Culture+&+History

__**Jeong Taek (Paul) Lim**__

__Culture__:

1. Ethnic Groups - Albanian 95% - Greek 3% - Other 2% (Vlach, Roma (Gypsy), Serb, Macedonian, Bulgarian) - (1989 EST.)

2. Religions - Muslim 70% - Albanian Orthodox 20% - Roman Catholic 10% - No current statistics available; Albania prohibited mosques and churches in 1967 and began allowing private religious practice in 1990)

3. Languages - Albanian (official – derived from Tosk dialect) - Greek - Vlach - Romani <span style="font-family: Calibri; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0.5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -0.25in;">- Slavic dialects

<span style="font-family: Calibri; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0.5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -0.25in;">4. Literacy <span style="font-family: Calibri; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0.5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -0.25in;">- Definition: age 9 and over can read and write <span style="font-family: Calibri; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0.5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -0.25in;">- Total population: 97% <span style="font-family: Calibri; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0.5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -0.25in;">- Male: 99.2% <span style="font-family: Calibri; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0.5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -0.25in;">- Female: 98.3% <span style="font-family: Calibri; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-left: 0.5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -0.25in;">- No significant sexism recognized

__History of Nation__:

Albania was a part of the Roman Empire and then it was ruled by Turkish until in declared independence on November 28, 1912. The nation is largely dependent on agriculture and it remains to be one of the most indigenous countries in Europe. After the World War I, Conservative Muslim landlord Ahmed Zogu declared himself the president and at the same time, the king. Zogu’s rule ended with Italian Annex in 1939. Almost at the end of second world war, Enver Hoxha, the socialist took over the power but after abandoning both Soviet and Chinese communism due to his ideological discrepancy, he chose Albania’s own way of socialism which made the country even more isolated and undeveloped. In 1991, many protests and rebellions forced the communism to vanish but the early democratic Albania was fragile in terms of economic infrastructure. As the economy collapsed in due to overwhelming investment, gangs and rebels arose.

[] - Another good source