In historical terms Albania may be referred to as a "transit country". In ancient times it was inhabited by the Indo-Germanic Illyria (ca. 1800 BCE), who were the ancestors of the present day Albanians. Around 230 BCE the conquests of Rome initiated. In 196 BCE Illyria became a Roman province. Power struggles were created in this region after the division of the Roman Empire in 395 AD. After 530 AD it became part of the Byzantine Empire, and in the 7th century Slavs started to settle here. The country was repeatedly claimed and fought for by Bulgarians, Serbs, Normans, people from Naples, Venetians and Byzantines. The Albanian population was driven outward to the Alpine regions and as a result several independent principalities emerged that fiercely resisted the Ottoman Empire. In 1385 the Ottoman Empire was victorious and despite of the successes of the national hero Skanderberg (Gjergi Kastriota) who was supported by the Venetians, and the unification of the Albanian tribes (1443-1468), Albania finally became part of the Ottoman Empire in 1479. The resistance of the Albanians against the occupation continued until the 15th century.
Despite many upheavals against the Ottoman Empire, Albania was only able to claim its independence in 1912. The recognition of independence resulted in the separation of Kosovo (becoming part of Serbia and Montenegro) from Albania.
After the short rule of the Prince zu Wied (1914), King Achmed Zogu I ruled starting from 1925 as president and after 1928 as the King of Albania. During WWI Albania was occupied by Italians, Austrians and French. However, it was annexed already in 1939 by Italy.

Viktor Emanuel III of Italy became the Albanian king. In 1943 Albania was occupied by the troops of Nazi Germany.

After the German troops withdrew in 1944, the country was subjected to communist rule and was only able to cease communist rule in 1992. Enver Hodscha proclaimed the establishment of the People's Republic of Albania and was strongly influenced until 1960 by the USSR. After 1960 a separation took place and the country turned towards the People's Republic of China. In 1978 separation from China marked the beginning of Albania's isolation. Only after Hodscha's death in 1985 was there a slow and careful attempt to open up to the outside in which the West was undertaken, at that time reforms in Eastern Europe also influenced Albania.

Ten thousand Albanians left the country during the 1980s and subsequently upheavals were produced in which president Ramiz Alia, the successor of Enver Hodscha, was forced to resign in April 1992. In December 1989 demonstrations against the communist regime took place in Albania. In 1990 the first opposition party was authorised and the ban on religious freedom was repealed (Albania was officially a secular country ever since 1967/1976).