Vlorë

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Vlorë (Albanian: Vlorë or Vlora;) is the second largest port city of Albania, after Durrës, with a population of about 85,000 (2003 estimate).

Contents 1 Situation 2 History 3 Economy 4 Sister Cities 5 See also 6 Sources and References 7 External links

[edit] Situation

It is located in southwestern Albania, in the District of Vlorë and County of Vlorë at 40°28′N 19°29′E.

Aviona occupies an eminence near the Gulf of Avlona, an inlet of the facing the Adriatic Sea, almost surrounded by mounains. The port is the best on the Albanian coast, and the nearest to Italy. It is protected by the island of Saseno, the ancient ;aso, and by Cape Glossa, the northernmost headland of the Croceraunian mountains.

The town is about 11/2 m. from the sea, and has rather a pleasant appearance cith its minarets and its palace, surrounded with gardens and olive-groves. Valonia, a material largely used by tanners, is the pericarp of an acorn obtained in the neighboring oakvoods, and derives its name from Valona.

[edit] History

Vlorë is one of the oldest cities of Albania. It was founded in the 6th century BC as a Greek colony named Aulōn, one of three such colonies on the coast of Illyria, mentioned for the first time by Ptolemy (Geographia, III, xii, 2). Other geographical documents, such as Peutinger's "Tabula" and the "Synecdemus" of Hierocles, also mention it. The city was an important port of the Roman Empire, when it was part of Epirus Nova.

It became an episcopal see in the 5th century. Among the known bishops are Nazarius, in 458, and Soter, in 553 (Farlati, "Illyricum sacrum", VII, 397-401). The diocese at that time belonged to the Patriarchate of Rome. In 733 it was annexed, with all eastern Illyricum, to the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople, and yet it is not mentioned in any "Notitiae episcopatuum" of that Church. The bishopric had probably been suppressed, for, though the Bulgarians had been in possession of this country for some time, Aulon is not mentioned in the "Notitiae episcopatuum" of the Patriarchate of Achrida.

Valona played a central role in the conflicts between the Norman Kingdom of Sicily and the Byzantine Empire during the 11th and 12th centuries. During the Latin domination a Latin see was established, and Eubel (Hierarchia catholica medii aevi, I, 124) mentions several of its bishops. Several of the Latin bishops mentioned by Le Quien (Oriens christianus, III, 855-8), and whom Eubel (op. cit., I, 541) mentions under the See of Valanea in Syria, belong either to Aulon in Greece (now Salona) or to Aulon in Albania (Valona).

Serbia captured Valona, or Vlora, as it was also called, in 1345 and it passed to the Ottoman Empire in 1464; and after being in Venetian possession in 1690, was restored to the Turks in 1691. , becoming a caza of the sandjak of Berat in the vilayet (province) of Janina. The city, which has a port on the Adriatic, has about 10,000 inhabitants; there was a Catholic parish, which belongs to the Archdiocese of Durazzo; it persisted nominally as a Titular see, suffragan of Dyrrachium, also in Epirus Nova.

In 1851 it suffered severely from an earthquake.

Ismail Qemali declared Albania's independence in Vlorë on November 28th, 1912, during the First Balkan War. The city became Albania's first capital but was invaded by Italy in 1914 and occupied until 1920. Italy again invaded Vlorë in 1939, following which Nazi Germany occupied the city until 1944.

During World War II, the island of Sazan in Vlorë Bay became the site of a German and Italian submarine base and naval installations; these were heavily bombed by the Allies. After the war, the Soviet Union made use of the rebuilt installations to provide a Soviet naval base on the Adriatic, from which it withdrew following a breakdown of relations between the two countries in 1961.

Under communism the port was leased to the Soviet Union as a submarine base, and played an Important part in the conflict between Enver Hoxha and Khrushchev in 1960-1961, as the Soviet Union had made considerable investments in the naval facilities here and objected strongly to the loss of them as a consequence of Albania denouncing the USSR as 'revisionist' and taking the Chinese side in the split in the world communist movement. The Soviet Union threatened to occupy Vlora with Soviet troops in April 1961, and cut off all Soviet economic, military and technical aid to Albania. The threat was not carried out, as a result of the simultaneous development of the Cuban missiles crisis, but Hoxha realized how vulnerable Albania was, and, after the USSR invaded Czechoslovakia in 1968, he built the tens of thousands of ubiquitous concrete bunkers that still litter the entire Albanian landscape. Under Hoxha Vlora was an important recruiting centre for the Sigurimi, the secret police.

In 1997, Vlorë was the center of popular riots after the collapse of several fraudulent investment schemes that led to the downfall of the Sali Berisha administration, and almost precipitated the country into a civil war.

[edit] Economy

Vlorë remains a major seaport and commercial centre, with a significant fishing and industrial sector. The surrounding region produces petroleum, natural gas, bitumen and salt. The city is also the location of important installations of the Albanian Navy.

Vlora has grown in importance as an agricultural centre with very large-scale planting of olive and fruit trees, and as a centre of the food processing, oil and bitumen export industries. ra

The surrounding district is mainly agricultural and pastoral, producing oats, maize, otton, olive oil, cattle, sheep, skins, hides and butter. These commodities are exported.

Tourism has become a major industry in recent years, with many hotels, recreational centers, and vast beaches.It is a pleasant place to relax, to have a coffee and admire the beautiful view over the Bay of Vlora

[edit] Sister Cities

• Hollywood, Florida, USA

[edit] See also

• History of Albania
• List of cities in Albania
• Tourism in Albania

[edit] Sources and References

• This article incorporates text from the public-domain Catholic Encyclopedia, so may be out of date, or reflect the point of view of the Catholic Church as of 1913. It should be edited to reflect broader and more recent perspectives.
• This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.
• "Vlorë." Encyclopædia Britannica, 2005
• "Vlorë." The Columbia Encyclopedia, 2004
• "Vlorë or Vlora, Ital. Valona, ancient Aulon." Crystal Reference Encyclopedia, 2001

[edit] External links

• Photos of Vlorë (site in Albanian)