Area Handbook for Albania Part 6

Roads

Until the twentieth century only two major roads crossed what is now Albania. The Romans built the Via Egnatia, which makes an east-west transit from Durres (known as Dyrrhachium in Roman times), via the Shk.u.mbin River valley, to the lake district. It continued eastward across the Balkan Peninsula to Thessaloniki and Constantinople (now Istanbul), and the Romans used it to move forces overland to the eastern portions of their empire. A north-south route, the Via Zenta, was built by Ragusan merchants during the period when Ragusa (now Dubrovnik) was a Balkan mercantile power and needed access to the interior of the peninsula. The road followed the Drin River valley. Both the Via Egnatia and the Via Zenta fell into disuse during the centuries of Ottoman control, but the basic course of the Roman road is followed by one of the few major highways that has been constructed in the twentieth century.

Independent Albania was slow to begin construction of roads that would better conform to the country's national requirements. During World War I Austrian forces built some 400 miles of strategic roads while they occupied the area. The Italians did the same during World War II. In both cases the objective was to improve communications with external points. There was no attempt to construct a network that would integrate the country.

The Hoxha regime has placed more emphasis on internal communications, and in 1969 it claimed that the princ.i.p.al road network had been expanded by three times over what it had been in 1938. Perhaps 3,000 miles could be cla.s.sed as improved roads. These are considered all-weather roads, although those in the mountains may be closed by snows. Most of the surfaces are hardened with compacted stone or gravel, and a few have a tarry stabilizer. Better roads have asphalt surfaces. Road construction in almost all parts of the country is difficult, especially in bridge building, and some roads are construction masterpieces. Once built, however, routine maintenance has ordinarily not been properly accomplished, and surfaces have deteriorated.

Railways

The first standard-gauge railroad construction began in 1947. The Italians had started roadbeds during their World War II occupation but had abandoned their projects in 1943. By 1970 there were only about 135 miles of completed lines. These included basic lines between Durres and Tirana and between Durres and Elbasan. There is difficult terrain between Tirana and Elbasan and, although only about 20 miles apart, they are connected via Durres only.

The lines from Durres curve northward to Tirana and southward to approach Elbasan via the Shk.u.mbin valley. A northern offshoot from the Durres-Tirana line is complete to Lac and will be extended to Shkoder. A southern offshoot from Rrogozhine on the Durres-Elbasan line is now in service to Fier and will be extended to Vlore. The combination of these two routes will const.i.tute a coastal line from Shkoder to Vlore.

Construction was in progress in 1970 on a line that will connect Elbasan with Prrenjas, which is just over five miles from Lake Ohrid. This line follows the route of the old Roman Via Egnatia, and in later programs it will probably be extended to Lin, on the lake, and then southward to Korce. When these lines are completed, they and the road network will provide vastly improved internal communications, but many small areas within the North Albanian Alps and the higher central and eastern mountains will remain difficult to reach.

Pipeline

During the mid-1930s the Italian state-owned petroleum company constructed a forty-four-mile, eight-inch pipeline to connect the oilfields in the Stalin area with the port of Vlore. The line had a capacity of about 5,000 barrels a day and carried crude for transs.h.i.+pment to refineries in Italy. In the early 1950s the line was extended northward to the newly built refinery at Cerrik.

Airlines

In the early post-World War II period when Albania was practically a va.s.sal state of Yugoslavia, regular air traffic was established between Belgrade and Tirana. After the estrangement of Yugoslavia from the Soviet Union, when Albania became a satellite of the Soviet Union, regular traffic was set up between Tirana and Moscow and, to a lesser degree, between Tirana and the capitals of the Eastern European Communist countries other than Belgrade. When Albania became aligned with Communist China, direct connections with almost all external points were severed. Even Peking flights were routed via intermediate stops in Italy, usually Bari or Rome.

Between 1967 and 1970 connections between Albania and most of the Eastern European countries, but not the Soviet Union, were gradually restored. Service is scheduled but infrequent. Weekly flights are typically connected through Belgrade. Traffic elsewhere is ordinarily routed via Italy. Albanian officials depart and reenter the country via Bari or Rome, connecting to Tirana on a scheduled Alitalia flight or by an Albanian flight. Internal air services are also limited. Those available are centered on Tirana.

Merchant s.h.i.+pping

Because no railway leaves the country and border-crossing roads are inadequate, nearly all foreign trade is carried by sea. Durres and Vlore are the major ports. Durres has a first-cla.s.s harbor, warehouses, petroleum storage tanks, a s.h.i.+pbuilding capability, and railway spurs to the docks. Vlore is a better natural port and is the terminus of the oil pipeline. It has fewer port facilities than Durres, however, and no rail connections with the rest of the country. Sarande, Shengjin, and Porte Palermo are less important ports.

Only the Drin and Buene rivers might be considered navigable to any degree and even then only for small s.h.i.+ps and short distances. Lake Scutari and the interior lakes are navigable but are of little commercial use. Smaller oceangoing craft are used in a limited amount of coastal trade.

The government is encouraging the creation of a national merchant fleet.

_Lloyd's Register of s.h.i.+pping_ for 1968 listed eleven Albanian vessels totaling 36,550 gross tons. Albania and Communist China maintain a jointly owned s.h.i.+pping line, and the number of s.h.i.+ps with Albanian registry is increasing.

CHAPTER 4

THE PEOPLE

The population increased by about 71 percent from 1950 to 1969 and in 1970 was increasing at a rate that would double the number of inhabitants in approximately twenty-six years. The median age, about nineteen years, was increasing slowly. The abundance of rural population and the increasing tempo of industrial development provided potential for rapid urban growth, but government controls and a scarcity of housing tended to restrict population movements.

Persons of Albanian ethnic origin const.i.tuted about 97 percent of the 2.1 million population in early 1970. Of ancient Illyrian descent, they have maintained their h.o.m.ogeneity despite many invasions and centuries of foreign occupation. The Communist regime, in its effort to develop social and cultural solidarity, attempted to reduce consciousness of the differences between the major subgroups, the Gegs in the north and the Tosks in the south. Some progress has been made, but a continuing struggle is being carried out against customs and beliefs that are considered remnants of the past and detract from the achievement of Communist objectives (see ch. 5, Social System).

The Albanian language is a derivative of the tongues that were spoken by the ancient Illyrians and Thracians. For many centuries its continuity was maintained by only verbal means. A standardized alphabet was not developed until the twentieth century. Since World War II considerable progress has been made in making the Tosk dialect the standard written language. In the late 1960s there were still some variations in spelling.

The pattern of settlement was predominantly one of widely dispersed villages; approximately two-thirds of the people lived in communities with less than 1,000 population. Only twelve cities had more than 10,000 population in 1969. The quadrangular area formed by the cities of Durres, Tirana, Elbasan, and Fier, all of which are linked by rail and roads, was experiencing the most rapid growth in the 1960s.

There was a very slight improvement in living standards from 1950 to 1970. Despite modest growth in the economy, the per capita gross national product (GNP) in 1967 was the lowest in Europe, an estimated United States equivalent of $320. The average citizen's welfare in the allocation of resources for food, consumers' goods, and housing was sacrificed to the development of industry and the program to achieve eventual self-sufficiency in agriculture. Reduction of disease and improved health were the most important gains countrywide. Also, by 1970 electricity had been extended to over two-thirds of all villages.

Consistently high levels of population growth placed severe strains on available supplies of food, consumers' goods, housing, and services.

POPULATION

The total population in January 1970 was an increase of approximately 500,000 over the 1960 official census total of 1,626,315. The distribution by age groups in 1970 was: under fifteen years of age, 42 percent; fifteen to thirty-nine years, 37 percent; forty to sixty-four years, 16 percent; and sixty-five years and over, 5 percent. With almost 60 percent of its inhabitants under forty years of age and a median age of approximately nineteen years, the population was extremely youthful, and indications were that it would remain so into the 1970s. The proportion of persons in the dependent age groups, under fifteen and over sixty-four years, to the working age group, fifteen to sixty-four years, was 887 to 1,000.

The overall ratio of males to females, 106 to 100, was the highest among the Communist countries of East Europe. The preponderance of men was greatest at ages below forty; in the age group above sixty-four there were only 77 men to 100 women. The higher ratio of men for the total population was attributed in part to the high infant mortality rate among female infants, caused by neglect and the deference accorded to male progeny. Losses in World War II, an estimated 28,800 persons, or 2.48 percent of the population, had little influence on the ratio of males to females and the population structure.

In keeping with the traditional pattern of a highly dispersed population, the country remains predominantly rural. About two-thirds live in villages and in the countryside. Urban population increased from about one-fifth to one-third of the total during the 1950-70 period and would have increased to a greater extent had the government not taken measures, beginning in the mid-1960s, to build up agriculture and to restrict city growth. During the drive to reduce the number of people involved in administration and to increase production forces in the mid-1960s, thousands of persons living in the city, including some from the bureaucracy and the Party, were sent to the country.

Housing in the cities was greatly overcrowded, and the allocation of new dwellings built by state funds and controlled by the government provided further restrictions on city growth. Indications were that the expansion of industry would continue to require urban growth but that the rate of growth would be controlled. The largest cities and their populations in 1967 were: Tirana, 170,603; Durres, 80,066; Vlore, 57,745; Korce, 53,563; and Shkoder, 49,095.

The birth rate declined only slightly from 1950 to 1970 and in 1968 was 35.5 per 1,000 population (see table 3). Fertility continued at a high level, and there were no apparent influences that tended to reduce the prevailing rate of births. No information was published concerning the effects, if any, on the birth rate of women's employment outside the home, abortions, contraceptives, or other restraints on population growth.

The expansion of medical services and improvement in the standard of health during the 1950s and 1960s resulted in a marked decline in the mortality rate, from 14 per 1,000 in 1950 to 8 per 1,000 in 1968. The age structure of the population, with a preponderance in the lower age brackets, provided the potential for a continuing low mortality rate.

A concomitant of the reduced death rate was an increase in life expectancy. Data from domestic sources indicated that the average life expectancy at birth increased from 53.5 years in 1950 to 66.1 years in 1965.

Because of the highly restrictive policies of the Communist regime, migration into and out of the country had a negligible influence on the size and composition of the population. Internal migration was controlled by requiring approval for persons to move from one location to another. Specific data on the scale and character of population movements were not available.

The pattern of sustained high birth rates and declining death rates resulted in high rates of natural increase. Total population increased by 71 percent from 1950 to 1969, whereas the average increase for all other East European Communist countries, excluding the Soviet Union, was 18 percent. The growth rate for 1970 was estimated at 2.7 percent.

Government and Party leaders, voicing the need for greater numbers of people for the building of socialism, supported a continuing high level of population growth. They were undeterred, in the face of persistent shortages of food and the requirement for foreign a.s.sistance, in their encouragement of a sustained high birth rate and the payment of an allowance for each child.

_Table 3. Albanian Vital Statistics for Selected Years, 1950-68 (per thousand population)_

Year Birth Death Natural increase

1950 38.5 14.0 24.5 1960 43.3 10.4 32.9 1968 35.5 8.0 27.5

Source: Adapted from U.S. Department of Commerce, Office of Technical Services, Joint Publications Research Service (Was.h.i.+ngton), "Protection of Mother and Child Health, the High Expression of Socialist Humanism, Realized by the Party During the 25 Years of People's Power," by Vera Ngjela et al., in Shendetesia Popullore (People's Health), Tirana, 1969 (JPRS: 50,302, _Translations on Eastern Europe, Political Sociological, and Military Affairs_, Nos. 204, 1970).

ETHNIC GROUPS

Persons of non-Albanian ethnic origin--Greeks, Vlachs, Bulgars, Serbs, and Gypsies--const.i.tute only about 3 percent of the population. Among the Albanians, the natural dividing line between the Gegs and the Tosks is the Shk.u.mbin River, but there is some spillover on both sides.

Numerically, the Gegs predominate, making up slightly over one-half of the Albanians within the country (see ch. 2, Historical Setting).

Despite successive foreign invasions and centuries of occupation, a distinctive ethnic ident.i.ty was preserved. Mountains and the lack of communication routes provided isolation and opportunity to evade intruders. Nevertheless, the imprints of foreign influences were considerable. Additions and modifications to the language were made from the Latin, Greek, Slavic, and Turkish contacts. Lacking an organized religion as part of their Illyrian heritage, Albanians embraced the Muslim, Orthodox, and Roman Catholic faiths brought to them by their conquerors (see ch. 5, Social System).

Individual Albanians distinguished themselves in the service of the Roman and Turkish empires and were noted for their ability as soldiers.

It was not until the nineteenth century when they began to seek autonomy that their history was recorded in writing. Kins.h.i.+p and tribal affiliations, a common spoken language, and folk customs served to provide continuity and common ident.i.ty through the many centuries of relative obscurity.

There are marked differences in the physical appearance of the typical Geg and the typical Tosk, but until World War II the greatest contrast was in their social systems. The Geg and Tosk dialects differ, and there are also variations within subgroups. Some progress was made under the Zog regime in bringing the clans, whose authority prevailed particularly in the north, under government control and in eliminating blood feuds (see ch. 5, Social System).