Elbasan

Elbasan is a town of central Albania. Its population is of 80.700 inhabitants. Iron and steel industry.

Elbasan became important for the Roman period, when one knew it under the name of Masio Scampa. The word 'Scampa 'means rocks or peaks in the ancient language It. The Romans built an important fortress, approximately 300 square meters, protected here by turns. At the third and fourth centuries, it became Hiskampis. It had developed like a center of trade and important transport close to the junction of two branches of Via Egnatia coming from Apollonia and Dyrrachium. Ptolémée wrote that it was the city of the tribe of Eordaei, which later emigrated in Macedonia. It took part in the diffusion of Christianity along the Roman Way, and had a bishop, a cathedral and basilicas as of the fifth century. But like town of river valley, it was vulnerable to the cruel attacks once the legions had been withdrawn, and in spite of the efforts of the Justinien emperor to improve the fortications, Hiskampis was destroyed by the Bulgarian ones and Ostrogoths during the Slavic invasions of Balkans. Although a certain urban life and soldier have to continue during a time, because one mentions it in the work of Procopius de Cæsarea at the sixth century, it was completely destroyed by the Bulgarian ones in intermittent attacks during the 200 following years. The site seems to have been abandoned until the Othoman invaders established there a military camp, follow-up of the urban rebuilding under the Sultan Mehmet II of 1467. Mehmet built a castle in massive quadrilateral with a deep ditch and three doors. It called it Ilibasan, meaning 'the strong Turkish place '. It became a center of urban civilization Othoman during the 400 following years. Towards the end of the XVIIe century it had 2.000 inhabitants. The fortress was dismantled by Reshit Pasha in 1832. In 1864, Elbasan became a sandjak vilayet of Manastir. In 1909, after the revolution of the Young Turks in Istanbul, an Albanian national congress was held in Elbasan to study educational and cultural questions. Elbasan had the first university for the training of professors in Albania. The delegates, all of central and southernmost Albania, approved the decision of the congress of Monastir (Bitola modern, République of Macedonia) to rather employ the Latin alphabet than the Arab writing in written Albanian. The Moslem majority opposed the installation of prince William de Weid in 1914. Elbasan was successively occupied by the Serb ones, the Bulgarian ones, Austrians and Italians between 1915 and 1918. Industrial development started during the time of Zog I when factories of tobacco and drinks alcoholic were established. The city was also noticed for its beautiful public buildings, its advanced educational installations, its public gardens and its stores out of wooden. There was many damage at the time of the second world war, which was followed of an intensive programme of industrial development during the communist time which carried the city to approximately 75.000 inhabitants. The culminating point of this process was the construction of an enormous metallurgical complex apart from the city, in the valley of Shkumbini, built with the Chinese assistance in the Sixties and Seventies. It was called " second national release of Albanie" by Enver Hoxha, but rejettée smoke emitted a flood of the dangerous pollutants - which meant soon that most of the agricultural zone up to now thrives in the valley was unsuitable with any culture.

Random links: