Albania is a country in Southeastern Europe. It lies on the Adriatic as well as Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea as well as shares land boundaries with Montenegro to the northwest, Kosovo to the northeast, North Macedonia to the eastern as well as Greece to the south. Tirana is its capital as well as largest city, followed by Durrës, Vlorë, and also Shkodër.

Albania displays diverse weather, geological, hydrological, and also morphological conditions, specified in a location of 28,748 km2 (11,100 sq mi). It has significant diversity with the landscape varying from the snow-capped hills in the Albanian Alps as well as the Korab, Skanderbeg, Pindus and Ceraunian Mountains to the hot and sunny coasts of the Albanian Adriatic and also Ionian Sea along the Mediterranean Sea.

Albania has been occupied by various civilisations gradually, such as the Illyrians, Thracians, Greeks, Romans, Byzantines, Venetians, and Ottomans. The Albanians established the self-governing Principality of Arbër in the 12th century. The Kingdom of Albania and Principality of Albania created between the 13th and 14th centuries. Prior to the Footrest conquest of Albania in the 15th century, the Albanian resistance to Ottoman growth right into Europe led by Skanderbeg won them acclaim over a lot of Europe. Albania remained under Ottoman guideline for nearly 5 centuries, during which lots of Albanians (called Arnauts) achieved high-level workplaces in the empire, particularly in the Southern Balkans and Egypt. In between the 18th and also 19th centuries, social developments, commonly credited to Albanians having actually gathered both spiritual as well as intellectual toughness, conclusively resulted in the Albanian Renaissance. 

After the defeat of the Ottomans in the Balkan Battles, the modern nation state of Albania declared independence in 1912. In the 20th century, the Kingdom of Albania was invaded by Italy, which formed Greater Albania before becoming a protectorate of Nazi Germany. Enver Hoxha developed individuals’s Socialist Republic of Albania after World War II, designed under the regards to Hoxhaism. The Transformations of 1991 wrapped up the autumn of communism in Albania and at some point the establishment of the existing Republic of Albania.