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Albania
PHYSICAL ENVIRONMENT
National Boundaries
Albania, with a total area of 28,750 square kilometers, is slightly
larger than the state of Maryland. It shares a 287- kilometer
border with the Yugoslav republics of Montenegro and Serbia to
the north, a 151-kilometer border with the Former Yugoslav Republic
of Macedonia to the north and east, and a 282- kilometer border
with Greece to the south and southeast. Its coastline is 362 kilometers
long. The lowlands of the west face the Adriatic Sea and the strategically
important Strait of Otranto, which puts less than 100 kilometers
of water between Albania and the heel of the Italian "boot."
The distinct ethnic character of the Albanian people and their
isolation within a generally definable area underscored their
demands for independence in the early twentieth century. In some
places, however, the mingling of different ethnic groups complicated
the determination of national borders. Kosovo, across the northeastern
Albanian border, was a Serbian-governed province, although ethnic
Albanians made up over 90 percent of its population. Many Albanians
still regarded Kosovo's status as an issue. Greeks and Albanians
lived in the mountains on both sides of the southeastern Albanian
boundary. Neither Greece nor Albania was satisfied with the division
of nations effected by their common border.
With the exception of the coastline, all Albanian borders are
artificial. They were established in principle at the 1912-13
conference of ambassadors in London. The country was occupied
by Italian, Serbian, Greek, and French forces during World War
I, but the 1913 boundaries were essentially reaffirmed by the
victorious states in 1921. The original principle was to define
the borders in accordance with the best interests of the Albanian
people and the nationalities in adjacent areas. The northern and
eastern borders were intended, insofar as possible, to separate
the Albanians from the Serbs and Montenegrins; the southeast border
was to separate Albanians and Greeks; the valuable western Macedonia
lake district was to be divided among the three states- -Albania,
Greece, and Yugoslavia--whose populations shared the area. When
there was no compromise involving other factors, borderlines were
chosen to make the best possible separation of national groups,
connecting the best marked physical features available.
Allowance was made for local economic situations, for example,
to prevent separation of a village from its animals' grazing areas
or the markets for its produce. Political pressures also were
a factor in the negotiations, but the outcome was subject to approval
by powers having relatively abstract interests, most of which
involved the balance of power rather than specific economic ambitions.
Division of the lake district among three states required that
each of them have a share of the lowlands in the vicinity. Such
an artificial distribution, once made, necessarily affected the
borderlines to the north and south. The border that runs generally
north from the lakes, although it follows the ridges of the eastern
highlands, stays sixteen to thirty-two kilometers west of the
watershed divide. Because negotiators at the London conference
declined to use the watershed divide as the northeast boundary
of the new state of Albania, a large Albanian population in Kosovo
was incorporated into Serbia.
In Albania's far north and the northeast mountainous sections,
the border connects high points and follows mountain ridges through
the largely inaccessible North Albanian Alps, known locally as
Bjeshkλt e Namuna. For the most part, there is no natural boundary
from the highlands to the Adriatic, although Lake Scutari and
a portion of the Bunλ River south of it were used to mark Albania's
northwest border. From the lake district south and southwest to
the Ionian Sea, the country's southeast border goes against the
grain of the land, crossing a number of ridges instead of following
them.
Data as of April 1992
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