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Albania

The Republic of Albania (Albanian: Republika e Shqipërisë, IPA ) is a Balkan country in Southeastern Europe. more...

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It borders Montenegro to the north, Serbia to the northeast, the Republic of Macedonia in the east, and Greece in the south. It has a coast on the Adriatic Sea to the west and a coast on the Ionian Sea to the southwest. Despite having a troubled history, the country has been classified as an emerging democracy since the 1990s.

History

Prehistory

Many historians believe Albanians to be the direct descendants of Illyrians. Some, however, disagree over the origin of the Illyrians. Some maintain that the Illyrians descended from the Pelasgians while other scholars place them in the later wave of Indo-European invasions. Their presence can be traced back to the formulation of their political structure in the 7th and 6th centuries BC. Excellent metal craftsmen and fierce warriors, the Illyrians formed warlord-based kingdoms that fought amongst themselves for most of their history. Only during the 6th century BC did the Illyrians venture significant raids against their immediate neighbours: the kingdom of the Molossians in southern Albania, the kingdom of Macedon, and the kingdom of Paionia.

The lands that are today inhabited by Albanians were first populated in the Paleolithic Age (Stone Age), over 100,000 years ago. The first zones that were initially settled were those with adequate geographical conditions. In Albania, the earliest settlements have been discovered in the Gajtan cavern (Shkodra), in Konispol, at mount Dajti, and at Xara (Saranda). Primitive peoples lived in secluded groups, mainly in dry caves that would also protect from the wind. They used stones and bones as their tools. Places such as caverns and terrains close to rivers were used to work on stone. In any case, the tools from this age were simple and created primarily from stone. Paleolithic peoples fed on collected products from plants and hunted wild animals. Because of the harsh conditions that they lived in, they had a short lifespan of around 21-30 years, with higher youth mortality. The fight against harsh living conditions led to strengthened connections among the members of each group and in a change of organization of primitive peoples. At the end of the Paleolithic Age, the primitives transformed into a grouping among bloodlines where the origins were traced to the mother. Thus a matriarchal society developed, which became common in later periods in the Neolithic age (New Stone Age). The inhabitation of Albanian lands increased in the Neolithic age. People began to abandon caverns and settle in open areas. Neolithic people were more prone to build their settlements in open fields or next to rivers. A large number of such settlements are discovered in Albania, Kosovo, Montenegro, and the Republic of Macedonia.