Albania (in Albanian: Shqipëri / Shqipëria), formally Republic of Albania (Republika e Shqipërisë), is a country in southeastern Europe. It borders Montenegro to the northwest, Kosovo to the northeast, Macedonia to the east and Greece to the south and southeast. It has a coastline towards the Adriatic Sea in the west and towards the Ionian Sea to the southwest. Italy is only 72 km away, on the other side of the Strait of Otranto that connects the Adriatic with the Ionian Sea.

The current Albanian territory was, at various times in its history, part of the Roman province of Dalmatia (south of Illyric), Macedonia and Upper Mesia. The modern republic gained its independence after the collapse of the Ottoman Empire in Europe as a result of the Balkan Wars in 1912-13. Albania declared its independence in 1912 and was recognized the following year, after what was principality, republic and kingdom until its invasion by Italian troops in 1939. Italy created Greater Albania, which in 1943 became a Nazi protectorate.5 In 1944 created a popular socialist democracy under the leadership of Enver Hoxha and the Labor Party of Albania, who ruled the country until the dissolution of the socialist republic and the creation of the Republic of Albania in 1991.