The Albanian iso-polyphony, a traditional part of Albanian folk music and, as such, is included in UNESCO’s intangible cultural heritage list. *Photo from Wikipedia
November 28 is Albanian Flag Day, celebrate the independence of Albania from Turkey in 1912, the first Albanian flag raise in 1443, and for the new parliamentary constitution in 1998.
In the third century BC, the region was annexed by Rome and became part of the Roman provinces of Dalmatia, Macedonia and Moesia Superior (an ancient region and later Roman province situated in the Balkans south of the Danube River). The unified Principality of Arbanon (the first Albanian entity during the Middle Age) emerged in 1190 within the Byzantine Empire. In the late thirteenth century, Charles I (a member of the royal Capetian dynasty) conquered the Albanian territories from the Byzantines and established the medieval Kingdom of Albania. Falling in the mid-fifteenth century under Ottoman dominion, the modern nation state of Albania emerged in 1912 following the collapse of the Ottoman Empire and Balkan Wars.
The modern Kingdom of Albania was invaded by Italy in 1939, which formed Greater Albania, before becoming a Nazi German protectorate in 1943. The following year, a socialist People’s Republic was established. Albania experienced widespread social and political transformations in the communist era, as well as isolation from much of the international community.
In the aftermath of the Revolutions of 1991, the Socialist Republic was dissolved and the fourth Republic of Albania was established.
Albania, officially the Republic of Albania, is a country in Southeast Europe. It occupies the southwestern portion of the Balkan Peninsula, bordered by Montenegro to the northwest, Kosovo to the northeast, the Republic of Macedonia to the east, and Greece to the south and southeast.
*Reference: Wikipedia
