Sotir Peci (1873–1932) was an Albanian politician, educator and mathematician. In 1906 he published the first Albanian-language newspaper in the

United States of America The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 contiguo ...

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

. In 1908 he participated as a delegate in the Congress of Monastir. In 1920 he was appointed Minister of Education of Albania.

Early life

Sotir Peci was born in Dardhë, a village near

Korçë Korçë (; sq-definite, Korça) is the List of cities and towns in Albania, eighth most populous city of Albania and the seat of Korçë County and Korçë Municipality. The total population of the city is 51,152 and 75,994 of Korçë municipal ...

, on July 13, 1873. The son of wealthy merchant Jovan Peci, his father died while he was a child. Peci studied at the local school in

. In 1890 at the age of 17 he enrolled at the

University of Athens The National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (NKUA; , ''Ethnikó kai Kapodistriakó Panepistímio Athinón''), usually referred to simply as the University of Athens (UoA), is a public university in Athens, Greece, with various campuses alo ...

where he studied

physical sciences Physical science is a branch of natural science that studies non-living systems, in contrast to life science. It in turn has many branches, each referred to as a "physical science", together is called the "physical sciences". Definition ...

and graduated with a degree in mathematics. While in Athens he published the Albanian dictionary written by Kostandin Kristoforidhi.

Activities in the United States

In 1905 Peci migrated to the United States, settling in Boston. There he became a member of the Patriotic Brotherhood of Dardha () and published the weekly newspaper ''The Nation'' (), the first Albanian-language newspaper in the USA. In 1906 he employed the literary, religious, and patriotic figure

Fan Noli Theofan Stilian Noli, known as Fan Noli (6 January 1882 – 13 March 1965), was an Albanian Americans, Albanian-American writer, scholar, diplomat, politician, historian, orator, bishop, and founder of the Albanian Orthodox Church and the Albania ...

as deputy editor of the newspaper.

Activities in Albania

In 1908 Peci participated in the Congress of Monastir, an

academic conference An academic conference or scientific conference (also congress, symposium, workshop, or meeting) is an Convention (meeting), event for researchers (not necessarily academics) to present and discuss their scholarly work. Together with academic jou ...

held in Manastir (modern Bitola), in the Vilayet of Monastir from 14 to 22 November 1908, with the goal of standardizing the

Albanian alphabet The Albanian alphabet () is a variant of the Latin alphabet used to write the Albanian language. It consists of 36 letters representing all the phonemes of Standard Albanian: The vowels are shown in bold. The letters are named simply by their ...

, as a delegate of the Albanian communities living in the United States of America for whom he was granted three votes. After returning to Albania in 1908 he taught at the Normal School of Elbasan. During the late Ottoman period, Peci supported Austro-Hungarian assistance toward Albanian geopolitical interests in the Balkans. Sotir Peci wrote a series of textbooks in physics, mathematics and grammar and was appointed director of education of

. He was a member of the

Committee for the National Defence of Kosovo A committee or commission is a body of one or more persons subordinate to a deliberative assembly or other form of organization. A committee may not itself be considered to be a form of assembly or a decision-making body. Usually, an assembly o ...

, founded in

Shkodër Shkodër ( , ; sq-definite, Shkodra; historically known as Scodra or Scutari) is the List of cities and towns in Albania, fifth-most-populous city of Albania and the seat of Shkodër County and Shkodër Municipality. Shkodër has been List of o ...

in late 1918. He also participated at the national Congress of Lushnjë where a new national cabinet was elected with Sulejman Delvina as its prime minister. Sotir Peci was elected Minister of Education. In 1921 he was elected deputy of Korçë. He also became a member of the Supreme Council of Regency. In 1924 he appointed the bishop of Durrës

as prime minister of

Albania Albania ( ; or ), officially the Republic of Albania (), is a country in Southeast Europe. It is located in the Balkans, on the Adriatic Sea, Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea, and shares land borders with Montenegro to ...

. After the failure of the June Revolution and rise of Ahmet Zogu in power, Peci left to Italy and later settled in Greece. He was given a death sentence in absent, but then revoked by the partial amnesty that Zog applied. Anyway, he never reconciled with the Tirana politics. Sotir Peci died in

Florina Florina (, ''Flórina''; known also by some alternative names) is a town and municipality in the mountainous northwestern Macedonia, Greece. Its motto is, 'Where Greece begins'. The town of Florina is the capital of the Florina regional uni ...

in 1932. His body was reburied in Korçë with great honors while Zog was in power. He was honoured posthumously with the title Teacher of the People (). A road and a school in Korçë were renamed after him.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Peci, Sotir 1873 births 1932 deaths People from Korçë Government ministers of Albania Education ministers of Albania Albanian publishers (people) 19th-century Albanian politicians 20th-century Albanian politicians People from Manastir vilayet Activists of the Albanian National Awakening 19th-century Albanian educators 20th-century Albanian educators Expatriates from the Ottoman Empire in Greece

Early life

Activities in the United States

Activities in Albania

See also

References