Archives - Albania and Albanians in ottoman archives

The majority of documents and sources on the history of the Albanians and Albanian territories today are preserved in archives and libraries of foreign countries. The vast majority of this documentation is in Latin and Ottoman languages. Important documents and sources are also in Greek, occasionally in Spanish, Slavic, and Hebrew.

The end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century were periods when documentary publications rose to an academic level and were followed by a series of publications. This tradition has continued to varying degrees until today.

The first three academics who published documents in Latin in scientific journals and documentary publications until the first decade of the 20th century were medievalists Milan Shuflaj, Ludvig Taloci, and Kostandin Jireçek. Their publication was called "Acta et Diplomata res Albaniae mediae aetatis illustrantia, I-II" (Vienna 1913). In this work, they published 1647 documents covering the period from 344 to 1406. A significant contribution in this field was also made by the Jesuit priest Giuseppe Valentini (Zef Valentini) with his monumental work "Acta Albaniae Veneta saeculorum XIV et XV" (Palermo 1967), where he published over 5000 documents preserved in the Venetian Archives, discussing Albania in the 14th and 15th centuries. Ignatius Parrino also made a significant contribution with the publication of "Acta Albaniae Vaticana" (Vatican 1971), where he published 563 documents from the 15th and 16th centuries found in the Vatican Archives.

A large number of documents related to Albanian territories and Albanians are also found in the Ottoman Archives in Istanbul, covering the period between the 15th century and the early decades of the 20th century. Since publishing these documents in Albanian requires time and involves high financial costs, it has been proposed to select the documents by regions (Elbasan and Korçë have been completed, Shkodra is in progress) and publish them in the form of a catalog.

This catalog would allow academics, historians, and enthusiasts of history to find data about specific issues and figures related to Albanian history under Ottoman rule.

The website will create the possibility for quick and effective searches in a database translated into Albanian, containing indexes of documents about Albania and the Albanians found in foreign archives. With time passing and the contribution of enthusiasts and researchers of the history of Albanian territories, it is hoped that the database will gradually be supplemented with translations of documents or specific records found in these archives.