PHYSICAL ENVIRONMENT
Albania has land borders on the north and east with Yugoslavia and on
the south and southeast with Greece. Tirana, the capital, is less than
an hour by aircraft from eight other European capitals and barely more
than two hours from the most distant of them. The coastline is adjacent
to shipping lanes that have been important since early Greek and Roman
times. Nevertheless, partly because of its rugged terrain and partly
because of its political orientation, the country remains remote and
isolated from its European neighbors (see ch. 6, Government Structure
and Political System).
The large expanses of rugged and generally inaccessible terrain provided
refuge for the Albanian ethnic group and permitted its distinctive
identity to survive throughout the centuries. Although the country was
almost always under foreign domination, it was never extensively
colonized because of the lack of arable land, easily exploitable
resources, and natural inland transportation routes. It has been, and
continues to be, poorly developed. Agricultural and pastoral pursuits
have been the primary means of livelihood, and only after 1950 did
industry begin to be developed to any appreciable degree.
Until recently, the coastal lowlands supported few people and did not
provide easy access to the interior. The mountains that constitute 70
percent of the country's area are difficult to traverse and generally
inhospitable. Rivers are almost entirely unnavigable, and only in the
south are there valleys wide enough to link the coast with the interior.
By 1970 no railway and only three good roads crossed the national
borders.
The physical characteristics of the land have contributed to differing
living conditions and social relationships in the various sectors of the
country. Before independence in 1912, the area of modern Albania had
never been politically integrated, nor had it ever been an economically
viable unit. It owes its existence as a state to the ethnic factor, and
survival of the ethnic group is attributable to the natural isolation of
the country.
The area is 11,100 square miles. The boundaries, established in
principle in 1913 and demarcated in 1923, were essentially unchanged in
1970, although Greece had not dropped its claim to a large part of
southern Albania. The eastern boundary divides the Macedonian lake
district among three states--Albania, Greece, and Yugoslavia--that have
ethnic populations in the area and follows high mountain ridges wherever
possible to the north and south of the lakes. The northern and southern
borders were drawn to achieve a separation between the Albanians and
neighboring nationalities, although there is a large group of Albanians
in the Kosovo area of Yugoslavia across the northeastern border, and
Greeks and Albanians intermingle in the southeast (see fig. 1).
Resources are insufficient to make the country wealthy, and some that
are available have not been thoroughly exploited. Interior regions have
been inaccessible. Agricultural land has been inefficiently used for
centuries because people having large landholdings preferred to maintain
more profitable livestock herds rather than cultivate the earth for
foodstuff production. Malaria, until the 1930s, prevented development or
reclamation of the coastal lowlands. Lacking the capital investment
necessary, extensive development projects had not been undertaken by
1970.
The lowlands and the lower mountains of the south have a Mediterranean
climate; weather in the northern and eastern highlands is dominated by
the continental air masses that persist over central and Eastern Europe.
Overall rainfall is plentiful throughout the country, but most areas
receive it seasonally.
Apart from the bare rock mountains and portions of the alluvial lowlands
that are alternately parched and inundated, most of the land encourages
a wide variety of wild vegetation. Areas suitable for cultivation,
however, are small. There are good soils on about 5 percent of the land
surface, but land three or four times that percentage is considered
arable. Forests cover nearly one-half of the land. About one-fourth is
suitable for grazing animals.
The citizen relates closely to the land. Although he has been nationally
independent for only a few years in the twentieth century and very
seldom earlier, his property has been so difficult to reach that
occupying powers have often left him alone. The land has had beauty that
has fostered pride and loyalty, and a hardy breed has survived the
constant struggle to derive an existence from it.
NATURAL REGIONS
The 70 percent of the country that is mountainous is rugged and often
inaccessible. The remaining alluvial plain receives its precipitation
seasonally, is poorly drained, is alternately arid or flooded, and much
of it is devoid of fertility. Far from offering a relief from the
difficult interior terrain, it is often as inhospitable to its
inhabitants as are the mountains. Good soil and dependable precipitation
occur, however, in river basins within the mountains, in the lake
district on the eastern border, and in a narrow band of slightly
elevated land between the coastal plains and the higher interior
mountains (see fig. 2).
North Albanian Alps
The mountains of the far north of Albania are an extension of the
Dinaric Alpine chain and, more specifically, the Montenegrin limestone
(karst) plateau. They are, however, more folded and rugged than the more
typical portions of the plateau. The rivers have deep valleys with steep
sides and do not furnish arable valley floors; most of the grazing and
farming are done on the flatter mountaintops. The rivers provide little
access into the area and are barriers to communication within it. Roads
are few and poor. Lacking internal communications and external contacts,
a tribal society flourished within this Alpine region for centuries.
Only after World War II were serious efforts made to incorporate the
people of the region into the remainder of the country.
Southern Mountains
The extent of the region occupied by the southern mountains is not
settled to the satisfaction of all authorities. Some include all of the
area in a large diamond shape roughly encompassing all the uplands of
southern Albania beneath lines connecting Vlore, Elbasan, and Korce.
Although this area has trend lines of the same type and orientation, it
includes mountains that are associated more closely with the systems in
the central part of the country. Other authorities confine the area to
the mountains that are east of Vlore and south of the Vijose River.
These have features generally common to southern Albania and the
adjacent Greek Epirus. This demarcation is considered preferable because
it more nearly defined a traditional area that tends to lose some of the
more purely national character of the lands north of it.
The southern ranges revert again to the northwest to southeast trend
lines characteristic of the Dinaric Alps. They are, however, more gentle
and accessible than the serpentine zone, the eastern highlands, or the
North Albanian Alps. Transition to the lowlands is less abrupt, and
arable valley floors are wider. Limestone is predominant, contributing
to the cliffs and clear water along the Albanian Riviera. An
intermixture of softer rocks has eroded and become the basis for the
sedimentation that has resulted in wider valleys between the ridges than
are common in the remainder of the country. This terrain encouraged the
development of larger landholdings, thus influencing the social
structure of the area (see ch. 5, Social System).
[Illustration: Source: Adapted from Norman J. G. Pounds, _Eastern
Europe_, Chicago, 1969, p. 824.
_Figure 2. Landform Regions in Albania_]
Lowlands
A low coastal belt extends from the northern boundary southward to about
Vlore. It averages less than ten miles deep but widens to about thirty
miles in the Elbasan area. In its natural state it is characterized by
low scrub vegetation, varying from barren to dense. There are large
areas of marshland and other areas of bare eroded badlands. Where
elevations rise slightly and precipitation is regular--in the foothills
of the central uplands, for example--the land is excellent. Marginal
land is being reclaimed wherever irrigation is possible.
The land itself is of recent geological origin. It has been, and is
being, created by sediments from the many torrents that erode the
interior mountains. New alluvial deposits tend to be gravelly, without
humus, and require many years before sufficient vegetation to make them
fertile can be established. The sedimentation process, moreover, raises
river channels above the level of the nearby terrain. Channels change
frequently, devastating areas that have not been stabilized and creating
marshes in others by blocking off the drainage. Road builders are
confronted with difficult and constantly changing conditions.
Rainfall is heavy during the winter and is infrequent to nonexistent
during nearly half the year. Mosquitoes thrive in the hot, humid, and
marshy land. Only since about 1930 have there been effective measures to
control malaria. Before then no extensive working of areas near the
marshes could be seriously considered. For these reasons the coastal
zone, in addition to supporting few people, has until relatively
recently acted as a barrier, hindering, rather than encouraging, contact
with the interior.
Coastal hills descend abruptly to Ionian Sea beaches along the Albanian
Riviera from Vlore Bay southward to about Sarande. The 500- and
1,000-foot contour lines are within a mile or so of the water along
nearly the entire distance. In the northern portion a 4,000-foot ridge
is frequently only two to three miles inland. South of Sarande is
another small area of coastal lowlands fronting on the Ionian Sea and
separated from the Greek island of Corfu (Kerkira) by a mile-wide
channel. Climate and soil conditions permit the cultivation of citrus
fruits in this southernmost area of Albania.
Central Uplands
The central uplands region extends south from the Drin River valley,
which marks the southern boundary of the North Albanian Alpine area, to
the southern mountains. It is an area of generally lower mountain
terrain immediately east of the lowlands. In the north, from the Drin
River to the vicinity of Elbasan, it constitutes an area about twenty
miles wide. It narrows to practically nothing in the vicinity of
Elbasan, then widens into a broader triangular shape with its base
against the southern mountains. Earth shifting along the faultline that
roughly defines the western edge of the central uplands causes frequent
and occasionally severe earthquakes. Major damage occurred over wide
areas in 1967 and 1969.
Softer rocks predominate in the uplands. The most extensive are flysch,
a soft crumbly rock that is usually sandstone but frequently contains
shales, sandy limestones, and marl. This type of formation erodes
rapidly and is the basis of much of the poor alluvial lowland soil. The
ridges of the uplands are extensions of the Dalmatian coastal range that
enters Albania from Yugoslavia. Elevations are generally moderate,
between 1,000 and 3,000 feet with a few reaching above 5,000 feet.
Serpentine Zone
Although there are rugged terrain and high points in the central
uplands, the first major mountain range inland from the Adriatic is an
area of predominantly serpentine rock. The serpentine zone extends
nearly the length of the country, from the North Albanian Alps to the
Greek border south of Korce, an area 10 to 20 miles wide and over 125
miles in length lying generally between the central uplands and the
eastern highlands. At Elbasan, however, it makes nearly direct contact
with the coastal plain, and it reaches the eastern border for nearly 50
miles in, and north of, the lake region. Within its zone there are many
areas in which sharp limestone and sandstone outcroppings predominate
over the serpentine, although the ranges as a whole are characterized by
rounded mountain features.
The serpentine rock derives its name from its dull green color and often
mottled or spotted appearance. It can occur in several states. Iron,
nickel, or other metals can substitute in its chemical formula for the
more prevalent magnesium and will cause color variations.
Eastern Highlands
The mountains east of the serpentine zone are the highest in the country
and are the basis for part of the eastern boundary. They occupy a narrow
strip south of Lakes Ohrid and Prespa, and a similar one, also running
north and south, lies between the White Drin River and the Yugoslav city
of Debar. A peak in the Korab range, on the border north of Debar,
exceeds 9,000 feet. The ranges have north-south trend lines.
Geologically young and composed largely of hard limestone rocks, the
eastern highlands, together with the North Albanian Alps and the
serpentine zone, are the most rugged and inaccessible of any terrain on
the Balkan Peninsula.
Lake Region
The three lakes of easternmost Albania are part of the Macedonian lake
district. The Yugoslav border passes through Lake Ohrid; all but a small
tip of Little Lake Prespa is in Greece; and the point at which the
boundaries of all three states meet is in Lake Prespa. The two larger
lakes have areas of about 100 square miles each, and Little Lake Prespa
is about one-fifth as large. These are total surface areas, including
the portions on both sides of the national boundary lines. The surface
elevation is about 2,285 feet for Lake Ohrid and about 2,800 feet for
the other two. The lakes are remote and picturesque. Lake Ohrid is fed
primarily from underground springs and is blue and very clear. At times
its transparency can approach 70 feet. A good percentage of the terrain
in the vicinity of the lakes is not overly steep, and it supports a
larger population than any other inland portion of the country.
NATIONAL BOUNDARIES
The distinct ethnic character of the people and their isolation within a
fairly restricted and definable area brought support for their demands
for independence in the early twentieth century. There were places where
different ethnic populations intermingled, and there were other
pressures that affected the definition of the borders. The Kosovo area
across the northeastern border is a part of modern Yugoslavia, but it
contains a substantial Albanian population. There are Greeks and
Albanians in the mountains on both sides of the southeastern boundary.
Albania is not content with the Kosovo situation, and neither Greece nor
Albania is satisfied with the division effected by their mutual border.
The country is the smallest in Eastern Europe and has a perimeter of
only 750 miles. The border shared with Yugoslavia runs northward from
Lake Prespa, around northern Albania, to the Adriatic Sea for a total of
just under 300 miles. Forty miles of this border follows river courses,
and an almost equal distance is within lakes. The Greek border from the
common point in Lake Prespa southwest to the Ionian Sea is about 160
miles long. Twelve miles of this border are within lakes but, because it
crosses the trend lines of the southern mountain ranges, only four miles
are along rivers.
The Adriatic and Ionian coastline is just under 300 miles long. The
lowlands of the west face the Adriatic Sea and the Strait of Otranto,
which is a mere 47 miles from the heel of the Italian boot. The Albanian
Riviera, the coastline that runs southeast from Vlore, is on the Ionian
Sea.
With the exception of the coastline, all Albanian borders are
artificial. They were established in principle at the 1913 Conference of
Ambassadors in London. The country was occupied by the warring powers
during World War I, but the 1913 boundaries were reaffirmed at
Versailles in 1921. Finally demarcated in 1923, they were confirmed by
the Paris Agreement of 1926 and were essentially unchanged in 1970. The
original principle was to define the borders in accordance with the best
interests of the Albanian ethnic group and the nationalities in adjacent
areas. The northern and eastern borders were intended, insofar as
possible, to separate the Albanians from the Serbian and Montenegrin
peoples; the southeast border was to separate Albanians and Greeks; and
the valuable western Macedonia lake district was to be divided among the
states 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, to keep from separating a village
from its animals' grazing areas or from the markets for its produce.
Political pressures also were a factor in the negotiations, but the
negotiations were subject to approval by powers having relatively remote
interests, most of which involved the balance of power rather than
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 a distribution
was artificial but, once made, necessarily influenced 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
some ten to twenty miles west of the watershed divide.
Proceeding counterclockwise around northern Albania, the watershed
divide was abandoned altogether along the northeast boundary. In the
process a large Albanian population in Kosovo was incorporated into
Yugoslavia.
In the extreme north and the northeastern mountainous sections, the
border with Yugoslavia connects high points and follows mountain ridges
through the North Albanian Alps where there is little movement of the
people. There is no natural topographic dividing line from the
highlands, through Lake Scutari, to the Adriatic, but the lake and a
portion of the Buene River south of it were used. From the lake district
south and southwest to the Ionian Sea, the boundary runs perpendicular
to the terrain trend lines and crosses a number of ridges instead of
following them.
LOCAL ADMINISTRATIVE AREAS
The twenty-six districts that are the primary administrative
subdivisions of the country have evolved from divisions that have
existed for many years or have developed over a period of time (see fig.
3). In the northern third of the country, district lines were based on
the territory occupied by tribal groups. In the part of the country
south from about Tirana, they were based on the large landholdings
controlled by those who in earlier years had governed the areas for the
Ottomans.
Upon independence most of the old local boundaries, long understood if
not always precisely defined, were retained, and the areas became
prefectures. Before World War II there were ten prefectures, which in
turn were divided into about forty subprefectures. The Communist regime
did not abandon the prefectures immediately but eventually replaced them
with districts that were, generally, based on the old subprefectures. In
a series of changes, the latest of which were made in December 1967, the
districts were consolidated into the twenty-six that existed in 1970.
The districts are much the same size. Sixteen of them have areas ranging
between 300 and 600 square miles. The largest, Shkoder, has about 980
square miles; the smallest, Lezhe, has about 180.
Changes in the areas and boundaries of the districts made during the
1960s were based chiefly on economic considerations, although political
and security considerations also played a part. A major factor has been
the collectivization of agriculture. In 1968 and 1969, for example, when
the government decided to enlarge the collective farms, district lines
were shifted in order to keep all of the land in a collective within the
same district (see ch. 6, Government Structure and Political System).
[Illustration: Source: Adapted from _Vjetari Statistikor i R. P. Sh.,
1967-1968_, Tirana, 1968, frontispiece.
_Figure 3. Administrative Districts in Albania_]
Although there are natural barriers to almost all movement in the
country, there are few, if any, that contribute to the boundaries of the
districts. Eight districts border on the seashore, but only three of
them have more lowland than mountainous terrain. The Shkoder District,
for example, has all of the lowlands in the vicinity of the city and
almost half of the most mountainous portion of the North Albanian Alps.
In a few instances the borders of interior districts follow the river
valleys, but it is more usual for them to contain segments of the rivers
and, when this is the case, their boundary lines stay in the higher
regions.
CLIMATE
With its coastline oriented westward onto the Adriatic and Ionian seas,
its highlands backed upon the elevated Balkan landmass, and the entire
country lying at a latitude that receives different patterns of weather
systems during the winter and summer seasons, Albania has a number of
climatic regions highly unusual for so small an area. The coastal
lowlands have typically Mediterranean weather; the highlands have a
so-called Mediterranean continental climate. Both the lowland and
interior weather change markedly from north to south.
The lowlands have mild winters, averaging about 45 deg.F. Summer
temperatures average 75 deg.F., humidity is high, and the season tends
to be oppressively uncomfortable. The southern lowlands are warmer,
averaging about five degrees higher throughout the year. The difference
is greater than five degrees during the summer and somewhat less during
the winter.
Inland temperatures vary more widely with differences in elevation than
with latitude or any other factor. Cold winter temperatures in the
mountains result from the continental air masses that predominate over
Eastern Europe and the Balkans. Northerly and northeasterly winds blow
much of the time. Average summer temperatures are lower than in the
coastal areas and much lower at high elevations, but daily fluctuations
are greater. Daytime maximum temperatures in the interior basins and
river valleys are very high, but the nights are almost always cool (see
table 1).
The average precipitation over the country is high resulting from the
convergence of the prevailing airflow from the Mediterranean with the
continental air mass. They usually meet at the point where the terrain
rises. Arriving at that line, the Mediterranean air meets increasing
ground elevations that force it to rise and an air mass that tends to
resist its further progress. This causes the heaviest rainfall in the
central uplands. Vertical currents initiated when the Mediterranean
air is uplifted also result in frequent thunderstorms. Many of them in
this area are violent and are accompanied by high local winds and
torrential downpours.
_Table 1. Temperature and Precipitation Averages for Selected Locations
in Albania_
Average Temperatures* Annual
Elevation Coldest Warmest precipitation
Place Location (in feet) Annual month month (in inches)
Shkoder Northern coastal
lowlands 50 59 40 78 80
Durres Central coastal
lowlands Sea level 61 47 77 38
Vlore Southern coastal
lowlands do 62 48 77 39
Sarande Albanian Riviera do 63 ... ... 55
Tirana Mid-Albania at
base of central
uplands 360 58 42 76 49
Puke North-central
uplands 2,850 51 34 70 72
Kruje Central uplands 2,000 55 39 71 67
Korce Eastern highlands 2,850 51 ... ... 30
*In degrees Fahrenheit.
Source: Adapted from _Vjetari Statistikor i R. P. Sh., 1967-1968_.
Tirana, 1968, pp. 18-19; and Great Britain, Admiralty, Naval
Intelligence Division, _Albania_, London, 1945, p. 93.
When the continental system is weak, Mediterranean winds drop their
moisture farther inland. When there is a dominant continental air mass,
it spills cold air onto the lowland areas. This occurs most frequently
in the winter season. Since the season's lower temperatures damage olive
trees and citrus fruits, their groves and orchards are restricted to
sheltered places with southern and western exposures, even in areas that
have seemingly high average winter temperatures.
Lowland rainfall averages from forty to nearly sixty inches annually,
increasing between those extremes from south to north. Nearly 95 percent
of the rain falls during the rainy season.
Rainfall in the upland mountain ranges is higher. Adequate records are
not available, and estimates vary widely, but annual averages are
probably about 70 inches and are as high as 100 inches in some northern
areas. The seasonal variation is not quite as great as in the coastal
area, with the most nearly even distribution in the north, largely
because of summer thunderstorms.
The higher inland mountains receive less precipitation than the
intermediate uplands. Terrain differences cause wide local variations,
but the seasonal distribution is the most consistent of any area. In the
northern mountains, for example, the months that usually have the
highest averages are November and June.
DRAINAGE
All but a very small portion of the precipitation drains through the
rivers to the coastline without leaving the country. With the exception
of a few insignificant trickles, only one small stream in the northern
part of the country escapes Albania. In the south an even smaller
rivulet drains into Greece. As the divide is on the eastern side of the
borders with Yugoslavia and Greece, however, a considerable amount of
water from those countries drains through Albania. A quite extensive
portion of the White Drin River basin is in the Kosovo area across the
northeastern Yugoslav border. The three lakes shared with Yugoslavia and
Greece, as well as all the streams that flow into them, drain into the
Drin River. The watershed divide in the south also dips nearly forty
miles into Greece at one point. Several tributaries of the Vijose River
rise in that area (see fig. 4).
[Illustration: _Figure 4. Rivers and Lakes in Albania_]
With the exception of the Drin River, which flows northward and drains
nearly the entire eastern border region before it turns westward to the
sea, most of the rivers in the northern and central parts of the country
flow much more directly westward to the sea. In the process they cut
through the ridges rather than flowing around them. This apparent
impossibility came about because the highlands were originally lifted
without much folding. The streams came into existence at that time and
antedate the ridges because the compression and folding of the plateau
occurred later. The folding process was rapid enough in many instances
to block the rivers temporarily, forming lakes that existed until the
downstream channel was cut sufficiently to drain them. This sequence
created the many interior basins that are typically a part of the
landforms. During the lifetimes of the temporary lakes enough sediment
was deposited in them to form the basis for fertile soils. Folding was
only infrequently rapid enough to force the streams to radically
different channels.
The precipitous fall from higher elevations and the highly irregular
seasonal flow patterns that are characteristic of nearly all streams in
the country reduce the immediate value of the streams. They erode the
mountains and deposit the sediment that created, and continues to add
to, the lowlands, but the rivers flood during the seasons when there is
local rainfall. When the lands are parched and need irrigation, the
rivers are usually dry. Their violence makes them difficult to control,
and they are unnavigable. The Buene is an exception. It is dredged
between Shkoder and the Adriatic and is navigable for small ships. In
contrast to their histories of holding fast to their courses in the
mountains, the rivers have constantly changed channels on the lower
plains, making wastes of much of the land they have created.
The Drin River is the largest and most constant stream (see table 2).
Fed by melting snows from the northern and eastern mountains and by the
more evenly distributed seasonal precipitation of that area, its flow
does not have the extreme variations characteristic of nearly all other
rivers in the country. Its normal flow varies seasonally by only about
one-third. Along its length of about 175 miles it drains nearly 2,300
square miles within Albania. As it also collects from the Adriatic
portion of the Kosovo watershed and the three border lakes (Lake Prespa
drains to Lake Ohrid via an underground stream), its total basin is
around 6,000 square miles.
The Seman and Vijose are the only other rivers that are more than 100
miles in length and have basins larger than 1,000 square miles. These
rivers drain the southern regions and, reflecting the seasonal
distribution of rainfall, are torrents in winter and nearly dry in the
summer, in spite of their relatively long lengths. This is also the case
with the many shorter streams. In the summer most of them carry less
than a tenth of their winter averages, if they are not altogether dry.
_Table 2. Drainage Basins in Albania_
Drainage basin Length of river Area of basin
(in miles) (in square miles)
Drin 174 2,263*
Seman 157 2,305
Vijose 147 1,682
Shkumbin 91 918
Mat 65 964
Erzen 56 301
Ishm 43 244
Buene** 27 623
* Within Albania only.
** Includes Lake Scutari.
Source: Adapted from Athanas Gegaj and Rexhep Krasniqi, _Albania_,
New York, 1964, p. 8.
The sediment carried by the mountain torrents continues to be deposited
but, having created the lowlands, new deposits delay their exploitation.
Stream channels rise as silt is deposited in them and eventually become
higher than the surrounding terrain. Changing channels frustrate
development in many areas. Old channels become barriers to proper
drainage and create swamps or marshlands. It has been difficult to build
roads or railroads across the lowlands or to use the land.
Irrigation has been accomplished ingeniously by Albanian peasants for
many years, to the degree that they and their expertise have been sought
after throughout Europe. Projects required to irrigate or to reclaim
large areas of the lowlands, however, are on a scale that probably
cannot be accomplished without financial assistance from outside the
country.
Although water is available in quantities adequate for irrigation and it
has the amount of fall necessary for hydroelectric power production,
terrain and seasonal factors are such that major capital investment
would be required for both irrigation and power projects. Snow
stabilizes drainage of the higher northern and eastern mountains but,
unfortunately, the only major snow accumulations are in the Drin basin,
influencing only the one river system.
NATURAL RESOURCES
Soils
Soil resources are small. Arable land figures notwithstanding, good
agricultural land amounts to only about 5 percent of the country's area.
Soils over limestone are thin or altogether lacking. Serpentine rock
erodes slowly and produces clays of little agricultural value. The
softer rocks of the intermediate mountains crumble easily into course
and infertile sands and gravels that take many years to acquire humus.
The alluvial soil of the lowland plains, therefore, tends to be sterile
in addition to receiving its precipitation seasonally and being poorly
drained. There is little land along the narrow valley floors. The best
soils, those within the inland basins, are excellent. The narrow margin
of slightly elevated land between the coastal plains and the mountains
also provides excellent arable fields.
Vegetation
Western sources have estimated that, in 1969, 11 percent of the land
area was arable, of which nearly one-half was in use as vineyards and
olive groves. Forests covered just over one-third of the land, and
pastures just under one-third. About 22 percent of the land was
unproductive, but one-half of the unproductive areas had a potential for
development. Albanian government pronouncements have stated that about
20 percent of the land was arable in 1968 and that this figure would be
increased to 22 percent in 1970. The discrepancies in land use
statistics arise from varying interpretations as to the amount of
pastureland that is arable. Much that Albanian sources have claimed as
newly arable almost certainly is marginally so.
Dependence upon corn as the primary staple crop in much of the country
and limited amounts of arable land tended, until about 1950, to prevent
proper crop rotation. The government is attempting to introduce more
scientific agricultural practices and has claimed improved crop yields.
Although the amount of land that can be cultivated for the production of
foodstuffs is meager, the remoteness of the interior has allowed natural
flora to exist over fairly extensive areas with little disturbance. A
large variety of species flourishes, and an unusual number of them are
found in that vicinity only. Of some 2,300 seed-bearing plants, over 300
appear in the Balkans alone, and more than 50 occur only in Albania.
The land considered forest includes areas that contain little more than
scrub ground cover and others that have been ravaged by unsystematic
cutting. More than half of the forests, however, contain mature trees
and, owing largely to their inaccessibility, have escaped the reckless
harvesting that destroyed many lower elevation forests during the first
years of the country's independence.
Maquis, a Mediterranean scrub tree, grows to about fifteen or twenty
feet, can be extremely dense, and is the most frequent ground cover at
low elevations. It withstands dry weather and, although it is of little
value as a tree and does not of itself build a rich soil, it stabilizes
the alluvial lowlands and provides cover for better humus-producing
vegetation. Maquis can survive at slightly higher elevations in
sheltered conditions, but it is usually found below 1,000 or 1,300 feet.
Most maquis species are evergreen. Deciduous scrub, usually
Christ's-thorn, or _shiblijak_, is also common in the lowlands, but it
occurs much less frequently than maquis.
The oaks are the most important of trees. Oak forests have never
reattained the majesty they had during the days of Venice's power when
they could be called upon to furnish 400 shiploads of straight oak stems
for Venetian fleets, but in 1970 they still constituted nearly half of
all forests. The oaks are valuable not only for their economic worth as
fuel and lumber but also because the leaves of deciduous varieties and
the undergrowth encouraged beneath them are excellent soil builders.
Occurring at moderate elevations, however, they have been accessible and
overexploited. Lowland oak forests contain poorer species that rarely
grow in excess of thirty feet tall, but the thick undergrowth they
usually allow provides stability and improves the alluvial soil. The
finer and more valuable species occur at middle and higher elevations.
Oak forests predominate between 1,000- and 3,000-foot elevations but
occur up to about 4,000 feet.
Beech trees appear at all elevations between 3,000 feet and the
timberline. They predominate in northern areas between about 3,500 and
6,000 feet. In the south they flourish at the same elevations but are
usually outnumbered by conifers. Beech is excellent hard wood, and its
leaves are among the best of soil builders. The trees generate most of
the humus themselves, as their canopies interlace tightly in mature
forests, permitting relatively little undergrowth to flourish on the
forest floors beneath them. Mature forests have survived in many of the
remote, inaccessible areas that beech species prefer. The most copious
forests are in cloud forest regions where cloud cover is almost
constant, rainfall is frequent, and temperatures do not usually reach
the extreme highs.
The better conifers, usually including several pine species in the
north and fir, with lesser numbers of pine and spruce, in the south,
coexist with beech but tolerate poorer soils and tend to predominate at
the highest elevations. Although they tend to have less continuous
canopies than beech forests, they do not encourage undergrowth. Their
needles, along with rapid decay of their softer dead wood, however, can
create deep humus. The poorer quality lowland pines do well at
elevations down to sea level and will tolerate certain conditions,
although not overly poor drainage, in which the oak will not survive.
Its woods usually have discontinuous canopies and allow dense maquis and
other lower shrubs to flourish beneath them.
True mixed woods, sometimes referred to as karst woods, occur at medium
elevations. They are usually almost entirely deciduous but have wide
varieties of species. The larger trees include maple, ash, beech, and
oak, but these are vastly outnumbered. Intermediate varieties of
hawthorne, dogwood, hazel, and cherry flourish among the larger trees,
and hundreds of smaller plants, ranging from bushes, shrubs, and ferns
to grasses and moss, provide ground cover. With a profusion of varieties
in constant competition for available space and soil, those that do best
in a particular soil mixture prosper in a given locality. Because the
soil in the uplands relates closely to the base rock and the mountains
were created by geologically recent folding that has exposed the edges
of layered rock formations, there are abrupt changes in the basic
surface rock. This is reflected immediately in mixed woods by equally
abrupt changes in the species that appear.
Of the more abundant smaller flora families, the daisy, pea, grass,
pink, nettle, mustard, parsley, figwort, rose, buttercup, and lily
groups has more than fifty species that can be found within Albania.
Flowering plants flourish especially well in limestone areas where there
are masses of vividly colored wild flowers during the springtime. Must
less brilliant colors appear on serpentine outcroppings and, as is the
case with the mixed woods, the difference is abrupt where limestone and
serpentine are the surface rocks in closely adjacent areas.
Wildlife
Summer livestock grazing in the mountains and uncontrolled hunting
reduced wildlife to insignificance. Some deer, wild boar, and wolves
remain in the more remote forests. Chamois were plentiful in the area
but are now extremely rare. Wild fowl, however, are abundant in the
lowland swamps and lower forests.
Minerals
Exploitation of the country's minerals generates the largest share of
the gross industrial product and provides employment for the largest
number of the industrial labor force. This does not indicate, however,
that the country is rich in mineral resources, but it serves to
underscore the still poorer state of its agricultural and industrial
sectors and indicates that the country engages in relatively little
international commerce.
There are considerable reserves in oil and natural gas. Oil can be
extracted in quantity sufficient to meet domestic demands and to export.
A pipeline from the oilfields at Stalin (formerly Kucove) transmits the
oil to the port of Vlore. The crude oil, however, has a high sulfur
content and is expensive to refine.
Chrome is the most important export commodity. Albania is the largest
chrome source in Eastern Europe, and its mines have at times supplied
about 2 percent of the world's total. Good-quality copper ore is also
available in export quantities.
No hard coal veins are known, but lignite is plentiful and its deposits
are accessible. Asphalt (bitumen) occurs in a concentrated deposit in
one small area. This source has been actively worked for centuries. Some
of it has been exported.
Iron, nickel, gold, and silver ores occur in less important deposits.
Iron is plentiful, but the ores are of low grade. The other deposits are
minor. Bauxite appears in quantity deposits in several areas. Sufficient
year-round power sources, however, are not available to process it.
Magnesite, arsenic, pyrites, and gypsum sources are worked. Clay and
kaolin suitable for pottery are also extracted. Salt is abundant.
Limestone is available throughout the country and quarried wherever it
is needed.
TRANSPORTATION
Even when its territory sat astride a direct route between two points,
Albania was usually bypassed because there was nearly always a longer
way around that was easier and safer. As a result, its transportation
links with the rest of the world are very few. Its internal systems are
also inadequate for good communications within the country. All railways
are short, internal routes, and the lines that were complete in 1970
connected only three of the major cities. Two primary roads, one of
which was originally constructed by the Romans, cross into Greece, and a
third crosses into Yugoslavia. Only a dozen more roads, all of them
secondary, lead out of the country. There is little air traffic with the
outside world; it usually involves connecting flights to major airlines
in neighboring countries (see fig. 1).
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
Shkumbin 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 principal road network had been expanded
by three times over what it had been in 1938. Perhaps 3,000 miles could
be classed 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 Shkumbin 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 constitute 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
transshipment 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
vassal 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 Shipping
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-class harbor, warehouses,
petroleum storage tanks, a shipbuilding 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 ships 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 Shipping_ for 1968 listed eleven Albanian vessels
totaling 36,550 gross tons. Albania and Communist China maintain a
jointly owned shipping line, and the number of ships with Albanian
registry is increasing.