Friday, December 28, 2012
Tuesday, December 25, 2012
Albania .... 8
The Albanians first appear in the historical record in
Byzantine sources of the late-11th century. At this point, they are already
fully Christianised. Christianity was later overtaken by Islam during the
centuries of Ottoman rule. After independence (1912) from the Ottoman Empire,
the Albanian republican, monarchic and later Communist regimes followed a
systematic policy of separating religion from official functions and cultural
life. Albania never had an official state religion either as a republic or as a
kingdom. In the 20th century, the clergy of all faiths was weakened under the
monarchy, and ultimately eradicated during the 1940s and 1950s, under the state
policy of obliterating all organized religion from Albanian territories.
The Communist regime that took control of Albania after
World War II persecuted and suppressed religious observance and institutions
and entirely banned religion to the point where Albania was officially declared
to be the world's first atheist state. Religious freedom has returned to
Albania since the regime's change in 1992. Albanian Muslim populations are
found throughout the country whereas Orthodox Christians are concentrated in
the south and Roman Catholics are found in the north of the country.
Despite the presence of the main monotheist religions in
Albania, many important Pagan days and rituals are celebrated and practiced by
Albanians. 14 March is a Pagan day, called "The summer day". It is
massively celebrated in the city of Elbasan and in Tirana.
Albanian folk music falls into three stylistic groups, with
other important music areas around Shkodër and Tirana; the major groupings are
the Ghegs of the north and southern Labs and Tosks. The northern and southern
traditions are contrasted by the "rugged and heroic" tone of the
north and the "relaxed" form of the south.
Albanian was proven to be an Indo-European language in 1854
by the German philologist Franz Bopp. The Albanian language comprises its own
branch of the Indo-European language family.
Before the establishment of the People's Republic, Albania's
illiteracy rate was as high as 85%. Schools were scarce between World War I and
World War II. When the People's Republic was established in 1945, the Party
gave high priority to the wiping out of illiteracy. As part of a vast social
campaign, anyone between the ages of 12 and 40 who could not read or write was
mandated to attend classes to learn. By 1955, illiteracy was virtually
eliminated among Albania's adult population. Today the overall literacy rate in
Albania is 98.7%, the male literacy rate is 99.2% and female literacy rate is
98.3%.
Thursday, December 20, 2012
Saturday, December 15, 2012
Albania .. 6
Albania is divided into 12 administrative counties. These
counties include 36 districts and 373 municipalities. There are overall 2980
villages in all Albania. The municipalities are the first level of local
governance, responsible for local needs and law enforcement. The Albanian
republic is a parliamentary democracy established under a constitution renewed
in 1998. Elections are held every four years. Albania, along with Croatia,
joined NATO on 1 April 2009, becoming the 27th and 28th members of the alliance.
Tirana is Albania's capital and largest city.
The Albanian population is relatively young by European
standards, with a median age of 28.9 years.
The dominant and official language is Albanian, a revised
and merged form of the two main dialects, Gheg and Tosk, but with a bigger
influence of Tosk as compared to the Gheg. The Shkumbin River is the dividing
line between the two dialects. In the areas inhabited by the Greek minority, a
dialect of Greek is spoken that preserves features now lost in standard modern
Greek. Other languages spoken by ethnic minorities in Albania include
Aromanian, Serbian, Macedonian, Bulgarian, Gorani, and Roma.
There are no official statistics regarding religious
affiliation in Albania. The CIA World Factbook gives a distribution of 70%
Muslims, 20% Eastern Orthodox, and 10% Roman Catholics.
Sunday, December 9, 2012
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