Albania (BHBA)

Albania in antiquity was inhabited by Illyrian tribes, then came under the control of Greeks, Romans, Slavs and Bulgarians, was part of the Ottoman Empire until 1912, then conquered by Italy until it was freed in 1944 by communist partisans and became a republic in 1992. The majority ethnic group is Albanian with Greek, Slavic, Vlach and Roma minorities, and the dominant Albanian (Indo-European) language, spoken here and by Albanians elsewhere, is unlike any other. The cultural roots include Greek, Ottoman, Serb, Bulgarian, Macedonian, and Italian influences. The country, bordering the Adriatic Sea, has coastal lowlands but is predominantly mountainous with portions of the Dinar Alps, Pindus Alps, and the Šar mountain and Prokletije mountain ranges.