Albania / [prepared under the direction of K. Mason].

  • Great Britain. Naval Intelligence Division.
Date:
1945
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Albania / [prepared under the direction of K. Mason]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    fractured highlands of Greek Epirus sink abruptly into deep sea, and have only small and discontinuous coast plains or silted river-valleys. It is this region which is Albania. Physically Albania is a section of the Dinaric folded-mountain ranges, which are multiple, with a general trend from north-west to south-east, sinking into the Adriatic behind a series of alluvial coast- plains, and therefore without coastal island chains, though Valona bay, enclosed by C. Linguetta and Saseno island, repeats the type of coast characteristic of Dalmatia and Montenegro. Eastward the physical boundary is the watershed range of Sar planina in the north, and of Grammos and Pin@us south of the lake-basins of Ochrida and Prespa; but between these ranges violent faults and the deeply eroded drainage have dissected the primary ridges into separate highland masses. ‘The rivers indeed are as important lines of demarca- tion as the ranges, northern Albania being divided from central by the Shkumbi river, and central from southern by the Vijosé. ‘Their courses, however, usually consist of longitudinal troughs between the mountain ranges, connected by narrow transverse gorges across them. Lake basins such as Ochrida, Prespa, Little Prespa, and Maliq in the interior, Scutari in the north-west, and Yannina in Epirus, result from cross-faulting and collapse; and Valona bay, the only consider- able indentation of the coast, has a similar origin. THE PEOPLE Albanian isolation and the definite character and individuality that belongs to her are due more to her people than to her land-forms. Descended mainly from an ancient stock, to which Serb, Bulgar, and Turk are modern interlopers, the Albanians have been surrounded since classical times by warring peoples and creeds which have pressed hard upon them. Their only times of unity have come in desperate attempt to halt the invader. Had any lasting success attended these efforts, a central government might have brought peace, eliminated tribal quarrels, and developed the land. As it was, independence was maintained, and that precariously, only by the mountain tribes, whilst sectional strife was embittered by those three implacable creeds, Roman, Orthodox, and Moslem, recognized rather as the religions of different hereditary enemies than as unifying spiritual forces. Greeks colonized along Albanian coasts; Romans marched, fought, and ruled for a time; Bulgars and Serbs invaded and restricted her territory; Venice, for a while, was supreme in her harbours;