Ottoman conquest and Albanian-Ottoman War

1431 Turks capture Janina; take a large part of Albania under their control.

1433 Uprising against the Turks right across the territoryfrom north to south, under the leadership of Arianit Shpata.

1442 November 28th, Gjergj Kastriot Scanderbeg resigns from the Turkish army, enters Kruja with 300 Albanians, proclaims independence of principality of Kastriot and raises his red family flag, with a black eagle at the center, eventually becoming Albania’s national flag.

1444 March, League of Lezhe. The Albanian feudal nobility unite and enter conflict against the Turks under the leadership of Gjergj Scanderbeg.

1450 Scanderbeg concludes a peace treaty with Venice to have a free hand in his struggle against the Turks.

1450 Turkish Sultan Murad, besieges Kruje for five months, but is defeated by Scanderbeg aided by Alfonso I of Naples.

1455 Scanderbeg attacks the Turkish at Berat but loses 6.000 men.

1457 Turks attack Scanderbeg with an army of 60.000 soldiers and conquer most of the Albanian lowlands and attack his Kruje stronghold, but Scanderbeg forces an Ottoman withdrawal.

1463 Great War between the Turks and Venetians.

1466 Sultan Muammed II conquers Albania but fails to occupy Kruja.

1468 January 17th, Scanderbeg falls ill with fever and dies in Lezha.

1478 Scanderbeg Kruja fortress falls to the Turks. The crucial battle in Albania history. Muhamed II retrieves Kruja, however Shkoder holds out.

1479 January 25th, peace is concluded with the rest of Albania. Venetians give up Shkodër and Albanians were stationed along the coastline, but keep Ulqin, Antivari and Durrës.

1501 The Ottoman Empire occupies all Albania, with Durrës the last town to be taken from the Venetians and Albania remains under Ottoman control until 1912.

1555 Gjon Buzuku publishes the first book in Albanian language “The Messar” (Meshari).

1571 Turks take Ulqin from Venetians.

15th-16th C. Thousands of Albanians are forced to emigrate due to hunger and oppression, mainly to southern Italy.

16th C. The orthodox Church is dominant in the south, the Roman Catholic Church in the north.

1614 Sulejman Pasha Bargjini, builds a mosque, a bathhouse and a bakery in Tirana.

1635 Frang Bardhi publishes the first Latin-Albanian dictionary and Andre Bogdani writes the first Latin-Albanian grammar.

1670 Mehmet Bushati, pasha of Shkodra, rallies his northern chieftains to defeat the Turks. His son Mahmut routes three Turkish armies, but his grandson is defeated in southern Albania.

18th C. In the late 18th century two Albanian nobles, Ali Pasha

Bushatlli and Ali Pasha Tepelena succeeded in establishing semi – independent Pashaliks. They centered respectively at Shkoder in the north and Janine (now in Greece) in the south.

1831 Collapse of the Albanian pashaliks marked the beginning of a new period which in the history of the Albanian People is known as “Albanian National Renaissance” (1840-1912), a movement aiming at liberating the country from Ottoman invaders, uniting all Albanian territories in a single autonomous or Independent State and advancing the Albanian language and culture. Along with the armed struggle, a cultural movement was promoted. Its new ideas were embodied in the activity of K.Kristoforidhi, N.Veqilharxhi, J.Vreto, P.Vasa, Th.Mitko, Z.Jubani, H.Tahsini, J.De Rada A.Frasheri, S.Frasheri, N.Frasheri. They faced religious dissension through the slogan“The religion of Albanians is to be Albanian”.

1878 New Albanian League (League of Prizren) was set up at a Congress held in Prizren (Kosova) and branches were set up all over Albania. It was thanks to the League of Prizren alone that the question of separate Albanian nation was posed for the first time in worldwide diplomatic circles.

1887 March 8th , the first Albanian School was set up. It was the first national secular school in Albania.

1908 Congress was held in Manastir to come to a decision on a single alphabet. Instead of one, two alphabets were approved, the Istanbul alphabet and a Latin one. The latter was easier to use for the printing of books and before long it became the only alphabet of the Albanian language.

1911 June Albanian leaders hold meeting in Montenegro, adopt a 12-point memorandum-demanding recognition of the Albanian nations, self-government, free elections, Albanian-language education in schools etc.; and send their message to all European powers. Although religious services are conducted in three languages- Arabic for Moslems, Greek for the Orthodox, Latin for Catholics- the slogan of the day is: “The religion of the Albanian people is Albanians”.

• First steps of Democratic Society in Albania
• Italian occupation and antifascist war of Albanian People (1939-1944)
• Albania gets Indipendent
• Ottoman conquest and Albanian-Ottoman War
• Ancient times - The Illyrians
• Famous Albanians
• Albania

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