Albania

Albania faces Italy across the narrow Strait of Otranto, with the Adriatic on its northern coast and the Ionian Sea on its southern one. The land climbs fast behind the shore into hill and mountain, highest in the Accursed Mountains of the north, where snow cuts off Theth and Valbona for much of the winter. Lakes Shkodër, Ohrid and Prespa straddle its borders, and within Albania the Vjosa reaches the sea without a dam on its main course.

Illyrian tribes held these hills when Greek colonists founded Apollonia and Epidamnos, the Roman Dyrrachium and modern Durrës. Skanderbeg, a noble who had served the sultan, rose against the Ottomans in 1443 and held out around Krujë until his death in 1468; the double-headed eagle of his banner is on the flag. Independence was declared at Vlorë in November 1912. Under Enver Hoxha, from 1944 until 1985, Albania sealed itself off, banned religion in 1967 and scattered concrete bunkers everywhere. One-party rule ended in 1991.

Most Albanians are Muslim by background, with a strong Bektashi Sufi tradition, and there are Orthodox and Catholic Christians too. In the north the besa, a sworn word of honour, carries weight; in the south villagers sing iso-polyphony, layered songs over a held drone. Ismail Kadare set Chronicle in Stone in Gjirokastër, his birthplace. Dams on the Drin supply almost all the electricity, chrome comes from Bulqizë, workshops sew shoes for Italian brands, and summer visitors crowd the Riviera.