Korca - History

Korca is situated at the foot of the Morava mountains, on the slopes of St. Thana hill, it was an Illyrian settlement in ancient times. Later there was built near here the ancient city of Pelion, which was captured during the second Macedonian War with the roman Army under Sulpicius Galba in 199 B.C. By the early Middle Ages Korca had become an urban centre with a ninth century church, rebuilt in the fourteenth century. During this time, a mosque and a hamam were erected and the town developed quickly. The Mirahori mosque was built in 1418. Korca grew considerably in the 17th century, especially after the burning of Voskopoja. By this time, it had become a centre of carpet-making as well as a focal point for trade. A large bazaar was built, preserved as a cultural monument. The city has lived through difficult times especially at the beginning of the 9th century, which brought as a consequence the Qwholesale emigration of its inhabitants to Romania, Egypt and America. Korca was a pioneer in the field of education. The first school in the Albanian language was established here on the 7th of March l887, (which remained open until the year 1902), and the first school for girls in the Albanian language in 1891. Korηa was the seat of government during Turkish rule. In the 18th century, the city was able to exploit its location at the crossroads of several caravan routes and became a major trading point during the 18th century. Standing at the foot of the dramatic Morava mountain near the Greek border, Korηa is home to the Mirahor Mosque, dating back to 1466, the Museum for Medieval Art, the Museum of Education (where the first Albanian school was opened in 1887) and a listed, though decaying, bazaar quarter.

Korca was occupied by the Greek troops 1912-1914 and by French forces in 1916-1920. The latter set up the autonomous republic of Korca 1916-1918, which joined the rest of Albania, when the French withdrew in 1920. During the French occupation a Lyce, was established in 1917. In 1940-1941, the town was again occupied by Greek forces, during the war between Italy and Greece. At the beginning of the 20th century Korca became an important centre of the movement for independence from Turkish rule, producing distinguished patriots, like Themistokli Germenji (1871 - 1917) and Mihal Grameno (1872-1931).

The Serbs occupied parts of northern and eastern Albania toward the end of the twelveth century. In 1204, after Western crusaders sacked Constantinople, Venice won nominal control over Albania and the Epirus region of northern Greece and took possession of Durres. A prince from the overthrown Byzantine ruling family, Michael Comnenus, made alliances with Albanian chiefs and drove the Venetians from lands that now make up southern Albania and northern Greece, and in 1204 he set up an independent principality, the Despotate of Epirus, with Janina (now Ioannina in northwest Greece) as its capital. In 1272 the king of Naples, Charles I of Anjou, occupied Durres and formed an Albanian kingdom that would last for a century. Internal power struggles further weakened the Byzantine Empire in the fourteenth century, enabling the Serbs' most powerful medieval ruler, Stefan Dusan, to establish a short-lived empire that included all of Albania and Korca.

With the complete collapse of the Ottoman and Austro-Hungarian empires after World War I, the Albanians looked to Italy for protection against predators. After 1925, however, Mussolini sought to dominate Albania. In 1928 Albania became a kingdom under Zog I, the conservative Muslim clan chief and former prime minister, but Zog failed to stave off Italian ascendancy in Albanian internal affairs. In 1939 Mussolini's troops occupied Albania, overthrew Zog, and annexed the country. Albanian communists and nationalists fought each other as well as the occupying Italian and German forces during World War II, and with Yugoslav and Allied assistance the communists triumphed.

Hoxha made peace with Josip Broz Tito, Yugoslavia's president, and in July 1946 signed the Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation, and Mutual Aid with Yugoslavia. Yugoslavian influence over Albania's party and government increased considerably between 1945 and 1948. Yugoslavia came to dominate political, economic, military, and cultural life in Albania, and plans were even made to merge the two countries. The border between Yugoslavia and Albania after 1971 became open. When China opened up to the West in the 1970s, Albania's rulers turned away from Beijing and implemented a policy of strict autarky, or self-sufficiency, that brought their nation economic ruin. In the late 1970s, Albania embarked on a policy of rigid self-reliance. Having broken ties with the two leading communist states, Albania aspired to total economic independence and declared itself the only genuine Marxist-Leninist country in the world. The government was actually forbidden to seek foreign aid and credits or to encourage foreign investment in the country. Hoxha rigidly adhered to Marxism-Leninism, seeing the world as divided into two opposing systems - socialism and capitalism. But he also led Albania in a two-front struggle against both United States "imperialism" and Soviet "social-imperialism." For example, Albania refused to participate in CSCE talks or sign the Helsinki Accords in 1975 because the United States and the Soviet Union had initiated the negotiating process.

By the mid-1980s, Ramiz Alia, who had succeeded Hoxha in 1982, recognized that in order to ameliorate Albania's serious economic problems, trade with the West had to be significantly expanded. The Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany) was on the top of the list of potential economic partners. In 1987 Albania established diplomatic relations with West Germany, after first dropping claims for war reparations.

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