Albanians

The Albanians (/ælˈbɛɪniənz/; Albanian: Shqiptarët pronounced [ʃcipˈtaɾət]) are an ethnic group native to the Balkan Peninsula who share a common Albanian ancestry, culture, history and language.[66] They primarily live in Albania, Kosovo, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia as well as in Croatia, Greece, Italy and Turkey. They also constitute a large diaspora with several communities established across Europe, the Americas and Oceania.

"}">

Albanians

Shqiptarët
Total population
c. 7 to 10 million[1][2][3][4][5]
Regions with significant populations
Albania 2,551,006 (2021)[6]  Kosovo 1,797,856 (2021)[7]
Other regions
Southern Europe  Italy 970,000[8][9][10]  Greece 500,000–600,000[11][12][13][14][15][16][17]  North Macedonia 446,245[18]  Montenegro 30,439[19]  Serbia 5,809 (est. 60,000-70,000)[20]  Croatia 17,513[21]  Slovenia 6,186[22]  Spain 3,998[23]  Portugal 91c[24]
Northern Europe  United Kingdom 70,000–100,000[25]  Sweden 54,000[26]  Norway 19,891c[27]  Finland 10,391[28][29]  Denmark 8,223[30]  Ireland 953–2,133[31][32]
Central Europe and Baltics  Romania 10,000[33]  Ukraine 5,000[34]  Czech Republic 1,512[35]  Latvia 17 - 31[36][37]
Western Europe  Germany 200,000–300,000[38][39][40]  Switzerland 200,000[41][42]  Austria 28,212[43]  France 27,200 (2019)[44]  Netherlands 12,969c[45]  Belgium 5,600–30,000[46][47]  Luxembourg 2,155c[48]
Americas  United States 194,028[49]  Argentina 50,000[50]  Canada 39,055c[51]  Colombia 348[52]  Cuba 101[53]  Panama 9[54]
Oceania  Australia 11,315[55]  New Zealand 243[56]
Asia and Africa  Turkey 500,000–5,000,000 b[57][58][59]  Qatar 1,200[60]  Cyprus 275[61]  South Africa 268[62]  United Arab Emirates 200–300[63]
Languages
Albanian
Religion
Majority: Islam Sunnism[lower-alpha 1] · Bektashism · Non-denominational Minority: Christianity Catholicism[lower-alpha 2] (Latin Rite · Eastern Rites (Albanian Greek Catholic Church · Italo-Albanian Catholic Church)) · Eastern Orthodoxy[lower-alpha 3] (Albanian Orthodox Church · Albanian American Orthodox Church) · Protestantism (Albanian Protestant Church · Kosovan Protestant Church) Other: Irreligion
a 502,546 Albanian citizens, an additional 43,751 Kosovo Albanians, 260,000 Arbëreshë people and 169,644 Albanians who have acquired the Italian citizenship[8][9][64][65] b Albanians are not recognized as a minority in Turkey. However approximately 500,000 people are reported to profess an Albanian identity. Of those with full or partial Albanian ancestry and others who have adopted Turkish language, culture and identity their number is estimated at 1,300,000–5,000,000 many whom do not speak Albanian.[58] c The estimation contains Kosovo Albanians.

Part of a series on
Indo-European topics
Languages List of Indo-European languages Extant Albanian Armenian Balto-Slavic Baltic Slavic Celtic Germanic Hellenic Greek Indo-Iranian Indo-Aryan Iranian Nuristani Italic Romance Extinct Anatolian Tocharian Paleo-Balkan Dacian Illyrian Liburnian Messapian Mysian Paeonian Phrygian Thracian Reconstructed Proto-Indo-European language Phonology: Sound laws, Accent, Ablaut Hypothetical Daco-Thracian Graeco-Armenian Graeco-Aryan Graeco-Phrygian Indo-Hittite Italo-Celtic Thraco-Illyrian Grammar Vocabulary Root Verbs Nouns Pronouns Numerals Particles Other Proto-Albanian Proto-Anatolian Proto-Armenian Proto-Germanic (Proto-Norse) Proto-Italo-Celtic (Proto-Celtic · Proto-Italic) Proto-Greek Proto-Balto-Slavic (Proto-Slavic · Proto-Baltic) Proto-Indo-Iranian (Proto-Iranian)
Philology Hittite texts Hieroglyphic Luwian Linear B Rigveda Avesta Homer Behistun Gaulish epigraphy Latin epigraphy Runic epigraphy Ogam Gothic Bible Armenian Bible Slanting Brahmi Old Irish glosses
Origins Homeland Proto-Indo-Europeans Society Religion Mainstream Kurgan hypothesis Indo-European migrations Eurasian nomads Alternative and fringe Anatolian hypothesis Armenian hypothesis Beech argument Indigenous Aryans Baltic homeland Paleolithic continuity theory
Archaeology Chalcolithic (Copper Age) Pontic Steppe Domestication of the horse Kurgan Kurgan stelae Kurgan culture Steppe cultures Bug–Dniester Sredny Stog Dnieper–Donets Samara Khvalynsk Yamnaya Mikhaylovka culture Novotitorovka culture Caucasus Maykop East Asia Afanasievo Eastern Europe Usatovo Cernavodă Cucuteni Northern Europe Corded ware Baden Middle Dnieper Bronze Age Pontic Steppe Chariot Yamnaya Catacomb Multi-cordoned ware Poltavka Srubna Northern/Eastern Steppe Abashevo culture Andronovo Sintashta Europe Globular Amphora Corded ware Beaker Unetice Trzciniec Nordic Bronze Age Terramare Tumulus Urnfield Lusatian South Asia BMAC Yaz Gandhara grave Iron Age Steppe Chernoles Europe Thraco-Cimmerian Hallstatt Jastorf Caucasus Colchian India Painted Grey Ware Northern Black Polished Ware
Peoples and societies Bronze Age Anatolian peoples (Hittites) Armenians Mycenaean Greeks Indo-Iranians Iron Age Indo-Aryans Indo-Aryans Iranians Iranians East Asia Wusun Yuezhi Europe Celts Gauls Celtiberians Insular Celts Cimmerians Hellenic peoples Italic peoples Germanic peoples Paleo-Balkan/Anatolia Thracians Dacians Illyrians Paeonians Phrygians Scythians Middle Ages East Asia Tocharians Europe Albanians Balts Slavs Norsemen/Medieval Scandinavians Medieval Europe Indo-Aryan Medieval India Iranian Greater Persia
Religion and mythology Reconstructed Proto-Indo-European mythology Proto-Indo-Iranian religion Ancient Iranian religion Historical Hittite Indo-Aryan Vedic Hinduism Buddhism Jainism Sikhism Iranian Persian Zoroastrianism Kurdish Yazidism Yarsanism Scythian Ossetian Others Armenian Europe Paleo-Balkan (Albanian · Illyrian · Thracian · Dacian) Greek Roman Celtic Irish Scottish Breton Welsh Cornish Germanic Anglo-Saxon Continental Norse Baltic Latvian Lithuanian Slavic Practices Fire sacrifice Horse sacrifice Sati Winter solstice/Yule
Indo-European studies Scholars Marija Gimbutas J. P. Mallory Institutes Copenhagen Studies in Indo-European Publications Encyclopedia of Indo-European Culture The Horse, the Wheel and Language Journal of Indo-European Studies Indogermanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch Indo-European Etymological Dictionary
v t e

Part of a series on
Albanians
By country
Native Albania Kosovo Croatia Greece Italy Montenegro North Macedonia Serbia Diaspora Australia Bulgaria Denmark Egypt Finland Germany Norway Romania South America Spain Sweden Switzerland Turkey Ukraine United Kingdom United States
Culture
Architecture Art Cuisine Dance Dress Literature Music Mythology Politics Religion Symbols Traditions Fis
Religion
Christianity Catholicism Italo-Albanian Church Albanian Greek-Catholic Church Orthodoxy Islam Sunnism Bektashism Judaism
Languages and dialects
Albanian Gheg Arbanasi Upper Reka Istrian Tosk Arbëresh Arvanitika Cham Lab
History of Albania Origin of the Albanians
v t e

Albanians have Paleo-Balkanic origins. Exclusively attributing these origins to the Illyrians, Thracians or other Paleo-Balkan people is still a matter of debate among historians and ethnologists.

The first mention of the ethnonym Albanoi occurred in the 2nd century AD by Ptolemy describing an Illyrian tribe who lived around present-day central Albania.[67][68] The first certain reference to Albanians as an ethnic group comes from 11th century chronicler Michael Attaleiates who describes them as living in the theme of Dyrrhachium.

The Shkumbin River roughly demarcates the Albanian language between Gheg and Tosk dialects. Christianity in Albania was under the jurisdiction of the Bishop of Rome until the 8th century AD. Then, dioceses in Albania were transferred to the patriarchate of Constantinople. In 1054, after the Great Schism, the north gradually became identified with Roman Catholicism and the south with Eastern Orthodoxy. In 1190 Albanians established the Principality of Arbanon in central Albania with the capital in Krujë.

The Albanian diaspora has its roots in migration from the Middle Ages initially across Southern Europe and eventually across wider Europe and the New World. Between the 13th and 18th centuries, sizeable numbers migrated to escape various social, economic or political difficulties.[lower-alpha 4] One population, the Arvanites, settled in Southern Greece between the 13th and 16th centuries. Another population, the Arbëreshë, settled across Sicily and Southern Italy between the 11th and 16th centuries.[70] Smaller populations such as the Arbanasi settled in Southern Croatia and pockets of Southern Ukraine in the 18th century.[73][74]

By the 15th century, the expanding Ottoman Empire overpowered the Balkan Peninsula, but faced successful rebellion and resistance by the League of Lezhë, a union of Albanian principalities led by Gjergj Kastrioti Skanderbeg. By the 17th and 18th centuries, a substantial number of Albanians converted to Islam, which offered them equal opportunities and advancement within the Ottoman Empire.[75] Thereafter, Albanians attained significant positions and culturally contributed to the broader Muslim world.[76] Innumerable officials and soldiers of the Ottoman State were of Albanian origin, including more than 40 Grand Viziers,[77] and under the Köprülü, in particular, the Ottoman Empire reached its greatest territorial extension.[78] Between the second half of the 18th century and the first half of the 19th century Albanian Pashaliks were established by Kara Mahmud pasha of Scutari, Ali pasha of Yanina, and Ahmet Kurt pasha of Berat, while the Albanian wālī Muhammad Ali established a dynasty that ruled over Egypt and Sudan until the middle of the 20th century, a period in which Albanians formed a substantial community in Egypt.

During the 19th century, cultural developments, widely attributed to Albanians having gathered both spiritual and intellectual strength, conclusively led to the Albanian Renaissance. In 1912 during the Balkan Wars, Albanians declared the independence of their country. The demarcation of the new Albanian state was established following the Treaty of Bucharest and left about half of the ethnic Albanian population outside of its borders, partitioned between Greece, Montenegro and Serbia.[79] After the Second World War up until the Revolutions of 1991, Albania was governed by a communist government under Enver Hoxha where Albania became largely isolated from the rest of Europe. In neighbouring Yugoslavia, Albanians underwent periods of discrimination and systematic oppression that concluded with the War of Kosovo and eventually with Kosovar independence.