什麼是阿爾巴尼亞

正式名稱阿爾巴尼亞共和國（Republic of Albania）

巴爾幹半島西部濱亞得里亞海的國家。面積28,748平方公里。人口約3,091,000（2001）。首都︰地拉那。居民多為蓋格人（Gheg）和圖斯克人（Tosk）。語言︰阿爾巴尼亞語（官方語）。宗教：伊斯蘭教；少數為基督教（希臘東正教和羅馬天主教）。貨幣︰列克（lek）。地形可劃分為兩大區：多山高地區和西部沿海低地區（全國耕地和大部分人口多集中於此）。1991年以前實施國有的社會主義制度，形成開發中經濟國家。1992年政府開始經濟改革，鼓勵自由市場經濟。

阿爾巴尼亞人是古代印歐民族伊利里亞人的後裔，他們居於歐洲中部，鐵器時期開始他們向南遷移（參閱Illyria）。有兩組主要的伊利里亞遷移群，其中蓋格人定居在北部，圖斯克人與希臘殖民者一起定居在南部。西元前1世紀該地區受羅馬人統治；西元395年以後，行政上它與君士坦丁堡連在一起。14世紀時土耳其人開始入侵，並持續到15世紀；雖然民族英雄斯坎德培抵抗了他們一段時間，但在他死後（1468），土耳其人就鞏固了他們的統治。1912年該國獲得獨立，1920年被國際聯盟承認。經過短暫的共和國（1925～1928）後成為索古一世統治下的君主國。他最初與墨索里尼結盟卻引來了1939年義大利入侵阿爾巴尼亞。戰後，在霍查（E. Hoxha）領導下建立了社會主義的政府，阿爾巴尼亞逐漸地與非社會主義的國際社會脫離了關係，最終它與所有國家都斷絕了關係，包括它最後一個政治盟友中國。到了1990年，經濟困難導致了多次反政府示威，1992年建立了非共產主義的政府，結束了阿爾巴尼亞在國際上的孤立地位。1997年因金字塔式的投資計畫崩潰，使它陷入了混亂。1999年掀起一股阿爾巴尼亞人逃出南斯拉夫尋求庇護的熱潮（參閱Kosovo conflict）。

Albania

Nation, western Adriatic coast of the Balkan Peninsula. Area: 11,000 sq mi (28,700 sq km). Population (1992 est.): 3,400,000. Capital: Tiran?. Ethnic Albanians are the Ghegs and the Tosks. Language: Albanian (official). Religions: Islam; minority, Christianity (Greek Orthodoxy, Roman Catholicism). Currency: lek. Albania may be divided into two major regions, a mountainous highland region and a western coastal lowland region that contains the country's agricultural lands and most of its population. It has a developing economy that until 1991 was shaped by a socialist system of state ownership. In 1992 the government introduced economic reforms encouraging a free-market economy. The Albanians are descended from the Illyrians, an ancient Indo-European people who lived in central Europe and migrated south by the beginning of the Iron Age (see Illyria). Of the two major Illyrian migrating groups, the Ghegs settled in the north and the Tosks in the south, along with Greek colonizers. The area was under Roman rule by the 1st century BC; after AD 395 it was connected administratively to Constantinople. Turkish invasion began in the 14th century and continued into the 15th century; though the national hero, Skanderbeg, was able to resist them for a time, after his death (1468) the Turks consolidated their rule. The country achieved independence in 1912 and was admitted into the League of Nations in 1920. It was briefly a republic (1925-28), then became a monarchy under Zog I, whose initial alliance with Benito Mussolini led to Italy's invasion of Albania in 1939. After the war a socialist government under Enver Hoxha was installed, and gradually Albania cut itself off from the nonsocialist international community, and eventually from all nations, including China, its last political ally. By 1990 economic hardship had produced antigovernment demonstrations, and in 1992 a non-Communist government was elected and Albania's international isolation ended. In 1997 it plunged into chaos, brought on with the collapse of pyramid investment schemes. In 1999 it was overwhelmed by ethnic Albanians seeking refuge from Yugoslavia (see Kosovo conflict).