(600 AD - 620 AD): HOW THE SERB & SLAVIC INVASIONS PERMANENTLY ALTERED THE DEMOGRAPHICS OF ALBANIA

The Serb/Slavic contribution to the Albanian ethno genesis occurred in two waves: 1. by undifferentiated Slavs (neither Serbs, Bulgars nor Croats) who flooded Southern Albania from 600 AD - 610 AD. 2. by the Serboi, from 620 AD - ? The undifferentiated Slavs quickly assimilated Serb name an identity. It will be shown below that as recently as the 18th century, there were still Tosks who remembered their Serb ancestry and remembered fondly the Serb administration of Albania by Czar Stefan Dushan the Mighty.

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Part 1:
Undifferentiated Slavs arrive in Prevalitania & the Shkumbi River Wilkes confirms that undifferentiated Slavs reached the Shkumbi valley where they contributed to much of the earliest pre-Serb Slavic toponyms in Albania:
The dispersal of Slavs in the southern Balkans following the siege of Thessaloniki resulted in the occupation of Prevalitania and the region south of the Shkumbi River, a distribution indicated by place-names of Slavic origin. On the other hand, it is hoped that the unfortunate distortions which have marred outstanding progress in Albanian Archaeology will soon be corrected. As new guidebooks are demonstrating, the Albanian culture, as fascinating and varied as any in that quarter of Europe, is an inheritance from several languages, religions and ethnic groups known to have inhabited the region since prehistoric times, among whom were the Illyrians. John Wilkes The Illyrians Chapter: Prehistoric Illyrians Page: 273 Blackwell Publishers 1992

Albanian scholar Ardian Vebiu adds:

Where were they living? Where are the places they have named after their common words (technically called appellatives)? The south is full -- literally full -- of Slavic place names, especially the areas of Vlora, Tepelena, Skrapar, Mallakaster . ArdianVebiu famous Albanian historian <http://members.aol.com/Plaku/illyrian.htm>

Exactly how "literally full" of Slavic toponyms is southern Albania? If we delve into this question, we discover that all of Albania is full of Slavic toponyms...

1. Bulgarian scholar Selishev's map of Slavic toponyms in Albania: http://www.kroraina.com/seli_sna/selish_slavic.gif 2. Bulgarian scholar Selishev's map of non-Slavic (Alb, Vlach, Turkish, etc...) toponyms in Albania: http://www.kroraina.com/seli_sna/selish_nonslavic.gif 3. Bulgarian scholar Selishev's map of Slavic toponyms in Albania with the names listed: http://www.kroraina.com/seli_sna/selish_slavicnames2.gif

These maps attest to a very large Slavic population in Albania because these hundreds of place names could never have been implanted during the brief administration of Albania by Serbia & Bulgaria, which collective adds up to barely 200 years, not counting the interruptions and rebellions. The fact is that none of these Slavic place names could have remained to the present day if they had been imposed during that brief time. We turn again to Albanian scholar & dissident Ardian Vebiu about what Albanian historians had to say in the 1950s concerning the Serb / Slavic contribution to the Albanian population:
About this issue, one of the most distinguished Albanian historians had to say, in 1955, in front of an audience of the Soviet Academy of Sciences in Moscow, more or less the following:
"The bourgeois science has always tried to deny the historic, ethnic and language links between Albanians and the Slavs. We won't fall into this trap. There's no reason to deny that there is Slavic blood running in our veins, and we are proud of it."

After 1960 all this Slavic blood dried out, obviously. Ardian Vebiu (Albanian historian & dissident) <http://members.aol.com/Plaku/origins.htm>

We turn to Albanian dissident & critic, Fatos Lubonja who explains exactly how "all this Slavic blood dried out":
...the ethnogenesis of the Albanians was an open question among Albanian scholars in the 1950s, but when Enver Hoxha declared that their origin was Illyrian (without denying their Pelasgian roots), no one dared participate in any further discussion of the question ... By this means a virtual world was created in which Albanians lived within the propaganda framework of the part and of the literary, artistic and academic works, which pervaded schools, libraries, cinemas, theaters and exhibitions. Fatos Lubonja Between the Glory of a Virtual World & the Misery of a Real World Quoted from: Albanian Identities: Myth and History Edited by: Stephanie Schwandner-Sievers & Bernd J. Fischer Page: 96 <http://www.oocities.com/CapitolHill/Lobby/7681/faqe_96.jpg>

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Part 2:
Refuting alleged "Bulgarian" contributions to Albanian Ethnogenesis

But the Serb contribution to the ethnogenesis of the Albanians is one of the most deliberately understated and deliberately underrated events in Albanian history. It is also one of the most deliberately ignored & distorted events in Albanian history. More often than not, the Serb contribution is deliberately short-changed and masked as a "Bulgarian" contribution. For example, here is an excerpt from the work of the most prominent Western distorter of Balkan history, Noel Malcolm: The myth of ethnic homogeneity and cultural purity
Although some of the other myths of Albanian identity may have contained an important element of historical truth, this one is hardly defensible at allIn the case of the Albanian, the added ingredients would include Romans (themselves of various ethnic origins), Slavs ( during the middle ages when Bulgarian Slav settlers penetrated much of Albania), Greeks (in much smaller numbers) and Turks. linguistic legacy of Slavic and Latin vocabulary and the strong cultural imprint of the Ottomans. Noel Malcolm Myth of Albanian National Identity: Some Key Elements Quoted from: Albanian Identities: Myth and History Edited by: Stephanie Schwandner-Sievers & Bernd J. Fischer Page: 73 <http://www.oocities.com/CapitolHill/Lobby/7681/faqe_73.jpg>

Malcolm attempts to explain Slavic toponyms, vocabulary and population contributions as the legacy of Bulgarian political administration of Albania - but gives no evidence. Malcolm's biases are obvious because the Bulgarian occupation and administration of Albania was slightly shorter in duration than the Serbian occupation of Albania. Yet, Malcolm is silent on medieval Serb contributions that should have been implicit if a medieval Bulgarian contribution is going to mentioned at all. The fact is that neither Bulgar nor Serb administration of Albania in the Middle Ages included any significant migration into Albania that would be worth mentioning as contributing to Albanian ethnogenesis. When Serbs & Bulgars occupied Albania, they would have had no need to transplant their own peasant populations into Albania nor would there have been any incentive or reason to do so. Albanian tribal chieftains were simply obligated to send soldiers on military expeditions & to pay taxes in exchange for local autonomy. Serb administration of Bulgaria, Greece & Albania under Czar Stefan Dushan the Mighty did not involve any migrations either.

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Part 3:
The undifferentiated Slavs assimilate into Serbs in the early 7th century The Serbs entered Albania in the Dark Ages - as early as 620 AD. We know that they expanded southward very early after arrival; otherwise they never would have been able to

bestow their ethno-tribal name and identity on the undifferentiated Shkumbi Slavs. This movement was probably an organized military campaign. An monk from Hungary visited Southern Albania in the mid-18th century:
While visiting Greece in 1768, upon being called to a visit by "some Albanians", he stayed one year with them. He became familiar with the people and "learned Albanian". Dositej emphasizes their relation to the Serbs: "How (strange) it was for me to hear these same Albanians say, 'Whoever governs Serbia, and we too will acknowledge that ruler, because the Serb kings were ours once, too'". Dositej continues about his tenure with the Albanians, "Not too far from Hormove, beautiful fields were described which the Albanians call 'Lepa-zhite'. I asked them what this meant. 'We don't know,' they told me. 'That's just the name of the field'. When I clarified what this meant, telling them that this is a Serbian word, "Oh, holy man," they answered, "Don't be surprised; we were once one family and tribe with the Serblyans in ancient times". The Cetinje Herald Dositej among the Albanians April. 2. 1911

Dositej proves that the undifferentiated Slavs who arrived at the Shkmbi a decade before the Serbs entered Albania - quickly assimilated Serb name an identity that remained with them as recently as 250 years ago. This is expected because both the Slavs and the Serbs spoke a similar language. Coon attributes all Slavic place-names and all Slav-speakers in Albania to the Serb legacy in Albania:
"The once important Serbian influence in Albania has left few vestiges, other than Slavic place names, and the presence of a few islands of Moslem Serb speakers in the mountains, as in the Gora district of Luma". Carleton Stevens Coon Races of Europe (Chapter XII, section 12) 1939

Below, Coon calls the Serbs, "the most important single people in this southern expansion" and mentions (below) that the 7th century Serbs entered North-West Albania.
The movement of the South Slavs took them to the Dinaric mountain chain, which certain bands crossed to the Istra Peninsula and into Northern Italy itself. The main body moved south-eastward along the Adriatic coast, following the Dinaric mountain chain to Monenegro and to the Gore region of Northwestern Albania. A southern Slavic nucleus was formed in the Kingdom of Old Serbia centered around Prizren & Skoplje. From this nucleus, they expanded into the Kosovo plain, which they were soon to lose in great part to the Turks & Albanians. The Serbs, the most important single people in this southern expansion - still speak a language closely allied ot that of the Wends of Germany. Carleton Stevens Coon Races of Europe (Chapter VI, section 7) The Slavs Macmillam Press

1939

The suffixes ova, ove, iqi, ica found in Albanian surnames- are all Slavic suffixes. The first two are masculine & feminine possessive, the last two are masculine & feminine diminutives. There are numerous examples Albanian surnames with Slavic suffixes and it is safe to say, based on Coon's & Dositej's research, that Albanians with these Slavic surnames descend from Serbs. Colbeck's 19th century map of Europe in 814 AD shows the extent of Serb influence:
http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/historical/europe_814_colbeck.jpg

The question is: what happened to all these Serbs? These Albanian Serbs were Albanized & Islamized in the Ottoman era by Muslim Albanians, who in turn were converted by the Turks. Muslim Albanian colonists pushed the Serbs out of Kosovo and Western Macedonia in the Ottoman Era. Much of Albania was populated by Serbs by the end of the Middle Ages. Islam and Islamization wiped out the Serb population by forcing them to assimilate into Muslims and then into Albanians. All that remain of Albanian Serbs are the tens of thousands of albanized Serb in Albania, Kosovo & Macedonia and Serb surnames & Serb toponyms and hydronyms all over Albania. The sheer number of toponyms and albanized surnames tell us that the Serb population of Medieval Albania was very considerable, indeed. The last Medieval ruler of Albania was a Serb nobleman named Djuradj Kastriota Skenderbeg who was a member of a 4th generation Albanian-Serb noble family & a direct descendant of a Serb nobleman - according to Skenderbeg own direct descendant, Count Loris Castriota-Scandrebegh:
http://www.sardimpex.com/...

The current Albanian population of Kosovo and Macedonia descend from Muslim colonists from North Albania who expelled the Serbs from these regions in Ottoman times :
http://www.oocities.com/aia_skenderbeg/turkish_era.html

Albanians also conducted an ethnic cleansing campaign while they administered Kosovo from 1970 - 1987:
http://www.oocities.com/aia_skenderbeg/rillindja.html