Part of a series of articles on Albanians Albanian culture Albanian culture • Literature Music: Kosovo , Albania • Art Cuisine • Sports: Albania , Kosovo Image File history File links Flag_of_Albania. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... Although Albanian is an ancient tongue, the oldest known document in the language is from November 8, 1462, a formula of baptism (Albanian: Formula e Pagëzimit) by the bishop of Durrës, Pal Engjëlli. ... Kosovo is a region of Serbia and Montenegro inhabited mostly by ethnic Albanians as well as Serbs and Montenegrins. ... // A Brief History Albania, a country of southeastern Europe, has a unique culture from that of other European countries. ... Albanian cuisine consists of local dishes from around the country of Albania. ... By region or country Kosovo • Albania • Macedonia Serbia • Montenegro Romania • United States Çamëria • Greece • Italy For other uses of the name Kosovo, see Kosovo (disambiguation). ... There is an Albanian minority living in Central Serbia. ... Ethnic map of Montenegro according to the 2003 census There is an Albanian minority living in Montenegro. ... Cham Albanians (In Albanian: Çamë or Shqiptarë, in Greek: Τσάμηδες Tsámidhes or Αλβανοί Alvaní) are a group of ethnic Albanians traditionally from Çamëria, (part of the Greek region of Epirus) and live in Albania, Greece and Turkey. ... Varieties of Albanian Albanian • Gheg • Tosk Arvanitika •Arbëresh (Italy) Geg is a northern Albanian dialect. ... Tosk is the southern dialect of Albanian language, spoken by about 3 million people. ... Arvanitika or Arvanitic (Greek: Αρβανίτικα; native name: Arbëríshte, spelled in the Greek-based Arvanitic alphabet) is the variety of Albanian traditionally spoken by the Arvanites, a population group in Greece. ... Arbëresh (or Arbërishte or Arbërisht) is the dialect of the Albanian language spoken by the Arbëreshë, the Albanian-speaking minority in Italy. ... History of Albanians History • Illyrians Origin of Albanians This article briefly outlines each period in the History of Albania; details are presented in separate articles (see the links in the box and below). ... Illyrians has come to refer to a broad, ill-defined group of peoples who inhabited the western Balkans (Illyria, roughly from northern Epirus to southern Pannonia) and even perhaps parts of Southern Italy in classical times into the Common era, and spoke Illyrian languages. ... The origin of Albanians has been for some time a matter of dispute among historians. ... Persecution of Albanians Kosovo war • Exodus The term Kosovo War or Kosovo Conflict is often used to describe two sequential and at times parallel armed conflicts (a civil war followed by an international war) in the southern Serbian province called Kosovo (officially Kosovo and Metohia), part of the former Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. ...

Albanian exodus is term used to refer to the deportation or mass migration of Albanians from their homes.

Migration to Italy (15th, 16th century)

After the Albanian national hero, George Kastrioti, died and the anti-Ottoman resistance fell, some 300.000 Albanian left their homes and migrated to Italy. Descendants of these émigrés still live today in the southern Italy and retain the old name for Albanian, Arbëreshë. Arbëreshë are an Albanian-speaking community living in southern Italy. ...

A significant number of Albanians that settled in Italy came from Greece. Between 11th and 14th century, many Albanians had established important colonies in the Greek regions of Thessaly, Corinth, Peloponnesus, Attica and nearby islands. The fall of these lands under the Ottoman Empire caused another wave of migrations to Italy; Albanian and Greek peoples landed together on the Italian coast.

The deportation from Sanjak of Niš (1877/1878)

In the Serbian Project Načertanije of the year 1844, the internal affairs minister of Serbia, Ilija Garašanin, expresses his territorial claims on the Albanian populated lands. According to Garašanin’s goals the Greater Serbia would include all the northern Albania down to Shkumbin river. Načertanije (Serbian: Project) is a document drawn up by the Serbian politician Ilija GaraÅ¡anin in 1844, aimed at uniting the Serbian people, that at the time was separated among foreign Austria-Hungary and Ottoman empires. ... Motto: none Anthem: Bože pravde (English: God of Justice) Capital (and largest city) Belgrade Serbian written with the Cyrillic alphabet1 Government Republic  - Prime Minister Vojislav KoÅ¡tunica  - President Boris Tadić Establishment    - Formation 814   - First Serbian Uprising 1804   - Internationally recognized July 13, 1878   - Kingdom of SCS created December 1, 1918... Ilija GaraÅ¡anin (born 1812, died 1874) was a politician in Serbia having considerable influence in national affairs. ... Greater Serbia is a name for a Serbian nationalist concept. ... The Shkumbin (Albanian indefinite form, the definite form is Shkumbini) is a river in central Albania, flowing into the Adriatic Sea. ...

During the Russian-Ottoman war of the 19th century, Serbia and Montenegro, two Serbian monarchies in Balkans, sided with the Tzar of Russia. This gave them the hope to apply the expansionist projects described by their scholars. Anthem: Oj, svijetla majska zoro Capital (and largest city) Podgorica Serbian of the Ijekavian dialect1 Government Republic  - President Filip Vujanović  - Prime Minister Željko Å turanović Independence From Serbia and Montenegro   - Declared June 3, 2006   - Recognised June 8, 2006  Area  - Total 13. ...

The battlefield between the Ottoman Empire and the growing principality of Serbia was the Albanian populated Sanjak of Niš, which belonged to Vilayet of Kosovo on that time. The continuous defeats of the Ottomans and their retreat, Serbia rushed on an ethnic cleansing of the region. The genocide on the civil population was exercised in front of the eyes of European powers, which not only did not protest but supported the actions of the Serbian government. Motto: دولت ابد مدت Devlet-i Ebed-müddet (The Eternal State) Anthem: Ottoman imperial anthem At the height of its power (1680) Capital Söğüt (1299-1326) Bursa (1326-1365) Edirne (1365-1453) Constantinople (Istanbul) (1453-1922) Language(s) Ottoman Turkish Government Monarchy Sultans  - 1281–1326 Osman I  - 1918–1922 Mehmed VI... Vilayet of Kosovo, 1875-1878 Vilayet of Kosovo, 1881-1912 The Vilayet of Kossovo was how the present region of Kosovo was known to English speakers before becoming a part of the independent Serbia just a few years before the beginning of World War I. The word Vilayet in Turkish...

As a result of violence, terror, and massacres of the Serbian army on the autochthonous Albanian population, hundred thousands of Albanians were forced to leave their homes and settle as refugees in the inner parts of Kosovo Vilayet. Prosecuted by the Serbian barrels, 160,000 Albanians emigrated. In the meantime, 640 towns and villages of the districts of Niš, Prokuplje, Leskovac, Vranje, Kursumlija etc. were ethnically cleansed. NiÅ¡ or Nish (Serbian: Ниш / NiÅ¡, Latin: Naissus, Greek: Naissos) is a city in Serbia situated at 43. ... Prokuplje (Прокупље) is a city located in Serbia and Montenegro at 43. ... Leskovac (Serbian Cyrillic: Лесковац) is a city located in southern Serbia at 43. ... Vranje (Врање) is a city located in Serbia and Montenegro at 42. ... Night panorama from old town KurÅ¡umlija (Куршумлија, Kurshumlia) is a town and municipality located in the south of Serbia, nearby the rivers Toplica, Kosanica and Banjska, on the southeast of mountain Kopaonik, and northwest of Radan Mountain. ...

In the freezing weather of the grand winter 1877-1878 I saw undressed and bare people running away. They had left their warm rooms to remember them with nostalgia… Along the road Grdelica-Vranje and down to Kumanovo, on the both edges of the street you could notice the corpses of the children, old people and others who had died of cold. - Josif H. Kostic, teacher, eyewitnesses

Almost the entire population of the western part of Sanjak of Niš handed over to Serbia, was Albanian of Islamic religion… Therefore, when this sanjak was occupied by the Serbian army, the population could not face the invader. They all run away to the inner parts of Vilayet of Kosovo leaving the whole place abandoned. - John Ross, Commissioner for Serbia’s borders

References

• Hysni Myzyri - "Historia e popullit shqiptar" Prishtinë 2003 (History of the Albanian People)
• Biography of Ilija Garašanin