Albanians

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Revision as of 18:06, 5 September 2025 by Carbon (talk | contribs)
For the country, see 🇦🇱 Albania.

The Albanians are an ethnicity that mainly resides in the Balkans. They are the main ethnic group of 🇦🇱 Albania and 🏳️ Kosovo, and they also live in the neighboring countries of 🏳️ North Macedonia, 🏳️ Montenegro, 🏳️ Greece, and 🏳️ Serbia, as well as in 🏳️ Italy, 🏳️ Croatia, 🏳️ Bulgaria, and 🏳️ Turkey. Albanians also constitute a large diaspora with several communities established across 🏳️ Europe and the other continents.

Albanians are believed to have a western Paleo-Balkanic origin, and due to geographic and historical factors, many scholars agree that they are at least partially descended from the 🏳️ Illyrians. However, the question of which specific Paleo-Balkan groups contributed to the ethnogenesis of the Albanians remains a topic of academic debate.

History

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. Though, the first certain reference to Albanians as an ethnic group comes from much later, in the 11th century and from the chronicler 🏳️ Michael Attaleiates who describes them as living in the 🏳️ theme of Dyrrhachium.

The first certain attestation of medieval Albanians as an ethnic group is in 🏳️ Byzantine historiography in the work of Michael Attaleiates (1022–1080). Attaleiates mentions the term Albanoi twice and the term Arbanitai once.

Ethnonym

The Albanians (Albanian: Shqiptarët) and their country Albania (Albanian: Shqipëria) have been identified by many ethnonyms. The most common native ethnonym is "Shqiptar", plural "Shqiptarë"; the name "Albanians" ( Byzantine Greek: Albanoi/Arbanitai/Arbanites; Latin: Albanenses/Arbanenses) was used in medieval documents and gradually entered European Languages from which other similar derivative names emerged, many of which were or still are in use, such as English "Albanians"; Italian "Albanesi"; German "Albaner"; Greek "Arvanites", "Alvanitis" (Αλβανίτης) plural: "Alvanites" (Αλβανίτες), "Alvanos" (Αλβανός) plural: "Alvanoi" (Αλβανοί); Turkish "Arnaut", "Arnavut"; South Slavic languages "Arbanasi" (Арбанаси), "Albanci" (Албанци); Aromanian "Arbinesh" and so on.

How to draw

Coat of Arms of Albania

Albanians has a drawing rating of hard.

  1. Draw a ball.
  2. Fill it with red.
  3. Draw a black double-headed bird in the middle.
  4. Add a yellow Skanderbeg's helmet on top of the bird.
  5. Add a yellow border around the ball.
  6. Add the eyes and you’re done!
  7. Add a qeleshe/plis (optional)
Color Name HEX
Red #FF0000
Black #000000
Yellow #FFD700

See Also