The Turks, who conquered the country five hundred years ago and ruled it until 1912, brought Mohammedanism with them. The people who are not Mohammedans are Christians, belonging to either the Greek Orthodox Church or the Roman Catholic Church. Since Albania has had a Communist government, which is opposed to all these religions, Albanian Mohammedans and Christians alike have had trouble keeping in touch with the heads of their churches in other countries. The people of Albania dress in the eastern fashion, very much as the Turks did thirty and more years ago, before European, customs of dress were introduced there.
According to law, education through grammar school is required and is free, but this law is often broken and it is possible that as many as half of the people cannot read and write. Along the Adriatic Sea, Albania has level land that has plenty of rainfall and is good for farming. Behind this the mountains rise steeply, and the Alpine section in northern Albania has peaks nearly 10,000 feet high. The climate is warm in the south, as it is in southern Italy, and temperate in the north, except in the mountains, which are very cold in the winter.
Every few miles, a river springs from the mountains and flows through Albania to the sea. The principal rivers are the Drin in the north, the Shkumbi in central Albania, and the Vijose in the south. The natural resource that has proved most valuable to Albania so far is oil. The best oilfields are in the low mountains in the south. The oil is carried by pipelines to the seaport of Vlona. In one way this oil has not been too lucky for Albania, because in 1939 Italy, which did not have enough oil of its own, started a war against Albania to get it. Albania has some coal mines, and the mountains are believed to hold large amounts of valuable minerals, but so far they have not been mined. Albania has neither the machines for mining nor the railroads or roads to carry the minerals away. There are few automobiles. Official travel between Albania and other Communist countries came to be chiefly by airplane after 1948 when Yugoslavia, Albania's Communist neighbor, left the Cominform.
David is the author of many articles including Best Friend Quotes and also the author of Best life quotes
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