Vlorë

Vlorë ( , ; sq-definite, Vlora) is the third most populous city of the Republic of Albania and seat of Vlorë County and Vlorë Municipality. Located in southwestern Albania, Vlorë sprawls on the Bay of Vlorë and is surrounded by the foothills of the Ceraunian Mountains along the Albanian Adriatic and Ionian Sea Coasts. It experiences a Mediterranean climate, which is affected by the Ceraunian Mountains and the proximity to the Mediterranean Sea.

Vlorë was founded as Aulon as an Ancient Greek colony on the Illyrian coast and was conquered at different periods throughout history by Romans, Byzantines, Normans, Venetians and Ottomans. Between the 18th and 19th centuries, the Albanians gathered both spiritual and intellectual strength for national consciousness, which conclusively led to the Albanian Renaissance. Vlorë played an instrumental role in Albanian Independence as an epicenter for the founders of modern Albania, who signed the Declaration of Independence on 28 November 1912 at the Assembly of Vlorë.

Vlorë is one of the most significant cities of southern Albania and the region of Labëria which is traditionally noted for its culture, traditions and folklore. Vlorë is served by the Port of Vlorë, the SH8 highway, and the A2 motorway, collectively representing part of the Adriatic–Ionian Corridor and the Pan-European Corridor VIII.

Name

Vlorë was founded as an Ancient Greek colony on the Illyrian coast. Its initial name was ''Aulṓn'' (; also the name in modern Katharevousa), meaning "channel, glen" and possibly a translation of another indigenous name. The name of the city was first recorded in the 2nd century AD, by two Ancient Greek authors, Lucian and Ptolemy, the latter calling it "town and sea-port", which confirms that it was founded much earlier. However, Aulon has not been mentioned by more Ancient Greek and Roman authors, who on the other hand recorded the nearby town and seaport of Oricum. But in later sources Oricum is less encountered, while the toponym Aulon is more frequently mentioned.

''Vlorë'' developed from the ancient ''Aulon-a'' through the evolution of the phonetic system of the Albanian language with the rhotacism ''Vlonë'' > ''Vlorë'', which is a pre-Slavic phenomenon in Albanian. The intervocalic has regularly evolved to in Tosk Albanian, while the initial has evolved from unstressed after the disappearance of the initial unstressed . The evolution > should be relatively ancient, preventing the evolution of the following intervocalic to . In Geg Albanian the toponym is pronounced ''Vlonë'', indicating that it has been in use among northern Albanians before the appearance of rhotacism in Tosk Albanian. Also the accent pattern of the name observes Albanian accent rules.

The medieval and modern Greek name is ''Avlónas'' ( ''Aulṓnas'' , accusative ''Aulṓna'' ), and is the source of the Latin ''Aulona'', the Italian ''Valona'' (also used in other languages) and of the obsolete English ''Avlona''."" in the ''Encyclopædia Britannica'', 1878. During the Ottoman era the city of Vlorë was known in Turkish as ''Avlonya''. In Medieval Latin sources and in Old Italian records it is mentioned with the forms ''Avalona'', ''Avelona'', ''Lavalona'', ''Lavellona''; and in Old Serbian sources as ''Avlona'' or ''Vavlona'', the latter containing the Slavic preposition ''v'' "in". In Aromanian, the city is known as .

History

Early history

Due to its strategic position on the Adriatic Sea, especially the Bay of Vlorë, which forms a natural harbor, Vlorë occupied a significant place in classical antiquity as a base for trade by many peoples. Vlorë is considered one of the oldest cities in Albania and the region. The city was founded by the ancient Greeks in the 6th century BC and named ''Aulōn''. It is also one of several colonies on the Illyrian coast, mentioned for the first time by Ptolemy ''(Geographia III xii, 2)''. In terms of Greek mythology the inhabitants of Aulon claimed descent from the Nostoi; returning heroes from Trojan War. Other geographical documents, such as the ''Tabula Peutingeriana'' and Hierocles' ''Synecdemus'', also mention Aulon. The city served as an important port of the Roman Empire, when it was part of Epirus Nova.

Aulon (''Avlona'') became an episcopal see in the 5th century. Among the known bishops are ''Nazarius'' in 458 and ''Soter'' in 553 (Daniele Farlati, ''Illyricum sacrum'', VII, 397–401). The diocese at that time belonged to the papal Pentarchy. In 733, it was annexed with the eastern Illyricum, to the Patriarchate of Constantinople, and yet it is not mentioned in any ''Notitiae Episcopatuum'' of that Church. The bishopric had probably been suppressed for though the Bulgarians had been in possession of this country for some time, Avlona is not mentioned in the "Notitiae episcopatuum" of the Bulgarian Patriarchate of Achrida.

During the Roman period, a Latin see was established and Eubel (''Hierarchia catholica medii aevi'', I, 124) mentions several of its bishops.
Aulon, no longer being a residential bishopric, is today listed by the Catholic Church as a titular see, a suffragan bishop of Durrës, being distinguished from a Greek titular see called Aulon by the use for it of the adjective ''Aulonitanus'', while the adjective regarding the Aulon in Euboea (Ionian Greece) is ''Aulonensis''. The diocese was nominally restored as Latin titular bishopric Aulon, or Valona in Curiate Italian; from 1925 it was (als) named Aulona in Latin and/or Italian, since 1933 it's only Aulon in Latin, Aulona in Italian. It was a bishopric from the fifth century until Bulgarian rule.

Middle Ages

In the 11th and 12th century, Vlorë played an instrumental role in the conflicts between the Byzantine Empire and Norman Kingdom of Sicily. Following Norman occupation, they ruled for only four years and established a Latin church episcopal see in Vlorë. Vlorë served as capital of the Principality of Valona, initially a Serbian vassal state and later, independent Christian state from 1346 to 1417.
The Ottoman Empire captured the city in 1417, while in 1432, Albanian rebels freed Vlorë and expelled the Ottomans from the area. As part of the Ottoman Empire, Vlorë became a ''sanjak'' centre in Rumelia Eyalet under the name ''Avlonya''. Later it become a Venetian possession in 1690 and the city was restored to the Ottomans in 1691, becoming a kaza of the Sanjak of Avlona in the ''vilayet'' (province) of Janina. At the time the city had about 10,000 inhabitants; there was a Catholic parish, which belonged to the Archdiocese of Durrës. During the early period of Ottoman rule, Vlorë became an international port centered on a high volume of trade between western Europe and the Ottoman state.

In 1426, the Ottomans supported the settlement of a Jewish community involved in mercantile activities. The community underwent population growth in subsequent decades with Jews migrating from Corfu, Venetian ruled lands, Naples, France, and the Iberian Peninsula. Following their expulsion and arrival from Spain, the Ottoman state settled Jewish expellees in Vlorë toward the latter part of the fifteenth century. Ottoman censuses for 1506 and 1520 recorded the Jewish population as consisting of 528 families and some 2,600 people in Vlorë. The Jews of Vlorë were involved in trade and the city imported items from Europe and exported spices, leather, cotton fabrics, velvets, brocades, and mohair from the Ottoman cities of Istanbul and Bursa. The Vlorë Jewish community took an active role in the welfare of other Jews such as managing to attain the release of war related captives present in Durrës in 1596. After the Battle of Lepanto (1571) and the deterioration of security along the Ottoman controlled Adriatic and Ionian coasts, the numbers of Jews within Vlorë decreased.

Albanian Renaissance

Between the 18th and 19th centuries, cultural developments, widely attributed to Albanians having gathered both spiritual and intellectual strength, conclusively led to the Albanian Renaissance with Vlorë becoming an epicenter of the movement in 1912. In 1833, Vlorë was captured by Albanian rebels forcing the Ottoman government to abolish taxes and comply to rebel requests.
In 1851 it suffered severely from an earthquake. The Jewish community of Yanina renewed the Jewish community of Vlorë in the nineteenth century.

On November 28, 1912, Ismail Qemali declared the Albanian National Awakening in Vlorë, during the First Balkan War. The city became Albania's first capital following its independence, but was invaded by Italy in 1914, during the World War I. The city remained occupied by Italian forces until an Albanian rebellion forced the Italians out of Albania in 1920. Italy invaded Vlorë again in 1939. The city remained under Italian occupation until Italy surrendered to the allies in 1943. Subsequently, Nazi Germany occupied the city until 1944. The city was liberated in 1944 by communist forces under Enver Hoxha.

Communist Albania

During the World War II, Sazan Island became the site of a German and Italian submarine base and naval installations; these installations were heavily bombed by the Allies.

After World War II, with Albania ruled by a Communist Party, the port was leased out to the Soviet Union for use as a submarine base. During 1960 and 1961 it served as a theater in the aftermath of the decision of Enver Hoxha to denounce Nikita Khrushchev's reforms. In April 1961 the Soviet Union, resenting being pushed out after considerable investment in the naval facilities at nearby Pasha Liman Base, threatened to occupy Vlora with Soviet troops, and cut off all Soviet economic, military and technical aid to Albania. The threat was not carried out, as a result of the simultaneous international developments; most notably the Cuban Missile Crisis. Hoxha, realizing the vulnerability of Albania after the 1968 Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia, ordered the construction of hundreds of thousands of concrete bunkers. Under Hoxha, Vlorë served as an important recruiting centre for the Sigurimi; the Albanian state security, intelligence and secret police service.

In 1997, Vlorë was the center of the Albanian civil war of 1997 after the collapse of several fraudulent investment schemes that led to the downfall of the Sali Berisha administration.

Geography

Vlorë is situated on the Bay of Vlorë along the Albanian Adriatic and Ionian Sea Coasts in the eastern part of the Strait of Otranto surrounded by the foothills of the Ceraunian Mountains. Defined in an area of , Vlorë Municipality is encompassed in Vlorë County as part of the Southern Region of Albania and consists of the adjacent administrative units of Novoselë, Orikum, Qendër Vlorë,_extending_from_the__Albanian_Adriatic_and__Ionian_Sea_Coasts_to_the_mountainous_region_of_southeastern_Albania._Labëria_is_distinguished_for_its_distinct_culture,_landscapes_and_traditions_and_known_as_the_birthplace_of_Albanian_iso-polyphony.html" ;"title="Greeks.html" "title="he Muslim community in Epirus, with the exception of small urban populations of the southern Greek-speaking areas, which we mentioned, and 2-3000 dispersed "Muslim Romani", consisted entirely of Albanian speakers, and in the late Ottoman period covered approximately ¾ of population ethnic Albanian speaking areas and more than 40% of the total area."; pp. 370, 374. In 1994 the ethnic Greeks">Greek