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a republic in S Europe, in the Balkan Peninsula, W of Macedonia and NW of Greece. 10,632 sq. mi. (27,535 sq. km).
Capital: Tirana.
Obsolete, .
Contemporary Examples

Bakalli was convicted on weapons charges in Albania, and he began cooperating with the FBI in 2006 to avoid deportation.
The Ft. Dix Fix Was In Carly Goldstone December 21, 2008

In Albania, there are two cities where I have written the majority of my work: Gjirokastër, my home city, and Tirana.
Ismail Kadare: How I Write Noah Charney January 30, 2013

But, to much ridicule, the Army then took weeks to prepare the field in Albania from which the Apaches were to operate.
The Taliban’s Bait Game John Barry August 11, 2011

The Secret Rescue By Cate Lineberry The story of non-combat heroes and their escape from Nazi-occupied Albania.
This Week’s Hot Reads: May 6, 2013 Nicholas Mancusi May 5, 2013

Kirkpatrick would not say much more than “have a look at Albania.”
The Charmed Life of a Traitor Harold Evans November 5, 2009

Historical Examples

He thought of erecting first a principality in Albania and the Morea, and then a kingdom in Tunis.
Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 15, Slice 4 Various

The Malissori of Albania were also listening to the old man’s blandishments.
The Birth of Yugoslavia, Volume 1 Henry Baerlein

With the exception of a few insignificant trickles, only one small stream in the northern part of the country escapes Albania.
Area Handbook for Albania Eugene K. Keefe

Perhaps one was beginning to recognize that there are Albanians but no Albania.
The Birth of Yugoslavia, Volume 2 Henry Baerlein

That was granted, and thereby Albania came into existence really for the first time as an independent State.
Essays in Liberalism Various

noun
a republic in SE Europe, on the Balkan Peninsula: became independent in 1912 after more than four centuries of Turkish rule; established as a republic (1946) under Communist rule; multiparty constitution adopted in 1991. It is generally mountainous, rising over 2700 m (9000 ft), with extensive forests. Language: Albanian. Religion: Muslim majority. Currency: lek. Capital: Tirana. Pop: 3 011 405 (2013 est). Area: 28 749 sq km (11 100 sq miles)

Medieval Latin name of the country called by its inhabitants Shqipëri (literally “land of eagles,” from shqiponje “eagle”), from Medieval Greek Albania, possibly from a pre-IE word *alb “hill” (also proposed as the source of Alps) or from the PIE root *albho- “white” (see alb). Roman Albania was a land by the Caspian Sea (modern Daghestan); in English Albania was occasionally also a name for Scotland.

Republic in southeastern Europe on the Adriatic Sea coast of the Balkan Peninsula, bordered by Yugoslavia to the northwest, north, and northeast, Macedonia to the east, and Greece to the southeast and south. Tirana is its capital and largest city.

Note: The most secretive and closed of the former Eastern Bloc nations, Albania held free elections in March 1991, ending almost fifty years of communist rule and inaugurating a multiparty system. Protests over the collapse of a government-sponsored fraudulent investment scheme led to near anarchy in 1997. United Nations peacekeepers restored order.