Albania sits on the Balkan Peninsula with 2.8 million people as of 2023 census data. The population dropped from 3.2 million in 1990 due to emigration following the collapse of communist isolation. Approximately 1.8 million ethnic Albanians live in Kosovo, 500,000 in North Macedonia, 80,000 in Montenegro, and 40,000 in Greece. Another 1.2 million Albanians reside in Italy, primarily from migration waves between 1991 and 2000. The Albanian diaspora in the United States numbers approximately 200,000, concentrated in New York and Michigan.
The Albanian language belongs to its own independent branch of Indo-European, sharing this status only with Greek and Armenian among European languages. Linguists divide Albanian into two dialect groups: Gheg spoken north of the Shkumbin River and Tosk spoken south of it. The communist government under Enver Hoxha declared Tosk the official standard in 1972. Albanian contains Latin-derived words from Roman occupation (qytet for city from civitas, mjek for doctor from medicus), Slavic borrowings from medieval contact (mik for friend, dru for wood), and Ottoman Turkish layers from 500 years of rule (çorba for soup, qofte for meatball, dyqan for shop). The earliest known text in Albanian is the baptismal formula "Un'te paghesont' pr'emenit t'Atit e t'Birit e t'Spirit Senit" from 1462 by Pal Engjëlli.
Illyrian tribes occupied present-day Albania from approximately 1000 BCE until Roman conquest. The Romans defeated the Illyrian king Gentius in 168 BCE and established the province of Illyricum. Durrës served as the western terminus of the Via Egnatia, the Roman military road constructed in 146 BCE connecting the Adriatic to Byzantium. The Greek colony of Apollonia, founded in 588 BCE, produced enough Roman senators that Cicero called it "magna urbs et gravis" in his Philippics. Emperor Augustus studied at Apollonia's rhetoric school in 44 BCE after Julius Caesar's assassination.
Christianity arrived in Albania during the first century CE through Saint Paul's reported travel to Illyricum mentioned in Romans 15:19. The Council of Chalcedon in 451 CE established ecclesiastical authority in Albania under Roman jurisdiction. The Great Schism of 1054 split Albanian Christianity, with the Shkumbin River roughly dividing Catholic north from Orthodox south. This division persisted through Ottoman conquest and remains visible in modern religious demographics.
The Ottoman Empire absorbed Albania gradually between 1385 and 1478. Gjergj Kastrioti, known as Skanderbeg, led Albanian resistance from 1443 until his death in 1468. Skanderbeg won 25 battles against Ottoman forces, most notably at Torvioll in 1444 where 8,000 Albanians defeated 25,000 Ottomans, and at Albulena in 1457 where 15,000 Albanians fought 80,000 Ottomans to a defensive victory. Pope Calixtus III called Skanderbeg "Athleta Christi" (Champion of Christ) in 1457. The Ottomans captured Krujë Castle in 1478, ten years after Skanderbeg's death, completing Albanian incorporation.
Mass conversion to Islam occurred primarily between 1500 and 1700. By 1912, approximately 70 percent of Albanians were Muslim, 20 percent Orthodox, and 10 percent Catholic. Ottoman land reforms favoring Muslim landowners accelerated conversion. The devshirme system conscripted Christian Albanian boys for the Janissary corps and Ottoman administration. Albanian grand viziers included Köprülü Mehmed Pasha who served 1656-1661, Köprülü Fazıl Ahmed Pasha 1661-1676, and Köprülü Fazıl Mustafa Pasha 1689-1691. Muhammad Ali Pasha, who ruled Egypt from 1805 to 1848, was born in Kavala to an Albanian family from Korçë.
Albanian nationalism emerged in the late 19th century through the League of Prizren, established June 10, 1878, in Prizren, Kosovo. The League formed in response to the Treaty of San Stefano which awarded Albanian-inhabited territories to Serbia, Montenegro, and Bulgaria. Abdyl Frashëri led the League's initial efforts to create an autonomous Albanian vilayet within the Ottoman Empire. Ottoman forces dissolved the League in 1881 after it became militarily active against both Ottoman authority and neighboring states' territorial claims.
Albania declared independence on November 28, 1912, in Vlorë. Ismail Qemali raised the flag and established the provisional government. The London Conference of Ambassadors in 1913 recognized Albanian independence but reduced its territory by 50 percent, awarding Kosovo to Serbia and Chameria to Greece. The Conference installed Wilhelm of Wied, a German prince, as sovereign in March 1914.