority in the southern regions of the country. At the height of the Ottoman occupation, the majority of Albanians were mostly Muslim (70%), even though religion was prohibited during the communist era. The Albanian government proclaimed Albania the only officially atheistic country in the world. After the fall of the Communist Regime in 1989-1990 religions were reinstated. According to 1939 statistics, the Albanian Orthodox (20%) and Roman Catholic Church (10%) would be the other main religions in Albania. Religious fanaticism has never been a serious problem, with people from different religions living in peace and even getting married although this was not considered to be an optimal solution. 20% of the total Muslim population is Bektashi, people who follow a faith originating in the Turkish migrations into Turkey, and came to Albania through the Ottoman Janissaries. |
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