Albania History, Language and Culture

History of Albania

The roots of Albanian culture can be traced back to the ancient Illyrians. The Ardiaei tribe used Shkodra as their capital, and the present-day Albanian language is a rare surviving offshoot of the original Illyrian tongue. The Illyrians lived here first independently, and then alongside the Greeks, until the Romans arrived in the 2nd century BCE and assumed control for nearly four centuries until the empire’s division in 395 BCE.

Next to take over the mantle of leadership were the Byzantines. During their reign, Albania was subject to relentless attacks from Visigoths, Huns, Slavs and Ostrogoths. A short-lived period of successful Albanian resistance between 1443 and 1468 helped stoke the fire of a burgeoning independence movement, though the country did eventually fall to the Ottomans who stuck around for more than four centuries.