Chapter 4

PHYSICAL ENVIRONMENT

Albania has land borders on the north and east with Yugoslavia and on the south and southeast with Greece. Tirana, the capital, is less than an hour by aircraft from eight other European capitals and barely more than two hours from the most distant of them. The coastline is adjacent to shipping lanes that have been important since early Greek and Roman times. Nevertheless, partly because of its rugged terrain and partly because of its political orientation, the country remains remote and isolated from its European neighbors (see ch. 6, Government Structure and Political System).

The large expanses of rugged and generally inaccessible terrain provided refuge for the Albanian ethnic group and permitted its distinctive identity to survive throughout the centuries. Although the country was almost always under foreign domination, it was never extensively colonized because of the lack of arable land, easily exploitable resources, and natural inland transportation routes. It has been, and continues to be, poorly developed. Agricultural and pastoral pursuits have been the primary means of livelihood, and only after 1950 did industry begin to be developed to any appreciable degree.

Until recently, the coastal lowlands supported few people and did not provide easy access to the interior. The mountains that constitute 70 percent of the country's area are difficult to traverse and generally inhospitable. Rivers are almost entirely unnavigable, and only in the south are there valleys wide enough to link the coast with the interior. By 1970 no railway and only three good roads crossed the national borders.

The physical characteristics of the land have contributed to differing living conditions and social relationships in the various sectors of the country. Before independence in 1912, the area of modern Albania had never been politically integrated, nor had it ever been an economically viable unit. It owes its existence as a state to the ethnic factor, and survival of the ethnic group is attributable to the natural isolation of the country.

The area is 11,100 square miles. The boundaries, established in principle in 1913 and demarcated in 1923, were essentially unchanged in 1970, although Greece had not dropped its claim to a large part of southern Albania. The eastern boundary divides the Macedonian lake district among three states--Albania, Greece, and Yugoslavia--that have ethnic populations in the area and follows high mountain ridges wherever possible to the north and south of the lakes. The northern and southern borders were drawn to achieve a separation between the Albanians and neighboring nationalities, although there is a large group of Albanians in the Kosovo area of Yugoslavia across the northeastern border, and Greeks and Albanians intermingle in the southeast (see fig. 1).

Resources are insufficient to make the country wealthy, and some that are available have not been thoroughly exploited. Interior regions have been inaccessible. Agricultural land has been inefficiently used for centuries because people having large landholdings preferred to maintain more profitable livestock herds rather than cultivate the earth for foodstuff production. Malaria, until the 1930s, prevented development or reclamation of the coastal lowlands. Lacking the capital investment necessary, extensive development projects had not been undertaken by 1970.

The lowlands and the lower mountains of the south have a Mediterranean climate; weather in the northern and eastern highlands is dominated by the continental air masses that persist over central and Eastern Europe. Overall rainfall is plentiful throughout the country, but most areas receive it seasonally.

Apart from the bare rock mountains and portions of the alluvial lowlands that are alternately parched and inundated, most of the land encourages a wide variety of wild vegetation. Areas suitable for cultivation, however, are small. There are good soils on about 5 percent of the land surface, but land three or four times that percentage is considered arable. Forests cover nearly one-half of the land. About one-fourth is suitable for grazing animals.

The citizen relates closely to the land. Although he has been nationally independent for only a few years in the twentieth century and very seldom earlier, his property has been so difficult to reach that occupying powers have often left him alone. The land has had beauty that has fostered pride and loyalty, and a hardy breed has survived the constant struggle to derive an existence from it.

NATURAL REGIONS

The 70 percent of the country that is mountainous is rugged and often inaccessible. The remaining alluvial plain receives its precipitation seasonally, is poorly drained, is alternately arid or flooded, and much of it is devoid of fertility. Far from offering a relief from the difficult interior terrain, it is often as inhospitable to its inhabitants as are the mountains. Good soil and dependable precipitation occur, however, in river basins within the mountains, in the lake district on the eastern border, and in a narrow band of slightly elevated land between the coastal plains and the higher interior mountains (see fig. 2).

North Albanian Alps

The mountains of the far north of Albania are an extension of the Dinaric Alpine chain and, more specifically, the Montenegrin limestone (karst) plateau. They are, however, more folded and rugged than the more typical portions of the plateau. The rivers have deep valleys with steep sides and do not furnish arable valley floors; most of the grazing and farming are done on the flatter mountaintops. The rivers provide little access into the area and are barriers to communication within it. Roads are few and poor. Lacking internal communications and external contacts, a tribal society flourished within this Alpine region for centuries. Only after World War II were serious efforts made to incorporate the people of the region into the remainder of the country.

Southern Mountains

The extent of the region occupied by the southern mountains is not settled to the satisfaction of all authorities. Some include all of the area in a large diamond shape roughly encompassing all the uplands of southern Albania beneath lines connecting Vlore, Elbasan, and Korce. Although this area has trend lines of the same type and orientation, it includes mountains that are associated more closely with the systems in the central part of the country. Other authorities confine the area to the mountains that are east of Vlore and south of the Vijose River. These have features generally common to southern Albania and the adjacent Greek Epirus. This demarcation is considered preferable because it more nearly defined a traditional area that tends to lose some of the more purely national character of the lands north of it.

The southern ranges revert again to the northwest to southeast trend lines characteristic of the Dinaric Alps. They are, however, more gentle and accessible than the serpentine zone, the eastern highlands, or the North Albanian Alps. Transition to the lowlands is less abrupt, and arable valley floors are wider. Limestone is predominant, contributing to the cliffs and clear water along the Albanian Riviera. An intermixture of softer rocks has eroded and become the basis for the sedimentation that has resulted in wider valleys between the ridges than are common in the remainder of the country. This terrain encouraged the development of larger landholdings, thus influencing the social structure of the area (see ch. 5, Social System).

Lowlands

A low coastal belt extends from the northern boundary southward to about Vlore. It averages less than ten miles deep but widens to about thirty miles in the Elbasan area. In its natural state it is characterized by low scrub vegetation, varying from barren to dense. There are large areas of marshland and other areas of bare eroded badlands. Where elevations rise slightly and precipitation is regular--in the foothills of the central uplands, for example--the land is excellent. Marginal land is being reclaimed wherever irrigation is possible.

The land itself is of recent geological origin. It has been, and is being, created by sediments from the many torrents that erode the interior mountains. New alluvial deposits tend to be gravelly, without humus, and require many years before sufficient vegetation to make them fertile can be established. The sedimentation process, moreover, raises river channels above the level of the nearby terrain. Channels change frequently, devastating areas that have not been stabilized and creating marshes in others by blocking off the drainage. Road builders are confronted with difficult and constantly changing conditions.

Rainfall is heavy during the winter and is infrequent to nonexistent during nearly half the year. Mosquitoes thrive in the hot, humid, and marshy land. Only since about 1930 have there been effective measures to control malaria. Before then no extensive working of areas near the marshes could be seriously considered. For these reasons the coastal zone, in addition to supporting few people, has until relatively recently acted as a barrier, hindering, rather than encouraging, contact with the interior.

Coastal hills descend abruptly to Ionian Sea beaches along the Albanian Riviera from Vlore Bay southward to about Sarande. The 500- and 1,000-foot contour lines are within a mile or so of the water along nearly the entire distance. In the northern portion a 4,000-foot ridge is frequently only two to three miles inland. South of Sarande is another small area of coastal lowlands fronting on the Ionian Sea and separated from the Greek island of Corfu (Kerkira) by a mile-wide channel. Climate and soil conditions permit the cultivation of citrus fruits in this southernmost area of Albania.

Central Uplands

The central uplands region extends south from the Drin River valley, which marks the southern boundary of the North Albanian Alpine area, to the southern mountains. It is an area of generally lower mountain terrain immediately east of the lowlands. In the north, from the Drin River to the vicinity of Elbasan, it constitutes an area about twenty miles wide. It narrows to practically nothing in the vicinity of Elbasan, then widens into a broader triangular shape with its base against the southern mountains. Earth shifting along the faultline that roughly defines the western edge of the central uplands causes frequent and occasionally severe earthquakes. Major damage occurred over wide areas in 1967 and 1969.

Softer rocks predominate in the uplands. The most extensive are flysch, a soft crumbly rock that is usually sandstone but frequently contains shales, sandy limestones, and marl. This type of formation erodes rapidly and is the basis of much of the poor alluvial lowland soil. The ridges of the uplands are extensions of the Dalmatian coastal range that enters Albania from Yugoslavia. Elevations are generally moderate, between 1,000 and 3,000 feet with a few reaching above 5,000 feet.

Serpentine Zone

Although there are rugged terrain and high points in the central uplands, the first major mountain range inland from the Adriatic is an area of predominantly serpentine rock. The serpentine zone extends nearly the length of the country, from the North Albanian Alps to the Greek border south of Korce, an area 10 to 20 miles wide and over 125 miles in length lying generally between the central uplands and the eastern highlands. At Elbasan, however, it makes nearly direct contact with the coastal plain, and it reaches the eastern border for nearly 50 miles in, and north of, the lake region. Within its zone there are many areas in which sharp limestone and sandstone outcroppings predominate over the serpentine, although the ranges as a whole are characterized by rounded mountain features.

The serpentine rock derives its name from its dull green color and often mottled or spotted appearance. It can occur in several states. Iron, nickel, or other metals can substitute in its chemical formula for the more prevalent magnesium and will cause color variations.

Eastern Highlands

The mountains east of the serpentine zone are the highest in the country and are the basis for part of the eastern boundary. They occupy a narrow strip south of Lakes Ohrid and Prespa, and a similar one, also running north and south, lies between the White Drin River and the Yugoslav city of Debar. A peak in the Korab range, on the border north of Debar, exceeds 9,000 feet. The ranges have north-south trend lines. Geologically young and composed largely of hard limestone rocks, the eastern highlands, together with the North Albanian Alps and the serpentine zone, are the most rugged and inaccessible of any terrain on the Balkan Peninsula.

Lake Region

The three lakes of easternmost Albania are part of the Macedonian lake district. The Yugoslav border passes through Lake Ohrid; all but a small tip of Little Lake Prespa is in Greece; and the point at which the boundaries of all three states meet is in Lake Prespa. The two larger lakes have areas of about 100 square miles each, and Little Lake Prespa is about one-fifth as large. These are total surface areas, including the portions on both sides of the national boundary lines. The surface elevation is about 2,285 feet for Lake Ohrid and about 2,800 feet for the other two. The lakes are remote and picturesque. Lake Ohrid is fed primarily from underground springs and is blue and very clear. At times its transparency can approach 70 feet. A good percentage of the terrain in the vicinity of the lakes is not overly steep, and it supports a larger population than any other inland portion of the country.

NATIONAL BOUNDARIES

The distinct ethnic character of the people and their isolation within a fairly restricted and definable area brought support for their demands for independence in the early twentieth century. There were places where different ethnic populations intermingled, and there were other pressures that affected the definition of the borders. The Kosovo area across the northeastern border is a part of modern Yugoslavia, but it contains a substantial Albanian population. There are Greeks and Albanians in the mountains on both sides of the southeastern boundary. Albania is not content with the Kosovo situation, and neither Greece nor Albania is satisfied with the division effected by their mutual border.

The country is the smallest in Eastern Europe and has a perimeter of only 750 miles. The border shared with Yugoslavia runs northward from Lake Prespa, around northern Albania, to the Adriatic Sea for a total of just under 300 miles. Forty miles of this border follows river courses, and an almost equal distance is within lakes. The Greek border from the common point in Lake Prespa southwest to the Ionian Sea is about 160 miles long. Twelve miles of this border are within lakes but, because it crosses the trend lines of the southern mountain ranges, only four miles are along rivers.

The Adriatic and Ionian coastline is just under 300 miles long. The lowlands of the west face the Adriatic Sea and the Strait of Otranto, which is a mere 47 miles from the heel of the Italian boot. The Albanian Riviera, the coastline that runs southeast from Vlore, is on the Ionian Sea.

With the exception of the coastline, all Albanian borders are artificial. They were established in principle at the 1913 Conference of Ambassadors in London. The country was occupied by the warring powers during World War I, but the 1913 boundaries were reaffirmed at Versailles in 1921. Finally demarcated in 1923, they were confirmed by the Paris Agreement of 1926 and were essentially unchanged in 1970. The original principle was to define the borders in accordance with the best interests of the Albanian ethnic group and the nationalities in adjacent areas. The northern and eastern borders were intended, insofar as possible, to separate the Albanians from the Serbian and Montenegrin peoples; the southeast border was to separate Albanians and Greeks; and the valuable western Macedonia lake district was to be divided among the states whose populations shared the area.

When there was no compromise involving other factors, borderlines were chosen to make the best possible separation of national groups, connecting the best marked physical features available. Allowance was made for local economic situations, to keep from separating a village from its animals' grazing areas or from the markets for its produce. Political pressures also were a factor in the negotiations, but the negotiations were subject to approval by powers having relatively remote interests, most of which involved the balance of power rather than economic ambitions.

Division of the lake district among three states required that each of them have a share of the lowlands in the vicinity. Such a distribution was artificial but, once made, necessarily influenced the borderlines to the north and south. The border that runs generally north from the lakes, although it follows the ridges of the eastern highlands, stays some ten to twenty miles west of the watershed divide.

Proceeding counterclockwise around northern Albania, the watershed divide was abandoned altogether along the northeast boundary. In the process a large Albanian population in Kosovo was incorporated into Yugoslavia.

In the extreme north and the northeastern mountainous sections, the border with Yugoslavia connects high points and follows mountain ridges through the North Albanian Alps where there is little movement of the people. There is no natural topographic dividing line from the highlands, through Lake Scutari, to the Adriatic, but the lake and a portion of the Buene River south of it were used. From the lake district south and southwest to the Ionian Sea, the boundary runs perpendicular to the terrain trend lines and crosses a number of ridges instead of following them.

LOCAL ADMINISTRATIVE AREAS

The twenty-six districts that are the primary administrative subdivisions of the country have evolved from divisions that have existed for many years or have developed over a period of time (see fig. 3). In the northern third of the country, district lines were based on the territory occupied by tribal groups. In the part of the country south from about Tirana, they were based on the large landholdings controlled by those who in earlier years had governed the areas for the Ottomans.

Upon independence most of the old local boundaries, long understood if not always precisely defined, were retained, and the areas became prefectures. Before World War II there were ten prefectures, which in turn were divided into about forty subprefectures. The Communist regime did not abandon the prefectures immediately but eventually replaced them with districts that were, generally, based on the old subprefectures. In a series of changes, the latest of which were made in December 1967, the districts were consolidated into the twenty-six that existed in 1970. The districts are much the same size. Sixteen of them have areas ranging between 300 and 600 square miles. The largest, Shkoder, has about 980 square miles; the smallest, Lezhe, has about 180.

Changes in the areas and boundaries of the districts made during the 1960s were based chiefly on economic considerations, although political and security considerations also played a part. A major factor has been the collectivization of agriculture. In 1968 and 1969, for example, when the government decided to enlarge the collective farms, district lines were shifted in order to keep all of the land in a collective within the same district (see ch. 6, Government Structure and Political System).

Although there are natural barriers to almost all movement in the country, there are few, if any, that contribute to the boundaries of the districts. Eight districts border on the seashore, but only three of them have more lowland than mountainous terrain. The Shkoder District, for example, has all of the lowlands in the vicinity of the city and almost half of the most mountainous portion of the North Albanian Alps. In a few instances the borders of interior districts follow the river valleys, but it is more usual for them to contain segments of the rivers and, when this is the case, their boundary lines stay in the higher regions.

CLIMATE

With its coastline oriented westward onto the Adriatic and Ionian seas, its highlands backed upon the elevated Balkan landmass, and the entire country lying at a latitude that receives different patterns of weather systems during the winter and summer seasons, Albania has a number of climatic regions highly unusual for so small an area. The coastal lowlands have typically Mediterranean weather; the highlands have a so-called Mediterranean continental climate. Both the lowland and interior weather change markedly from north to south.

The lowlands have mild winters, averaging about 45°F. Summer temperatures average 75°F., humidity is high, and the season tends to be oppressively uncomfortable. The southern lowlands are warmer, averaging about five degrees higher throughout the year. The difference is greater than five degrees during the summer and somewhat less during the winter.

Inland temperatures vary more widely with differences in elevation than with latitude or any other factor. Cold winter temperatures in the mountains result from the continental air masses that predominate over Eastern Europe and the Balkans. Northerly and northeasterly winds blow much of the time. Average summer temperatures are lower than in the coastal areas and much lower at high elevations, but daily fluctuations are greater. Daytime maximum temperatures in the interior basins and river valleys are very high, but the nights are almost always cool (see table 1).

The average precipitation over the country is high resulting from the convergence of the prevailing airflow from the Mediterranean with the continental air mass. They usually meet at the point where the terrain rises. Arriving at that line, the Mediterranean air meets increasing ground elevations that force it to rise and an air mass that tends to resist its further progress. This causes the heaviest rainfall in the central uplands. Vertical currents initiated when the Mediterranean air is uplifted also result in frequent thunderstorms. Many of them in this area are violent and are accompanied by high local winds and torrential downpours.

_Table 1. Temperature and Precipitation Averages for Selected Locations in Albania_

Average Temperatures* Annual Elevation Coldest Warmest precipitation Place Location (in feet) Annual month month (in inches)

Shkoder Northern coastal lowlands 50 59 40 78 80 Durres Central coastal lowlands Sea level 61 47 77 38 Vlore Southern coastal lowlands do 62 48 77 39 Sarande Albanian Riviera do 63 ... ... 55 Tirana Mid-Albania at base of central uplands 360 58 42 76 49 Puke North-central uplands 2,850 51 34 70 72 Kruje Central uplands 2,000 55 39 71 67 Korce Eastern highlands 2,850 51 ... ... 30

*In degrees Fahrenheit.

Source: Adapted from _Vjetari Statistikor i R. P. Sh., 1967-1968_. Tirana, 1968, pp. 18-19; and Great Britain, Admiralty, Naval Intelligence Division, _Albania_, London, 1945, p. 93.

When the continental system is weak, Mediterranean winds drop their moisture farther inland. When there is a dominant continental air mass, it spills cold air onto the lowland areas. This occurs most frequently in the winter season. Since the season's lower temperatures damage olive trees and citrus fruits, their groves and orchards are restricted to sheltered places with southern and western exposures, even in areas that have seemingly high average winter temperatures.

Lowland rainfall averages from forty to nearly sixty inches annually, increasing between those extremes from south to north. Nearly 95 percent of the rain falls during the rainy season.

Rainfall in the upland mountain ranges is higher. Adequate records are not available, and estimates vary widely, but annual averages are probably about 70 inches and are as high as 100 inches in some northern areas. The seasonal variation is not quite as great as in the coastal area, with the most nearly even distribution in the north, largely because of summer thunderstorms.

The higher inland mountains receive less precipitation than the intermediate uplands. Terrain differences cause wide local variations, but the seasonal distribution is the most consistent of any area. In the northern mountains, for example, the months that usually have the highest averages are November and June.

DRAINAGE

All but a very small portion of the precipitation drains through the rivers to the coastline without leaving the country. With the exception of a few insignificant trickles, only one small stream in the northern part of the country escapes Albania. In the south an even smaller rivulet drains into Greece. As the divide is on the eastern side of the borders with Yugoslavia and Greece, however, a considerable amount of water from those countries drains through Albania. A quite extensive portion of the White Drin River basin is in the Kosovo area across the northeastern Yugoslav border. The three lakes shared with Yugoslavia and Greece, as well as all the streams that flow into them, drain into the Drin River. The watershed divide in the south also dips nearly forty miles into Greece at one point. Several tributaries of the Vijose River rise in that area (see fig. 4).

With the exception of the Drin River, which flows northward and drains nearly the entire eastern border region before it turns westward to the sea, most of the rivers in the northern and central parts of the country flow much more directly westward to the sea. In the process they cut through the ridges rather than flowing around them. This apparent impossibility came about because the highlands were originally lifted without much folding. The streams came into existence at that time and antedate the ridges because the compression and folding of the plateau occurred later. The folding process was rapid enough in many instances to block the rivers temporarily, forming lakes that existed until the downstream channel was cut sufficiently to drain them. This sequence created the many interior basins that are typically a part of the landforms. During the lifetimes of the temporary lakes enough sediment was deposited in them to form the basis for fertile soils. Folding was only infrequently rapid enough to force the streams to radically different channels.

The precipitous fall from higher elevations and the highly irregular seasonal flow patterns that are characteristic of nearly all streams in the country reduce the immediate value of the streams. They erode the mountains and deposit the sediment that created, and continues to add to, the lowlands, but the rivers flood during the seasons when there is local rainfall. When the lands are parched and need irrigation, the rivers are usually dry. Their violence makes them difficult to control, and they are unnavigable. The Buene is an exception. It is dredged between Shkoder and the Adriatic and is navigable for small ships. In contrast to their histories of holding fast to their courses in the mountains, the rivers have constantly changed channels on the lower plains, making wastes of much of the land they have created.

The Drin River is the largest and most constant stream (see table 2). Fed by melting snows from the northern and eastern mountains and by the more evenly distributed seasonal precipitation of that area, its flow does not have the extreme variations characteristic of nearly all other rivers in the country. Its normal flow varies seasonally by only about one-third. Along its length of about 175 miles it drains nearly 2,300 square miles within Albania. As it also collects from the Adriatic portion of the Kosovo watershed and the three border lakes (Lake Prespa drains to Lake Ohrid via an underground stream), its total basin is around 6,000 square miles.

The Seman and Vijose are the only other rivers that are more than 100 miles in length and have basins larger than 1,000 square miles. These rivers drain the southern regions and, reflecting the seasonal distribution of rainfall, are torrents in winter and nearly dry in the summer, in spite of their relatively long lengths. This is also the case with the many shorter streams. In the summer most of them carry less than a tenth of their winter averages, if they are not altogether dry.

_Table 2. Drainage Basins in Albania_

Drainage basin Length of river Area of basin (in miles) (in square miles)

Drin 174 2,263* Seman 157 2,305 Vijose 147 1,682 Shkumbin 91 918 Mat 65 964 Erzen 56 301 Ishm 43 244 Buene** 27 623

* Within Albania only. ** Includes Lake Scutari. Source: Adapted from Athanas Gegaj and Rexhep Krasniqi, _Albania_, New York, 1964, p. 8.

The sediment carried by the mountain torrents continues to be deposited but, having created the lowlands, new deposits delay their exploitation. Stream channels rise as silt is deposited in them and eventually become higher than the surrounding terrain. Changing channels frustrate development in many areas. Old channels become barriers to proper drainage and create swamps or marshlands. It has been difficult to build roads or railroads across the lowlands or to use the land.

Irrigation has been accomplished ingeniously by Albanian peasants for many years, to the degree that they and their expertise have been sought after throughout Europe. Projects required to irrigate or to reclaim large areas of the lowlands, however, are on a scale that probably cannot be accomplished without financial assistance from outside the country.

Although water is available in quantities adequate for irrigation and it has the amount of fall necessary for hydroelectric power production, terrain and seasonal factors are such that major capital investment would be required for both irrigation and power projects. Snow stabilizes drainage of the higher northern and eastern mountains but, unfortunately, the only major snow accumulations are in the Drin basin, influencing only the one river system.

NATURAL RESOURCES

Soils

Soil resources are small. Arable land figures notwithstanding, good agricultural land amounts to only about 5 percent of the country's area. Soils over limestone are thin or altogether lacking. Serpentine rock erodes slowly and produces clays of little agricultural value. The softer rocks of the intermediate mountains crumble easily into course and infertile sands and gravels that take many years to acquire humus. The alluvial soil of the lowland plains, therefore, tends to be sterile in addition to receiving its precipitation seasonally and being poorly drained. There is little land along the narrow valley floors. The best soils, those within the inland basins, are excellent. The narrow margin of slightly elevated land between the coastal plains and the mountains also provides excellent arable fields.

Vegetation

Western sources have estimated that, in 1969, 11 percent of the land area was arable, of which nearly one-half was in use as vineyards and olive groves. Forests covered just over one-third of the land, and pastures just under one-third. About 22 percent of the land was unproductive, but one-half of the unproductive areas had a potential for development. Albanian government pronouncements have stated that about 20 percent of the land was arable in 1968 and that this figure would be increased to 22 percent in 1970. The discrepancies in land use statistics arise from varying interpretations as to the amount of pastureland that is arable. Much that Albanian sources have claimed as newly arable almost certainly is marginally so.

Dependence upon corn as the primary staple crop in much of the country and limited amounts of arable land tended, until about 1950, to prevent proper crop rotation. The government is attempting to introduce more scientific agricultural practices and has claimed improved crop yields.

Although the amount of land that can be cultivated for the production of foodstuffs is meager, the remoteness of the interior has allowed natural flora to exist over fairly extensive areas with little disturbance. A large variety of species flourishes, and an unusual number of them are found in that vicinity only. Of some 2,300 seed-bearing plants, over 300 appear in the Balkans alone, and more than 50 occur only in Albania.

The land considered forest includes areas that contain little more than scrub ground cover and others that have been ravaged by unsystematic cutting. More than half of the forests, however, contain mature trees and, owing largely to their inaccessibility, have escaped the reckless harvesting that destroyed many lower elevation forests during the first years of the country's independence.

Maquis, a Mediterranean scrub tree, grows to about fifteen or twenty feet, can be extremely dense, and is the most frequent ground cover at low elevations. It withstands dry weather and, although it is of little value as a tree and does not of itself build a rich soil, it stabilizes the alluvial lowlands and provides cover for better humus-producing vegetation. Maquis can survive at slightly higher elevations in sheltered conditions, but it is usually found below 1,000 or 1,300 feet. Most maquis species are evergreen. Deciduous scrub, usually Christ's-thorn, or _shiblijak_, is also common in the lowlands, but it occurs much less frequently than maquis.

The oaks are the most important of trees. Oak forests have never reattained the majesty they had during the days of Venice's power when they could be called upon to furnish 400 shiploads of straight oak stems for Venetian fleets, but in 1970 they still constituted nearly half of all forests. The oaks are valuable not only for their economic worth as fuel and lumber but also because the leaves of deciduous varieties and the undergrowth encouraged beneath them are excellent soil builders. Occurring at moderate elevations, however, they have been accessible and overexploited. Lowland oak forests contain poorer species that rarely grow in excess of thirty feet tall, but the thick undergrowth they usually allow provides stability and improves the alluvial soil. The finer and more valuable species occur at middle and higher elevations. Oak forests predominate between 1,000- and 3,000-foot elevations but occur up to about 4,000 feet.

Beech trees appear at all elevations between 3,000 feet and the timberline. They predominate in northern areas between about 3,500 and 6,000 feet. In the south they flourish at the same elevations but are usually outnumbered by conifers. Beech is excellent hard wood, and its leaves are among the best of soil builders. The trees generate most of the humus themselves, as their canopies interlace tightly in mature forests, permitting relatively little undergrowth to flourish on the forest floors beneath them. Mature forests have survived in many of the remote, inaccessible areas that beech species prefer. The most copious forests are in cloud forest regions where cloud cover is almost constant, rainfall is frequent, and temperatures do not usually reach the extreme highs.

The better conifers, usually including several pine species in the north and fir, with lesser numbers of pine and spruce, in the south, coexist with beech but tolerate poorer soils and tend to predominate at the highest elevations. Although they tend to have less continuous canopies than beech forests, they do not encourage undergrowth. Their needles, along with rapid decay of their softer dead wood, however, can create deep humus. The poorer quality lowland pines do well at elevations down to sea level and will tolerate certain conditions, although not overly poor drainage, in which the oak will not survive. Its woods usually have discontinuous canopies and allow dense maquis and other lower shrubs to flourish beneath them.

True mixed woods, sometimes referred to as karst woods, occur at medium elevations. They are usually almost entirely deciduous but have wide varieties of species. The larger trees include maple, ash, beech, and oak, but these are vastly outnumbered. Intermediate varieties of hawthorne, dogwood, hazel, and cherry flourish among the larger trees, and hundreds of smaller plants, ranging from bushes, shrubs, and ferns to grasses and moss, provide ground cover. With a profusion of varieties in constant competition for available space and soil, those that do best in a particular soil mixture prosper in a given locality. Because the soil in the uplands relates closely to the base rock and the mountains were created by geologically recent folding that has exposed the edges of layered rock formations, there are abrupt changes in the basic surface rock. This is reflected immediately in mixed woods by equally abrupt changes in the species that appear.

Of the more abundant smaller flora families, the daisy, pea, grass, pink, nettle, mustard, parsley, figwort, rose, buttercup, and lily groups has more than fifty species that can be found within Albania. Flowering plants flourish especially well in limestone areas where there are masses of vividly colored wild flowers during the springtime. Must less brilliant colors appear on serpentine outcroppings and, as is the case with the mixed woods, the difference is abrupt where limestone and serpentine are the surface rocks in closely adjacent areas.

Wildlife

Summer livestock grazing in the mountains and uncontrolled hunting reduced wildlife to insignificance. Some deer, wild boar, and wolves remain in the more remote forests. Chamois were plentiful in the area but are now extremely rare. Wild fowl, however, are abundant in the lowland swamps and lower forests.

Minerals

Exploitation of the country's minerals generates the largest share of the gross industrial product and provides employment for the largest number of the industrial labor force. This does not indicate, however, that the country is rich in mineral resources, but it serves to underscore the still poorer state of its agricultural and industrial sectors and indicates that the country engages in relatively little international commerce.

There are considerable reserves in oil and natural gas. Oil can be extracted in quantity sufficient to meet domestic demands and to export. A pipeline from the oilfields at Stalin (formerly Kucove) transmits the oil to the port of Vlore. The crude oil, however, has a high sulfur content and is expensive to refine.

Chrome is the most important export commodity. Albania is the largest chrome source in Eastern Europe, and its mines have at times supplied about 2 percent of the world's total. Good-quality copper ore is also available in export quantities.

No hard coal veins are known, but lignite is plentiful and its deposits are accessible. Asphalt (bitumen) occurs in a concentrated deposit in one small area. This source has been actively worked for centuries. Some of it has been exported.

Iron, nickel, gold, and silver ores occur in less important deposits. Iron is plentiful, but the ores are of low grade. The other deposits are minor. Bauxite appears in quantity deposits in several areas. Sufficient year-round power sources, however, are not available to process it. Magnesite, arsenic, pyrites, and gypsum sources are worked. Clay and kaolin suitable for pottery are also extracted. Salt is abundant. Limestone is available throughout the country and quarried wherever it is needed.

TRANSPORTATION

Even when its territory sat astride a direct route between two points, Albania was usually bypassed because there was nearly always a longer way around that was easier and safer. As a result, its transportation links with the rest of the world are very few. Its internal systems are also inadequate for good communications within the country. All railways are short, internal routes, and the lines that were complete in 1970 connected only three of the major cities. Two primary roads, one of which was originally constructed by the Romans, cross into Greece, and a third crosses into Yugoslavia. Only a dozen more roads, all of them secondary, lead out of the country. There is little air traffic with the outside world; it usually involves connecting flights to major airlines in neighboring countries (see fig. 1).

Roads

Until the twentieth century only two major roads crossed what is now Albania. The Romans built the Via Egnatia, which makes an east-west transit from Durres (known as Dyrrhachium in Roman times), via the Shkumbin River valley, to the lake district. It continued eastward across the Balkan Peninsula to Thessaloniki and Constantinople (now Istanbul), and the Romans used it to move forces overland to the eastern portions of their empire. A north-south route, the Via Zenta, was built by Ragusan merchants during the period when Ragusa (now Dubrovnik) was a Balkan mercantile power and needed access to the interior of the peninsula. The road followed the Drin River valley. Both the Via Egnatia and the Via Zenta fell into disuse during the centuries of Ottoman control, but the basic course of the Roman road is followed by one of the few major highways that has been constructed in the twentieth century.

Independent Albania was slow to begin construction of roads that would better conform to the country's national requirements. During World War I Austrian forces built some 400 miles of strategic roads while they occupied the area. The Italians did the same during World War II. In both cases the objective was to improve communications with external points. There was no attempt to construct a network that would integrate the country.

The Hoxha regime has placed more emphasis on internal communications, and in 1969 it claimed that the principal road network had been expanded by three times over what it had been in 1938. Perhaps 3,000 miles could be classed as improved roads. These are considered all-weather roads, although those in the mountains may be closed by snows. Most of the surfaces are hardened with compacted stone or gravel, and a few have a tarry stabilizer. Better roads have asphalt surfaces. Road construction in almost all parts of the country is difficult, especially in bridge building, and some roads are construction masterpieces. Once built, however, routine maintenance has ordinarily not been properly accomplished, and surfaces have deteriorated.

Railways

The first standard-gauge railroad construction began in 1947. The Italians had started roadbeds during their World War II occupation but had abandoned their projects in 1943. By 1970 there were only about 135 miles of completed lines. These included basic lines between Durres and Tirana and between Durres and Elbasan. There is difficult terrain between Tirana and Elbasan and, although only about 20 miles apart, they are connected via Durres only.

The lines from Durres curve northward to Tirana and southward to approach Elbasan via the Shkumbin valley. A northern offshoot from the Durres-Tirana line is complete to Lac and will be extended to Shkoder. A southern offshoot from Rrogozhine on the Durres-Elbasan line is now in service to Fier and will be extended to Vlore. The combination of these two routes will constitute a coastal line from Shkoder to Vlore.

Construction was in progress in 1970 on a line that will connect Elbasan with Prrenjas, which is just over five miles from Lake Ohrid. This line follows the route of the old Roman Via Egnatia, and in later programs it will probably be extended to Lin, on the lake, and then southward to Korce. When these lines are completed, they and the road network will provide vastly improved internal communications, but many small areas within the North Albanian Alps and the higher central and eastern mountains will remain difficult to reach.

Pipeline

During the mid-1930s the Italian state-owned petroleum company constructed a forty-four-mile, eight-inch pipeline to connect the oilfields in the Stalin area with the port of Vlore. The line had a capacity of about 5,000 barrels a day and carried crude for transshipment to refineries in Italy. In the early 1950s the line was extended northward to the newly built refinery at Cerrik.

Airlines

In the early post-World War II period when Albania was practically a vassal state of Yugoslavia, regular air traffic was established between Belgrade and Tirana. After the estrangement of Yugoslavia from the Soviet Union, when Albania became a satellite of the Soviet Union, regular traffic was set up between Tirana and Moscow and, to a lesser degree, between Tirana and the capitals of the Eastern European Communist countries other than Belgrade. When Albania became aligned with Communist China, direct connections with almost all external points were severed. Even Peking flights were routed via intermediate stops in Italy, usually Bari or Rome.

Between 1967 and 1970 connections between Albania and most of the Eastern European countries, but not the Soviet Union, were gradually restored. Service is scheduled but infrequent. Weekly flights are typically connected through Belgrade. Traffic elsewhere is ordinarily routed via Italy. Albanian officials depart and reenter the country via Bari or Rome, connecting to Tirana on a scheduled Alitalia flight or by an Albanian flight. Internal air services are also limited. Those available are centered on Tirana.

Merchant Shipping

Because no railway leaves the country and border-crossing roads are inadequate, nearly all foreign trade is carried by sea. Durres and Vlore are the major ports. Durres has a first-class harbor, warehouses, petroleum storage tanks, a shipbuilding capability, and railway spurs to the docks. Vlore is a better natural port and is the terminus of the oil pipeline. It has fewer port facilities than Durres, however, and no rail connections with the rest of the country. Sarande, Shengjin, and Porte Palermo are less important ports.

Only the Drin and Buene rivers might be considered navigable to any degree and even then only for small ships and short distances. Lake Scutari and the interior lakes are navigable but are of little commercial use. Smaller oceangoing craft are used in a limited amount of coastal trade.

The government is encouraging the creation of a national merchant fleet. _Lloyd's Register of Shipping_ for 1968 listed eleven Albanian vessels totaling 36,550 gross tons. Albania and Communist China maintain a jointly owned shipping line, and the number of ships with Albanian registry is increasing.