Albanian historiography

The Historiography of Albania (Albanian: Historiografia e Shqipërisë) or Albanian historiography (Albanian: Historiografia shqiptare) refers to the studies, sources, critical methods and interpretations used by scholars to study the history of Albania.

Theodor Anton Ippen, who would become a consul of Austria-Hungary in Scutari between 1897 and 1903, belonged to the group of Albanologists whose works were published through the state-financed institutes of Austria-Hungary. He participated in writing and disseminating the first history of Albania published on the Albanian language because he insisted that creating an Albanian national consciousness would be beneficial for the Dual Monarchy. Ippen struggled for the establishment of an independent nation-state of Albanians.

There are two main sources of modern Albanian historiography: intellectuals from the Albanian National Awakening (Rilindja) period and historians from the regime of the People's Socialist Republic of Albania. From 1878 onward, the national Awakening period galvanised Albanian intellectuals among some who emerged as the first modern Albanian scholars and they were preoccupied with overcoming linguistic and cultural differences between Albanian subgroups (Gegs and Tosks) and religious divisions (Muslim and Christians). At that time, these scholars lacked access to many primary sources to construct the idea that Albanians were descendants of Illyrians, while Greater Albania was not considered a priority. Compared with their Balkan counterparts, these Albanian historians were very moderate and alongside politicians mainly had the goal to get socio-political recognition and autonomy for Albanians under Ottoman rule. Two major historical works written by Albanians during this early phase of modern historiography within Albania are Athanase Gegaj's L'Albanie et l'Invasion turque au XVe siècle (1937) and Fan Noli's George Castrioti Scanderbeg (1405-1468) (1947), both written outside Albania.

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