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adding some history
'''Albania''' (officially the '''Republic of Albania''') is a country in the [[Balkans]], bordered by [[Montenegro]], [[Serbia]], [[Republic of Macedonia|Macedonia]], and [[Greece]].
'''Albania''' (officially the '''Republic of Albania''') is a country in the [[Balkans]], bordered by [[Montenegro]], [[Serbia]], [[Republic of Macedonia|Macedonia]], and [[Greece]].
==Culture==
In parts of northern Albania, families follow a code of [[ethics]] called the Kanun. This is not a religious document, but a sacred code of ethics. According to the Kanun, wealth is inherited through men, and women move to their husband's family's household when they marry. Marriages are normally arranged very early in life and women become the property of their husband's family.
In parts of northern Albania, families follow a code of [[ethics]] called the Kanun. This is not a religious document, but a sacred code of ethics. According to the Kanun, wealth is inherited through men, and women move to their husband's family's household when they marry. Marriages are normally arranged very early in life and women become the property of their husband's family.
There are two reasons under Kanun law why a woman might choose to become a man. One is if she chooses not to marry a man whom her parents have chosen for her. The other is if her parents have no sons and they require her to become a ‘man’, because in Albania only men can inherit family wealth or head households. <ref> http://www.jolique.com/gender/crossing_boundaries.htm</ref>
There are two reasons under Kanun law why a woman might choose to become a man. One is if she chooses not to marry a man whom her parents have chosen for her. The other is if her parents have no sons and they require her to become a ‘man’, because in Albania only men can inherit family wealth or head households. <ref> http://www.jolique.com/gender/crossing_boundaries.htm</ref>
==Communist era==
From 1944 to 1991 Albania was a [[Communist]] nation known as one of the most extreme and isolationist of the Communist states. [[Enver Hoxha]] ruled from 1944 to his death in 1985. A hard-line [[Stalinism|Stalinist]], Hoxha denounced the [[Soviet Union]] as insufficiently hard-line in 1961 and broke off relations with the Soviet Bloc. This led to a short-lived alliance between Albania and Communist [[China]] under [[Mao]], which ended with Hoxha began criticizing the [[Cultural Revolution]] and then broke ties completely in 1978, denouncing China in much the same way he had the Soviet Union. Albania's isolation from the rest of the world led to widespread poverty and backward technological development if at all. At the time, Albania was the poorest country in Europe. However, Hoxha died in 1985 and within five years anti-Communist demonstrations were openly held in the streets, around the same time similar anti-Communist revolutions were occurring in countries like [[East Germany]], [[Poland]], and [[Romania]]. In 1991 the government gave in and allowed multiparty elections.
==References==
==References==