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October 27, 2024: Thus began my five-hour Albanian journey. In late October into early November of 2024, my partner and I did our much-delayed Mediterranean cruise through four nations (Which we increased to six through strategic planning). After spending two days touring Athens, we ended up on a cruise ship seeing two of the most popular Greek islands (Santorini and Mykonos with a side trip to fascinating Delos which was more interesting than these tourist traps) followed by stopovers in Zakynthos and Corfu. There will be more on Greece and these five islands that we visited when Greece gets its inevitable turn in this project. But I bring this Greek adventure up because of the final Ionian island that we visited, Corfu. When visiting Southern Europe, which is the historical cradle of the political West, there are a million old towns to visit in the region over many countries. Corfu has a famous Old Town that is the heart of their tourist experience. But knowing that Croatia, Montenegro and Italy were coming up soon on our vacation which had more famous historic and scenic Medieval Old Towns, we decided to try something different. Enter Albania.
Researching the surrounding area, I discovered Finikas Lines which allows you to take a ferry from Corfu to multiple different islands and nations including Albania. Finikas use high speed hydrofoils that can take you across the Adriatic Sea in half an hour. Always wanting to ride a hydrofoill, understanding that Saranda would be in its offseason, and that the ferry takes off 45 minutes after docking in Corfu, I booked a hydrofoil to Albania. Little did I know that this trip would be one of the highlights of our Southern European tour. Upon reaching Albania, we had five hours. Too little time to see the capital of Tirana. But plenty of time to enjoy the Albanian Riviera town of Saranda, experience the town and beaches of Ksamil (Go before it is destroyed by tourists) and the UNESCO heritage site of Butrint Historical Park (A quieter medieval castle experience than Corfu). Upon getting through customs, we were approached by a Russian cab driver who asked for 15 Euro for a cab ride to Butrint. This was the best cab experience of my life. Not only did he drive us down to that site which took about 40 minutes, he gave us a tour of the area including its history with a drive by of St. George’s Monastery in Ksamil, an explanation of Albanian culture, the appeal and problems with Saranda, a deep dive discussion about the mussel farming in the ocean, how to grow the beautiful olive trees that littered the landscape, and every detail that you would pay a tour guide 100 Euros for. He spoke perfect English and even explained his complicated journey from the Soviet Union to becoming an Albanian citizen. The entire five-hour experience was perfect including the self-guided tour of Butrint along the inlet of Lake Butrint with Albanian fisherman fishing the same way that people have in the region for thousands of years. The Butrint ferry across the Lake was a flat wooden boat that could only take two vehicles at a time and dumps you into the outskirts of the Venetian Triangular Castle which you can see from Butrint across the inlet. We also got off the bus to take a picture at the HAND OF KSAMIL on Ksamil Beach which is normally a busy tourist attraction but was DEAD on this day. We finished the day in Saranda walking along the beautiful riviera, taking a photo of a Hillary Clinton statue that existed inside the city square (More on this later), and eating a wonderful seafood lunch at Marini’s with the cook cleaning his grill specifically to cook us his version of calamari. Right after, we had to head back to the port at 2:00 pm (Albania is an hour behind Corfu despite lying east) to make it back to the hydrofoil and dock in Corfu at 3:30 pm, pass through Greek customs (Which required waving my passport in the air and the immigration official acknowledging it while sitting in a chair), and a short walk back to our ship to board by 5:00 pm. When discussing this fantastic day that we had with family members and friends, I often rave about my day in Albania. “Really, Albania?” is the reply. But I will die defending this day as one of the best of my middle-aged life so far. So, what is Albania? How does this small, Muslim-majority country exist in this part of Europe? How did it become Muslim? And based on my experience, why is it filled with some of the nicest, sweetest people I met on the entirety of my European adventure? Albania is the definition of a middle tier country. Size wise, its area is around 11,100 square miles, making it the 140th largest nation in the world and one of the smallest in the region. Its population is a little over 2.4 million with a GDP of around 24,840 Euros placing it 80th in the World economically. The local currency is the Lek and it was exchanged while we were there at a nearly perfect 100 to 1 rate with the Euro (A 200-dollar lek note is about 2 Euros). Compared to Greece, Croatia, Montenegro, and Italy, Albania was the cheapest country that we visited except for tax free San Marino. While Saranda is more diverse, the population of Albania is 97% native with a very small Greek minority that lives in the Southern part of the nation. Discussing Albania’s history can not be accurately explained without bringing up the people that settled in this region 4000 years ago. The Illyrians were often described as “barbarians” by the more 'civilized' Greeks. They inhabited the land of Illyria which extended into the Southern Slavic lands that used to form Yugoslavia. They were recognized as one of the three ancient tribes of the region along with the Greeks and Thracians. The Macedonians had a love/hate relationship with the Illyrians trading with them openly while also dealing with their chronic piracy. After the Greek era, the history of Illyria gets difficult to track. The region became the hub of empires for the next thousand years. Living in relative isolation as a tribal people, the Illyrians faced invasions from Romans, Greeks, Visigoths, Huns, Bulgars, and Slavs throughout its Middle Age history. Despite all of this, the Illyrians preserved what became the modern-day Albanian language and their unique culture through multiple conquests. The Romans were the first to conquer the Illyrians during the 2nd Century, and the Byzantines took over control of the region in the 4th Century. Eventually, the Ottomans captured the current territory of modern-day Albania in the 15th Century which cut the country off from the “Western” powers for over 400 years. Albania became the first fully European nation to embrace Islam slowly starting in the 14th Century which gradually became the majority religion of the nation. Even though the country is still majority Muslim (Around 51%), the independence of Albania from the Ottoman Empire in 1912 was largely driven by its diverse population of Christians and Orthodox (About 20% of the population) and other individuals not affiliated with any religion at all (Another 20%). About a year later, the empires of Europe took about half of Albania’s land and declared those citizens as part of different nation states including the region known as Kosovo. Albania respects “freedom of religion” and the nation has been secular since being under monarchist rule between the World Wars and a proudly nationalist communist state through the remainder of the 20th Century. Communism ruled the country from 1946 to 1991, which brought about modernization of what was the poorest nation in Europe but also repression along with close ties with the Soviets. Like the Soviet Union, Albanian Communism fell in 1991 and now has a Western style parliamentary republic that rules with an elected president. Two more facts about Albania. First, a group that was once considered a terrorist organization by the West but has now gotten protection due to its opposition to the current Iranian regime is MEK (Mujaheeden E-Khalq) who have around 3000 members and live on the outskirts of Tirana. Second, why does Albania have a Hillary Clinton statue and apparently a large Bill Clinton statue inside its capital city? Because when Albania was divided up by the European powers in 1913, Kosovo was part of its landmass. Due to the Yugoslav War in the 1990s, support for the Kosovars who have ethnic ties to the Albanian people by the West allowed Kosovo to break off from Serbia and regain national ties with Albania. Because of this, Albanians consider the Clintons as national heroes. The more you know. Next blog, Zambia. Until then.
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I was going to write a nice, detailed, historical blog about the Southern European nation of Albania. A small little Muslim-majority country nestled between the Southern Slavic nations and Greece along the Adriatic Sea, Albania will be the first of 20 nations (As of the end of 2026) that I have a personal experience with via a day long visitation in October of 2024. But upon finishing my previous article on Zimbabwe, a war broke out between the Islamic Republic of Iran, the United States, and Israel. As part of this war, Iran has been lobbing missiles at various Gulf States that are close allies with the West. Specifically, Saudi Arabia, Oman and the oil rich small, city-state like nations of Kuwait, United Arab Emirates, and Qatar. The fourth nation, Bahrain, will be the focus of this nation state evaluation. Bahrain is currently the headquarters for the United States Navy’s Fifth Fleet and has come under ballistic missile attack with apparent significant damage being done to the base since the war began. This article will evaluate the history of the area, its current economic and political structure and what the future may look like for this tiny island in the Persian Gulf.
Bahrain is one of the tiniest countries in the world. Totaling anywhere between 304 to 309 square miles depending on factors related to water reclamation and natural ocean movement, Bahrain is an archipelago of around 30 islands in which 7/8th of the country is Bahrain Island, the largest of the 30 and the majority of the nation’s landmass. The country has a unique history dating back over 2500 years and like today, was often seen as the jewel of the Persian Gulf. A place where economics reigned through international trade and its natural beauty has kept the island’s population protected from the horrors of war. Manama became the nation’s capital in 1971. The population of the capital is approximately 769,000. Being a small island, it is densely populated with a total population approximating 1.67 million. Not many traces of ancient civilizations can be found inside Bahrain. So much of its history has been notated by foreign nations or empires that lived nearby. The first traces of its occupation were notated by the Sumerians who linked the island to an ancient civilization known as the Dilmun. It was known as an important trading hub that linked Mesopotamia with the Indus Valley specializing in important commodities at the time like copper and wool. Dilmun was recognized as a Holy Place by the Sumerians and the Indus: “Dilmun was particularly noted for cleanliness and purity, and it was a water god who played a leading role in the religion of the two lands.” Bahrain in ancient times had multiple rulers from the Bible’s infamous Babylonians to the Sumerians, to the Assyrians, and eventually, to the Achaemenid Persians (Who Alexander the Great conquered). The Greeks called the island Tylos and it was known to them as a mercantile center specializing in pearls and clothing. Per the notations of Nearchus, one of Alexander’s military commanders on ancient Bahrain and its impressive trading markets: “On the island of Tylos, situated in the Persian Gulf, are large plantations of cotton tree, from which are manufactured clothes called sindones, with very different degrees of value, some being costly, others less expensive. The use of these is not confined to India but extends to Arabia.” From 3rd BC onto the 7th Century AD, Bahrain was a key hub for multiple Persian empires. During the 7th Century, the Islamic Caliphate inspired by Mohammed’s teachings took control of Bahrain and conquered Persia. According to the history of the Island up to this point, the island was occupied by a combination of “Christianized Arabs, Aramaic-speaking farmers, Persian Zoroastrians and a small number of Jews.” Islamic texts claim the island was filled with Zoroastrians and Mohammed taxed them via the system of “Jizya” at the time. The island became Islamic during this Century. Being an island nation, Bahrain has not been isolated from the often-crazy utopian ideals of human beings. The Qarmatians created a small empire on the island of Bahrain in the 9th Century. This group was a radical sect of the Shi’a Muslim religion that rejected many of the ideas behind Sharia Law. Their society had an anarchist feel being very egalitarian with no taxes, the promotion of social equality, and made worshiping at a mosque an optional activity which attracted many Muslims from the lower sects. During the height of this proto-anarcho-communist society, they raided Mecca and killed many devout pilgrims. The Qarmatians stole the holy black stone of Kabaa that resided in Mecca often considered one of the holiest trinkets in Islamic culture and owned it for over 20 years before returning it in the mid-10th Century by throwing it into the Great Mosque of Kufa and shattering it into seven pieces. This unique civilization thrived until 976 AD when the Abbasid Caliphate defeated them, beginning a decline where their civilization was wiped from the island by the 11th Century. As various caliphates hung onto the island until the 16th Century, Bahrain also became famous for being the first non-European colony that was fully conquered by a European nation. In 1521, Antonia Correia conquered the island and the Portuguese effectively hung onto it until 1602 when an uprising effectively kicked the Portuguese off the island. The island went through multiple invasions and different conquerors in the 1600 to 1700s leading to its darkest historical period. In 1783, the Bani Utbah tribe led by Ahmed Al-Fateh, conquered the island. Under constant Iranian and Omani bombardment for decades, the Al-Khalifa family signed a treaty with the British for control over the island in 1820. At the time, the British had complete maritime control over the Persian Gulf. Despite various issues with the colonizing Brits inside of Bahrain, the Al-Khalifa family remained the kings of the land (And still are at present) including guiding the nation to independence in 1971. One of the biggest political problems inside Bahrain is the ruling family of dictators are Sunni Muslims while a large majority of the population is Shi’a which has led to accusations of discrimination by the people, often brutal and violent repression by the government especially during the Arab Spring, and constant political unrest due to the large disparity of wealth in the nation. Iran has claimed the island as their territory for over a century, but no one has recognized their historical claim. After the British left the region, the Al-Khalifa’s maintained close ties with the Saudis and the United States who based their Naval Fifth Fleet there. Bahrain is a current member of the Gulf Cooperation Council formed in 1981 and helped the United States attack Iraq in the early 1990s and 2003 during both those wars. Bahrain is considered a high-income, wealthy nation, frequently ranking within the top 30-40 richest economies globally per capita based on Purchasing Power Parity (PPP), with a 2025 estimated GDP (PPP) per capita of approximately 69,270. It is a top-ranking Arab nation, often cited as one of the tops in the region for financial attractiveness. Next week: Back to Albania! On our journey through the discussion about every nation on this planet, the one continent that will be discussed most will be Africa. Africa has the most sovereign nations of any continent totaling between 54 or 55 depending on the status of Western Sahara. Since my birth in 1974, 12 new nations have been created inside Africa. In the 20th Century, many nations broke away from their colonizers and declared independence, including 17 during the 1960s. Africa has always been a very interesting contradiction. Often considered the breadbasket for the foundation of the first humans in recorded history and home to the first massive and powerful empire (Egypt), Africa remains the most underdeveloped continent on the planet due to various factors including its reliance on mining and agriculture, difficult ecosystems that make connecting the entire continent into a solitary grid impossible, and massive political corruption. Africa is also home to the largest land animals on the planet due to its lack of development. Today, a quick summary regarding our first of the 54 African nations, Zimbabwe.
Zimbabwe is in southern Africa on the eastern side of the continent. Landlocked and bordering neighboring states Botswana, Zambia, Mozambique and South Africa, it’s probably most famous for sharing Victoria Falls with its neighbor Zambia on its western edge inside of Zambezi National Park. Western Zimbabwe is known for its extreme beauty, National Parks, and being one of the best locations to see the large mammals that roam the African countryside with many designated safari areas. Discussing the history of Zimbabwe can not be done without talking about the British Empire. A topic that will be repeated hundreds of times as we analyze recent history. Zimbabwe was colonized by the British in the late 19th Century. Signing a deal with King Lobengula of the native Ndebele people, Cecil Rhodes began extraction of the minerals inside the country under the incorporated British South Africa Company (BSAC). In the present day through mergers, the BSAC is now part of a company called Charter Consolidated. By 1890, Zimbabwe was colonized and the British changed the name of their new territory to Rhodesia. Like its neighbor to the south (South Africa) which will be discussed in much greater detail later, laws passed inside Rhodesia allowed land to be expropriated from the native populations and the white settlers from England were given priority for the best land. A couple of uprisings by the Ndebele people and the Shona were put down by the Brits in the late 1800s. In 1923, the settlers who moved to Rhodesia not wanting to be part of South Africa became their own functioning British colony known as Southern Rhodesia. Beginning in 1965, the Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU) and Zimbabwe African People’s Union (ZAPU) united in a successful war against the British. The war ended in December 1979 with the Lancaster House Agreement which set the table for independence. On April 18, 1980, Robert Mugabe won the election and Zimbabwe declared themselves an independent sovereign nation. Robert Mugabe is an interesting historical character. Helping to liberate and free Zimbabwe from the reign of the British, his Marxist tendencies allowed him to consolidate power, and he became sole ruler and dictator of the nation for almost 40 years. Due to his own corruption and destruction of the currency inside his country, Mugabe eventually resigned in 2017 in his 90s. He died two years later in 2019 at the age of 95. Emmerson Mnangagwa is only the 2nd president in the history of this nation since independence and has done his best to bring some aspect of stability to the nation. Due to its Marxist nature, the country still struggles with high inflation and massive corruption and ranks usually around 150 in GDP regarding its economic fortunes. Zimbabwe has a very elaborate history due to its land being very fertile with some of the best natural clean water in the African continent. They have been able to track human activity inside the nation going back 100,000 years. Like most of Africa and until 1980, there was no defined borders for Zimbabwe as many different tribes passed through the region and settled different regions. The San people were the first to settle the area and left various rock paintings in the area that confirmed their presence. The San spoke a variation of the Bantu language. Zimbabwe first became known for the Zhizo people settling in the area and creating a lucrative ivory trade that was popular in ancient Persia and India. They centralized the area and created its first great settlement known as Great Zimbabwe. This settlement became home to the Kingdom of Zimbabwe which thrived from the 12th Century into the 14th. Around 1430, Nyatsimba Mutota, a prince from Great Zimbabwe, settled in the beautiful Zambezi Valley and conquered the tribal Tawara people. He created the Mutapa Kingdom. Having its own army to force people into paying tributes, this Kingdom thrived for another 200 years before wars with the Portuguese and migration to the plateaus to the south began its decline. Due to a civil war between ruling Great Zimbabwe families, another competing kingdom called the Torwa was born in the late 15th Century. Another cattle owner fractured the existing kingdoms even further setting up the Rovzi Kingdom inside of its new hub city, Danangombe. The Rovzi Kingdom due to its superior military tactics eventually took control over most of the region until the Ndebele people who were descendants of the Khumalo people who were in alignment with Shaka Zulu’s powerful Zulu kingdom went to war with the Rovzi in 1854 and conquered them by 1857. A few basic facts about Zimbabwe. The population is approaching 17 million. The country is 99% indigenous African and 84% Christian (A legacy of the British). The capital of the country with about 1.8 million inhabitants is Harare. Hope you enjoyed part two of this ongoing series. Next will be an evaluation of the first country on this list that I have spent time inside even if it was for part of a single day, Albania. Until then. |
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March 2026
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