On November 28, 1912, Albania proclaimed independence after five hundred years of Ottoman Domination. This date has since been used to celebrate the country’s Independence Day. Different ceremonies and concerts are organized to celebrate this historic day. The Albanian flag is ceremonially raised in Tirana, the country’s capital, and politicians also visit the national martyrs’ cemetery. To celebrate, here’s ten facts you may not know about it!
1 – The Albanian name for the colour yellow, verdhë, originally comes from the Latin word viridis, which means green. A similar quirk is present also in its word for light blue, kaltër: it can be traced back to a Greek word for “yellow flower”.
2 – Leka II, Crown Prince of Albania, was born in South Africa. When he was born, the South African government declared his maternity ward Albanian territory for 24 hours, to ensure that Leka was born on Albanian soil.
3 – Enver Hoxha, communist dictator of Albania during the Cold War years, built hundreds of thousands of concrete bunkers across the country in preparation for an invasion that never materialized. The most conservative estimates say there were approximately 175.000 bunkers built during those years. That means an average of 5.7 bunkers for every square kilometre. This bunkerisation programme was a massive drain on Albania’s weak economy. In total it cost more than twice as much as the Maginot Line in France and consumed three times as much concrete. They remained largely unutilised and derelict, although a few of them were briefly used Balkan conflicts of the 1990s.
4 – Though far from the largest country in Europe, Albania has more than 3.250 species of plants on its territory. , That’s 30% of all flora in Europe!
5 – King Zog I, leader of Albania from 1922 to 1939, occupied all of the highest offices in the country during his life. He first served as Prime Minister (1922–1924), then as President (1925–1928), and finally as King (1928–1939). Zog was said to have regularly consumed around 200 cigarettes a day, and during his reign he survived more than 55 assassination attempts against him.
6 – There are allegedly more Albanians living outside of the country than within. The Albanian diaspora is vast and difficult to quantify. Estimates range from seven to ten million Albanians living elsewhere in Europe, primarily in Macedonia, Montenegro, Kosovo, and Greece. Only three million Albanians actually live within the country’s borders.
7 – You won’t find any McDonald’s outlets in Albania. But that doesn’t mean people can’t get something very similar With a suspiciously familiar logo and the same red and yellow colours, the local chain restaurant Kolonat provides a very valid alternative.
8 – Albania is one of the biggest producers of hydroelectricity in the world. Nearly 100% of the country’s domestically produced electricity comes from hydropower.
9 – In 1997, Albania had a civil war that toppled the government. The cause? Pyramid schemes. In the mid-1990s Albania had started to transition into a market economy, after years of socialist planned economy. Government officials began endorsing a series of pyramid investment funds and the still-rudimental system became dominated by Ponzi schemes, which accounted for half of the country’s GDP. By January 1997, after six years in operation, the schemes could no longer make payments. Albanian citizens’ protests soon devolved into anarchy. The chaos led to gangs seizing military arms and the government allowing citizens to arm themselves from armories. Complete peace was only re-established in August of that year.
10 – In Albania, people nod when they mean “no” and shake their head when they mean “yes”.
