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Republic of Albania: Between 1990 and 1992 Albania ended 46 years of xenophobic Communist rule and established a multiparty democracy. The transition has proven difficult as successive governments have tried to deal with high unemployment, widespread corruption, a dilapidated infrastructure, powerful organized crime networks with links to high government officials, and disruptive political opponents. International observers judged parliamentary elections in 2001 to be acceptable and a step toward democratic development, but identified serious deficiencies. Some of these were addressed through reforms in the Albanian electoral code prior to the nationwide municipal elections in 2003. -- The CIA World Factbook: Albania Area of Albania: 28,748 sq km slightly smaller than Maryland Population of Albania: 3,544,808 July 2004 estimate Languages of Albania: Albanian official, official dialect: Tosk Greek Albania Capital: Tirana MSN Encarta reference Governments on the WWW links Reservations: Hotels, Airlines, Car Rental Travelocity Free Real-Time Airline Flight Tracking |
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The New York Times, May 11, 1913:MAY BE KING OF ALBANIAPrince William of Sweden a Keen SportsmanWife Very Beautiful Princess Marie, who is a daughter of a Russian Grand Duke, is one of the wealthiest princesses in Europe. She is dark and very beautiful, while her high spirits and democratic tendencies have made her the idol of Sweden... |
The New York Times, May 12, 1913:KING OF ALBANIA |
The New York Times, August 26, 1913:TO BE KING OF ALBANIAPowers Said to Have Chosen Prince of WiedTurks to Get Adrianople The Prince is a nephew of "Carmen Sylvia," the Queen of Rumania. He is 41 years old and was married to Princess Pauline of Würtemberg in 1898. They have two sons. |
The New York Times, December 14, 1913:CALLS ALBANIANS AFGHANS OF EUROPELucien Wolf Fears Prince William of WiedWill Have a Hard Time Ruling Them HIS SELECTION A MYSTERY Perhaps Due to the Success of His Wife's Musical Parties, a French Writer Suggests An "impenetrable mystery" is Mr. Wolf's description of the powers' selection. He repeats the remark of a witty correspondent of the Temps who suggested that the success of the Princess's musical "At homes" inspired the powers with the idea that she and her husband might well be qualified to introduce a little harmony into the "dissonances Albanaises..." "The truth, of course, is that the Prince of Wied has not been selected because he is in any special way adapted to the task of ruling the Albanians, but simply because he is the only personage of princely rank in Europe who is willing to make the effort, and who at the same time does not incur the suspicions of Rome or Vienna, or excite the widely varying antipathies of the other great powers. This may be a proof of discretion and courage, and it is hoped that it is. After all, not much more was known of the Kings of Rumania and Bulgaria when they were chosen for a like career, and so far they have managed to keep their crowns... "The Albanians are really not a European people in the ethnic or social sense. They are the Afghans of the Adriatic. They are Afghans, too, in the political sense, for what is required of them is not so much that they shall be a strong and independent people as that they shall serve as a sort of buffer State, barring the Slavs and the Hellenes from the Adriatic, and holding in suspense the rival ambitions of Austria and Italy..." |
The New York Times, March 8, 1914:ALBANIA AS LITTLE KNOWN AS DARKEST AFRICAA Primitive Land That Has So Far ProducedLittle More Than Hardships, Dangers, and Troubles. By Alexander Konta Less is known of this little strip of coastland on the Adriatic, with its mountainous hinterland, than of almost all the remote parts of Asia, Africa, or the interior of South America. It is virgin soil Large tracts of it have never yet been explored, because travel there is about just as safe and comfortable as it is in the vastness of New Guinea. Roads there are none; the rivers are not navigable for any length from the coast because they are mountain streams; and as for safety--well, the chief imports of Albania are rifles and ammunition. ...in a haphazard, unorganized way it is the granary of the Dalmation coast. It might export corn in infinitely greater quantities if it possessed even the most elementary means of transportation, but in the natural conditions the produce goes to waste in good harvest years, while in poor ones the population is very often on the verge of starvation. They raise sheep and goats in the rugged, inaccessible mountains, and some cattle in the malarial plain of the sea border; some tobacco, also a little wine, and mutton tallow, of course, from which a cheap soap is manufactured. But that is all. There is only one flour mill driven by steam. The country's chief product--which its new-made King, in common with the rest of the world, undoubtedly already knows--is desperate fighting men bent on having their own primitive, semi-savage way. But Albania has possiblities... The country is rich in coal, in silver, in copper, and even in gold... all these sources of wealth have lain fallow ever since the Turk established his uncertain rule over Albania, and... another asset of the country, its forests, has been devastated in a shocking manner. ...The [Austrian] plan, so far as known, includes, first of all, a survey for a railroad between Valona, the capital of the new kingdom, and Scutari, and for highways to connect its harbors at the capital and at Durazzo with the interior, for the facilitation of the export of agricultural products. It is seemingly a plan for exploitation rather than development; for the acquistion, that is, by outright purchase, of whatever promises to pay rich returns... Valona, the seat of the Provisional Government of Albania, is not a city in any Western sense of the word. It is a large, straggling, unkempt, Near Eastern village. Situated on the Adriatic, it has one of the best and largest and safest harbors in the world. Battle fleets can manoeuvre in its waters. The population lives in hovels built of wood and straw; there are only a few passably comfortable houses, the "palaces" of the Albanian patricians. The "palace" awaiting the King is the old quarantine station built by the Turks years ago... |
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