Albania & Albanian Coins

` Albania & Albanian Coins - Brief History

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Albania and Albanian Coins

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Obverse of 1927 Albanian 100 Franga Ari

Reverse of 1927 Albanian 100 Franga Ari

A Brief History of Albania
The area later known as Albania was at various times ruled by the Illyrians, Romans, Byzantines and Ottomans. Albanians have been recognised as a distinct ethnic group since ancient times, but first emerged as a nation during the 11th century as the Principality of Aber. A later state, the Kingdom of Albania, emerged in 1272.

Foreign Occupation
This Kingdom struggled to maintain its independence from neighbouring empires, such as the Byzantines. However, it was eventually conquered by the Venitians in 1392 whilst other parts of Albania were ruled by Serbia and Bulgaria for a time. Parts of Albania regained their independence when the League of Lehza was formed in 1444, but this was relatively short-lived, as the territories of the League were defeated and absorbed into the Ottoman Empire in 1479 .

Independence
Ottoman Rule lasted until 1912, when the now Sclerotic Empire could no longer effectively resist nationalist demands for independence. A short-lived monarchy existed under the German Prince, Wilhelm of Wied until 1914, when the Muslim-Majority country revolted against their Christian King. In the aftermath of World War I, Greece and Serbia tried to divide Albania between themselves, on the basis the large numbers of Greeks lived in the South, and Serbians in the North respectively. However, diplomatic intervention, particularly by the United States, prevented this from happening.

Instability
Throughout the 1920s, Albania remained an unstable country were governments came and went in rapid succession. In 1928, a monarchy under King Zog was formed, which lasted until 1939, when the Italians invaded and occupied Albania.

Communist Rule and the Return to Democracy
In 1943, Italy was ejected from Albania (by the Germans), but although King Zog was officially reinstated as King of Albania, he never returned. In 1946, the People’s Socialist Republic of Albania, a Communist regime, was formed, ruled by Envar Hoxha until his death in 1985. His successor, Ramiz Alia, ruled the country until the collapse of the regime in 1992. Democracy (of sorts) returned to Albania, but a rebellion in 1997 almost saw the country collapse into Civil War. Since then, the economy of Albania has been steadily improving.

Albanian Coins
Prior to independence, the Albanian area used Ottoman currency and those of surrounding states. However, in 1926 Zoghu (Prime Minister and later King) introduced a new currency known as the Lek, which was divided into 100 quindar. The first Lek obverse featured Alexander the Great, who would have appeared on some of the earliest coins used in the Albanian region. 1, 5, 10, 20 and 50 leke replaced the old coins, and the 100 leke was also introduced in 2000.

For Sale and Wanted
If you are interested in coins from Albania please see our product index:-
Albanian Coins

Gold Coins
We also have gold coins from Albania on our taxfreegold website:-
Albanian Gold Coins

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