Albania! ♥

1. Albania! ♥ By: Morgan Thompson 2.14.12. 2nd Period

2. Clothing... • Traditional, hand - made clothing is still worn in villages. Cotton and wool is preferred.  • Women in the North wear a headscarf and a fustancelle (a full, colorful skirt). Men wear a xhamadan (wool vest).  • Urban professional men wear suits and ties, while women wear dresses and skirts more than pants. • Young people wear jeans, T - shirts and sneakers.  

3. Food... • An Albanian breakfast consists of bread and butter, milk eggs, jam, cheese and Turkish or espresso coffee. Lunch is usually the main meal, (1-2 pm). Vegetables are followed by rice soup flavor with veal or chicken, and salad. The main course may be gielle (boiled beans with meat)  or stuffed eggplants or peppers.  • Albanian's eat with a fork in the left hand and a knife in the right hand. The first toast is made to everyone's health and friendship. The Albanian diet is strongly influenced by Greek, Turkish and Italian cuisine.  • Traditional dishes include fasule (boiled or dried beans) cooked with onion, tomatoes and dried salt mutton or pasterma.  Dairy products include yogurt, cottage cheese, feta and kach kavall cheese. Local fruits include apples, pears, peaches, figs and grapes.  • The alcoholic drink raki is often served before the main meal, and wine is served during or after a meal. Burek (bread stuffed with cheese and spinach) common throughout the region probably originated in Albania. Ice - cream is also popular, and Albanians living elsewhere are well known as ice-cream vendors.  • Breakfast is usually bread and jam with tea and milk and sometimes eggs. The midday meal is the main meal of the day.

4. Music... • Folk music, popular music, classical music. • Albanian musical instruments.

5. Religions... • During the 2nd century A.D., Albania became a Christian country. In 732, Pope Gregory III placed the Albanian churches under the leadership of the patriarch of Constantinople. The Christians became part of the Eastern Orthodox Church. In 1054, there was a split in the Albanian church. Southern Albania remained associated with Constantinople, and northern Albania reunited with Rome. In the 15th century, the Turks introduced Islam to Albania.  • The Turks gathered together young Christian boys and raised them as Muslims. They were taught military skills that made them into an elite and successful army. They were called the Janissary corps, or "new soldiers". In 1967 the Communist government closed all mosques and churches and forbade the practice of any religion. They declared Albania an officially atheist state. • In 1990 , a few mosques and churches reopened and more continue to open every year. The Muslims and Christians can now celebrate their religious holidays. The constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the government generally respects this right in practice. The majority of citizens are secular in orientation after decades of rigidly enforced atheism under the Communist regime, which ended in 1990. • Despite such secularism, most citizens traditionally associate themselves with a religious group. Citizens of Muslim background make up the largest traditional religious group (estimated at 65 t0 70 percent of the population) and are divided into two communities: those associated with a moderate form of Sunni Islam and those associated with the Bektashi School (a particularly liberal form of Shi'a Sufism).

6. Family... • Urban families generally have one or two children, while rural families may have three or four. Usually, the father heads the family, while the women take responsibility for household work and caring for children. Men and women have equal social rights, and both parents usually work. Adult children, often live with their parents, and take responsibility for the care of the elderly parents. • Albanian society was once governed by a set of rules known as the Code of Luke Dukagjini, drawn up in the 15th century. The code established rules for land ownership, marriages and dowries, even hospitality. Under the code, men were the heads of their families and women were expected to obey them. Traditional Albanian houses have a ground floor that is used for storage or, in rural areas, to house animals.  • The upper floor is the family's living quarters with a fireplace for cooking, an eating area and two or three bedrooms. In urban areas, a third floor may be added for sleeping quarters and for entertaining friends and family. Many traditional houses have a loom, which is kept in a room close to the kitchen.

7. Language... • The Albanian language Shqip is descended from Illyrian. Albania adopted a Latin script in 1908. Two dialects, Gheg and Tosk were spoken in Albania, but the official language (adopted after 1945) is based on Tosk.

8. Political Parties... • Democratic Party or PD • New Democracy Party or PDR • Party for Justice and Integration or PDI • Republican Party or PR • Social Democracy Party or PDS • Social Democratic Party or PSD • Socialist Movement for Integration or LSI • Socialist Party or PS • Unity for Human Rights Party or PBDNJ 

9. Flag... • Albania means land of the eagles. According to Ancient and Heraldic traditions much symbolism is associated with colors. The colors on the Albanian flag:                -Red:hardiness, braveness, strength and valour. • The basic style shown in the picture of the Albanian flag is described as Emblem - reflecting the central design of the flag pattern.

10. Citizenship... • The Albanian citizenship is a stable legal relationship which is expressed on the interrelated rights and duties between the physical person and the Albanian state. • The Albanian citizenship is acquired,  reacquired, lost or renounced in accordance with the provisions of this law, which respects the recognized norms and principles of international law in the field of citizenship accepted by the Republic of Albania. • Any person who has had the Albanian citizenship until the coming to force of this law; any person who is granted the Albanian citizenship based on this law. The Albanian citizen can also be from another country. No one can be arbitrary deprived of the Albanian citizenship.  • Any Albanian citizen has the right to renounce the Albanian citizenship provided he has another citizenship, has acquired another citizenship or is guaranteed by the relevant bodies of the foreign country the granting of the citizenship.

11. Per Capita Income... • $8,000 (USD) 

12. Gross Domestic Product... • $23,860,000,000 (USD)

13. Major Industries... • Food processing  • Textiles and clothing; lumber, oil, cement, chemicals, mining, basic metals, hydropower 

14. Trade... • In the mid-1980's, Albania claimed to be carrying on trade with more than fifty countries although the value of the goods exchanged with most of them was small. Trade with IMF member countries, however, was in some cases substantial. Neighboring Yugoslavia accounted for about 18 percent of Albania's trade volume; the remainder was divided almost evenly between the communist and capitalist countries. Tiranes main trading partners in Eastern Europe were Romania, Poland, Bulgaria, and Czechoslovakia.  • In the late 1970s, Albanian's break with China forced its commercial representatives to redouble their efforts to find new trading partners in the free-market world. The value of Albanian's trade with the West stood at about US $200 million by the late 1980s.  • In 1988 its main Western trading partners were Italy (US $65 million in trade turnover), West Germany (US $52 million), Greece (US $16.4 million), and France (US $14 million). 

15. Other Information About Economy... • Poor and backward by European standards, Albania is making the difficult transition to a more modern open-market economy. The Government has taken measures to curb violent crime and spur economic activity and trade. • The economy is bolstered by remittances from abroad of $400-$600 million annually, mostly from Greece and Italy; this helps offset the sizable trade deficit. Agriculture, which accounts for one-half of GDP is held back because of frequent drought and the need to modernize equipment and consolidate small plots of land. • Sever energy shortages and antiquated and inadequate infrastructure make it difficult to attract and sustain foreign investment. The government plans to boost  energy imports to relieve the shortages and is moving slowly to improve the poor national road and rail network, a long-standing barrier to sustained economic growth. 

16. Median Age... • 30.4 years  • Male: 29.2 years • Female: 31.6 years (2011 est.)

17. Race/Ethnicity Percentages... • Ethnic Albanians are estimated to account for 90 percent of the population. 

18. Education... • Albania, as an official EU candidate country, has much progress to make toward the EU's education benchmarks before its accession. While Education improvement in Albania is supported by its government and growing economy, the country still faces many obstacles to matching the educational outputs of its neighbors in Western Europe.

19. Birth Rate... • 12.15 births/ 1,000 population

20. Immigration Rate... • 3.34 migrant (s)/1,000 populations (2011 est.)

21. Origins... • The origin of the Albanians has been for some time a matter of dispute among historians. Most historians conclude that the Albanians are descendants of populations of the prehistoric Balkans, such as the Illyrians, Dacians, or Thracians.  • Little is known about these peoples, and they blended into one another in Thraco-Illyrian and Daco-Thracian contact zones even in antiquity. The Albanians first appear in the historical record in Byzantine sources of the late 11th century. At this point, they were already fully Christianized.  • Very little evidence of pre-Christian Albanian culture services, although Albanian mythology and folklore are of Paleo-Balkanic origin and almost all of their elements are pagan, in particular showing Greek influence.  • The Albanians first appear in the historical record in Byzantins sources of the late 11th century. At this point, they were already fully Christianized. Very little evidence of pre-Christian Albanian culture services, although Albanian mythology and folklore are of Paleo-Balkanic origin and almost all of their elements are pagan, in particular showing Greek influence. 

22. Climate... • The plain of Albania, where the capital city Tirana is located has a typical Mediterranean climate with hot summers and generally mild winters with abundant rainfall.  • In the mountains winters can be very severe with low temperatures and high snowfall.  • On average, temperatures range from - 3 C in January to a maximum of 35 C in July.  • Parts of Albania are on a fault line and experience earthquakes and tremors.  

23. National Boundaries... • Albania, with a total area of 28,750 square kilometers, is slightly larger than the state of Maryland. It shares a 287 - kilometer border with the Yugoslav republics of Montenegro and Serbia to the north, a 151 - kilometer border with the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia to the north and east, and 282 - kilometer border with Greece to the south and southeast.  • Its coastline is 362 kilometers long. The lowlands of the west face the Adriatic Sea and the Strategically important Strait of Otranto, which puts less than 100 kilometers of water between Albania and the heel of the Italian "boot". 

24. National Parks... • Butrint National Park, Fir of Hotova National Park, Sazan National Marine Park, Karavasta Lagoon, Lake Prespa, Llogara National Park, Lura Mountain, Mount Dajt, Mount Tomorr, Sazan Island

25. Wildlife... • Unrestricted hunting has taken a heavy toll of Albanian wildlife, but hunting laws were introduced and nature preserves were established in the 1990s to protect the remaining jackals, wolves, and foxes and the even rarer wild boars, bears, and chamois.  • The mild coastal climate attracts great numbers of migratory birds, such as swallows, storks, ducks, geese, and pelicans.  • Sardines and mullet are among the fishes found in Albanian coastal waters, and trout are found in the streams and lakes of the mountains.  

26. National Resources... • Petroleum, natural gas, coal, bauxite, chromite, copper, iron, ore, nickel, salt, timber, hydropower