<text><span class="style42"></span><span class="style12">ALBANIA</span><span class="style14"></span><span class="style42">Official name:</span><span class="style13"> Republika e Shqipërisë (Republic of Albania)</span><span class="style42">Member of:</span><span class="style13"> UN, OSCE</span><span class="style42">Area:</span><span class="style13"> 28748 km2 (11100 sq mi)</span><span class="style42">Population:</span><span class="style13"> 3422000 (1993 est)</span><span class="style42">Capital:</span><span class="style13"> Tirana (Tiranë) 244000 (1990 est)</span><span class="style42">Other major cities:</span><span class="style13"> Durrës 85000, Elbasan 83000 (1990 est)</span><span class="style42">Languages: </span><span class="style13">Albanian (Gheg and Tosk dialects) – Tosk is the official language</span><span class="style42">Religions: </span><span class="style13"> Sunni Islam (20%) – practicing religion was banned from 1967 to 1990</span><span class="style42">GOVERNMENT</span><span class="style13">A President and a 140-member People’s Assembly are elected under a system of proportional representation by universal adult suffrage for four years. The Assembly elects a Prime Minister and a Council of Ministers.</span><span class="style42">GEOGRAPHY</span><span class="style13">Coastal lowlands support most of the country’s agriculture. Mountain ranges cover the greater part of Albania, and reach 2751 m / 9025 ft at Mount Korab. </span><span class="style42">Climate: </span><span class="style13">The Mediterranean coastal areas experience hot, dry summers and mild, wet winters. The mountainous interior has equally hot summers but very cold winters. </span><span class="style42">ECONOMY</span><span class="style13">Albania is poor by European standards. The economy relies on agriculture and the export of chromium. In 1990 Albania ended its self-imposed economic isolation and sought foreign financial, technical and humanitarian assistance. Nevertheless, the country has experienced continuing emigration and a collapse in industrial output. Most state-owned cooperative land has been redistributed into private hands and an agency to privatize state-owned industry has been established. </span><span class="style42">Currency:</span><span class="style13"> Lek.</span><span class="style42">HISTORY</span><span class="style13">The revolt (1444–68) by Skenderbeg (?1403–68) against the Ottoman Turks – who invaded in the 14th century – is celebrated by Albanians as their national epic. Because most Albanians converted to Islam, they were able to secure autonomy and gain access to high positions in Ottoman service. By 1900, Ottoman enfeeblement encouraged Albanian nationalism, and in 1912, independence was declared. The country was occupied in both the Balkan Wars and World War I, and the formation of a stable government within recognized frontiers did not occur until the 1920s. Interwar Albania was dominated by Ahmed Zogu (1895–1961), who made himself king (as Zog I) in 1928. He fled when Mussolini invaded in 1939. Communist-led partisans took power when the Germans withdrew (1944). Under Enver Hoxha (1908–85), the regime pursued rapid modernization on Stalinist lines, allied, in turn, to Yugoslavia, the USSR and China, before opting (in 1978) for self-sufficiency and isolation. The liberal wing of the Communist Party won a power struggle (1990), instituted social and economic reforms, and held multi-party elections (1991). The Socialists (former Communists) were defeated in 1992. Albania faces severe economic problems and the threat of disorders in the neighboring Serbian province of Kosovo, where ethnic Albanians (who make up 90% of the population) are denied civil rights by the minority Serb community.</span></text>
