Skenderbeg Is My Forefather, Hear Me Roar!

Alright, so falling behind schedule on only my second country wasn't part of the plan. But, I am back, armed with a respectable wealth of knowledge about the tiny, fascinating country we know today as Albania.

In at least three of the sources I researched, the authors mentioned the fact that Albania is about the size of Maryland. Random, but relevant, and if they think it is worth noting, then I sure do, too. Unlike Afghanistan, I knew virtually nothing about Albania when I started looking for quality sources. So, I thought it prudent to start out at a very basic level, with a children's book, actually. Simply titled Albania (by Mary Lee Knowlton) and featuring lots of pictures, this book was probably written for middle schoolers and provided the perfect foundation of knowledge to better understand Albania.

I don't think I could have asked for an easier assignment than to discover the pride of Albania. This is a fiercely proud state; in fact, it would even be accurate to say notoriously proud.

Albania sits at the crossroads of Eastern Europe and the West. For centuries, it has been “a patch of land that people from north or south, east or west, felt entitled to pass through on their way somewhere else.” It has been ruled by the Romans, Greeks, and Ottomans among others.

It was the Ottoman Empire's attempt to overtake Albania that particularly fueled and solidified a sense of Albanian nationalist pride. From 1443 to 1468, a hero named Skenderbeg led a small force of Albanians against Ottoman armies upwards of 100,000 men. For 25 years, until his death, Skenderbeg held off the Turks and shaped Albanian pride and identity in the process in what is recognized as an incredible feat of dedication, resistance and belief in one's cause.