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Through the root word alban and its rhotacized equivalents arban, albar, and arbar, the term in Albanian became rendered as Arbëreshë (Gheg Albanian: Arbëneshë) for the people and Arbëria (Gheg Albanian: Arbënia) for the country.
History. During the Middle Ages, the Albanians called their country Arbëria (Gheg: Arbënia) and referred to themselves as Arbëresh (Gheg: Arbënesh) while known through derivative terms by neighbouring peoples as Arbanasi, Arbanenses / Albaneses, Arvanites ( Arbanites ), Arnaut, Arbineş and so on.
The origin of the Albanians has been the subject of historical, linguistic, archaeological and genetic studies. The first mention of the ethnonym Albanoi occurred in the 2nd century AD by Ptolemy describing an Illyrian tribe who lived around present-day central Albania.
Since the 16th century, however, Albanians themselves have called their language Shqipe, their country Shqiperia and themselves Shqiptare. Albanian scholars believe that these names are derived...
The Albanians sometimes claim to be the oldest people in the peninsula. They have certainly been there at least since Greek and Roman times. They speak a language of their own, somewhat related to ancient Latin. It has been put into written form only in recent times. Inside Albania more than 90 per cent of the population is Albanian.
Attested from 14th century onward, the placename Shqipëria and the ethnic demonym Shqiptarë gradually replaced Arbëria and Arbëreshë amongst Albanian speakers between the late 17th and early 18th centuries. That era brought about religious and other sociopolitical changes.
4 days ago · Albania was declared independent in 1912, but the following year the demarcation of its boundaries by the great powers of Europe (Austria-Hungary, Britain, France, Germany, Italy, and Russia) assigned about half its territory and people to neighbouring states.
