Albania Trivia
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46 free Albania trivia questions with answers — geography quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
Albania calls itself Shqiperia, the Land of the Eagles, and it packs an extraordinary amount into 28,748 square kilometres: Illyrian tribes and Greek colonies, Skanderbeg's 25-year stand against the Ottomans, four centuries of Ottoman rule, independence in 1912, King Zog, and Enver Hoxha's hermit communist state with its 750,000 bunkers and its constitutional atheism. This quiz covers all of it. You will find questions on geography, from Mount Korab and Lake Shkoder to the Vjosa, Europe's first wild river national park, and the Riviera; on the UNESCO sites of Butrint, Berat and Gjirokaster; on the language that is a branch of Indo-European all its own; on the 1997 pyramid-scheme collapse, NATO membership in 2009 and EU accession talks. Culture gets its share too: tave kosi and byrek, raki, iso-polyphony, Ismail Kadare, Mother Teresa's Albanian roots, Dua Lipa, Norman Wisdom's strange stardom under Hoxha and the national team at Euro 2016. Every answer was checked against Wikipedia's articles on Albania, its cities, history and culture, so the dates, heights and names will stand up.
30 of 46 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Albania has coastlines on the Adriatic and which other sea?
The Ionian
The Ionian Sea washes Albania's southern coast below the Bay of Vlorë; the Strait of Otranto, between Italy's heel and Albania, marks where it meets the Adriatic.
Q 02What is the capital and largest city of Albania?
Tirana
Tirana became Albania's capital in 1920 and is by far its largest city, with well over 400,000 residents, several times the population of second-placed Durrës.
Q 03Albanians call their country Shqipëri, widely interpreted to mean what?
Land of the Eagles
Shqipëri is popularly read as Land of the Eagles, linked to shqipe, the Albanian word for eagle; Albanians accordingly call themselves Shqiptarë.
Q 04Which ancient people, including the Taulantii and Ardiaei, dominated Albania before Macedon rose?
The Illyrians
The name Albania is linked to the Illyrian tribe of the Albani mentioned by Ptolemy.
Q 05At which Greek colony in Illyria was Octavian studying when Julius Caesar was killed?
Apollonia
Apollonia, founded around 600 BC near modern Fier, was a centre of learning; the 18-year-old Octavian was studying there in March 44 BC when news of Caesar's murder arrived.
Q 06Skanderbeg deserted the Ottoman army in 1443 at which battle before seizing Krujë?
Nish
Skanderbeg abandoned the Ottoman army at the Battle of Nish in November 1443, rode to Krujë with 300 Albanians and took its castle with a forged letter from the sultan.
Q 07Albania declared independence from the Ottoman Empire on which date?
28 November 1912
Ismail Qemali raised the flag at Vlorë on 28 November 1912, declaring independence as the First Balkan War broke Ottoman rule; the date is Albania's Flag Day.
Q 08Ahmet Zogu proclaimed Albania a monarchy in 1928 and took which royal name?
Zog I
Zogu was crowned Zog I, King of the Albanians, on 1 September 1928, having been president since 1925; his reign ended in exile eleven years later.
Q 09Enver Hoxha, who ruled Albania from 1944 to 1985, was born in which southern city?
Gjirokastër
Enver Hoxha was born in Gjirokastër in 1908; the Ottoman-era 'city of stone' in the south, a UNESCO site since 2005, was also the birthplace of novelist Ismail Kadare.
Q 10Who succeeded Enver Hoxha as leader of communist Albania in 1985?
Ramiz Alia
Ramiz Alia became First Secretary of the Party of Labour of Albania on 13 April 1985, two days after Hoxha's death, and led the country until the communists lost the March 1992 election.
Q 11In 1976 Albania became the world's first what?
Constitutionally atheist state
Hoxha's regime persecuted Muslim, Catholic and Orthodox clergy alike.
Q 12After breaking with the Soviet Union, communist Albania's enduring partner was which country?
China
China backed Albania with aid and technicians after the 1961 break with Moscow, until Hoxha denounced Beijing's opening to the United States and the partnership collapsed in 1978.
Q 13Which English comedian became a huge star in Hoxha's Albania, which allowed few Western films?
Norman Wisdom
Norman Wisdom's slapstick films, read as satires of capitalism, were among the few Western movies shown in communist Albania, where he was adored as Pitkin after his screen character.
Q 21Berat, a UNESCO site since 2008, is known to Albanians by which nickname?
The city of one-above-another windows
Berat's Mangalem quarter climbs the hillside so steeply that each house's windows sit above the next, earning it the name 'city of one-above-another windows', often rendered 'city of a thousand windows'.
Q 22The capital was founded in 1614 by an Ottoman Albanian nobleman who built which structure at its heart?
A mosque
Sulejman Pasha Bargjini's Old Mosque came with a bazaar and hammam; Tirana only became capital after 1912.
Q 23How many letters does the modern Albanian alphabet contain?
36
Q 14The 1946 Corfu Channel incident involved Royal Navy ships striking what?
Mines
The destroyers HMS Saumarez and HMS Volage struck mines in the Corfu Channel on 22 October 1946, killing 44 men; the International Court of Justice later awarded Britain £844,000.
Q 15Albania's violent 1997 unrest, which killed about 2,000 people, followed the collapse of what?
Pyramid investment schemes
The 1997 revolt erupted when pyramid investment schemes holding savings worth roughly half of Albania's GDP collapsed; the state lost the south before the Italian-led Operation Alba restored order.
Q 16Albania joined NATO and formally applied for EU membership in which year?
2009
Albania joined NATO on 1 April 2009 alongside Croatia and lodged its EU membership application later that month; accession negotiations finally opened in July 2022.
Q 17Mount Korab, Albania's highest point, rises to roughly what height?
2,764 m
Mount Korab, on the border with North Macedonia, reaches 2,764 m and is the highest point of both countries; it stands in the Korab range, not the Albanian Alps.
Q 18Which body of water in Albania's north-west is Southern Europe's largest lake?
Shkodër
Lake Shkodër, shared with Montenegro, spreads over 370 to 530 km² depending on the season, making it the largest lake in Southern Europe; the Buna river drains it to the Adriatic.
Q 19The Vjosa, which flows from the Pindus to the Adriatic, was given which European first?
Wild-river national park status
The river rises in the Pindus Mountains and reaches the Adriatic largely undammed.
Q 20Butrint, declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1992, lies near which resort close to the Greek border?
Sarandë
Butrint lies a short drive south of Sarandë, the Ionian resort facing Corfu; the ancient city's theatre, baptistery and Venetian tower became a national park in 2000.
The Albanian alphabet has 36 letters, nine of them two-letter combinations such as dh, gj, ll, nj, rr, sh, th, xh and zh.
Q 24The Gheg and Tosk dialects of Albanian are divided by which river?
Shkumbin
The Shkumbin, which flows past Elbasan to the Adriatic, marks the traditional Gheg-Tosk line: Gheg is spoken north of it and Tosk, the basis of standard Albanian, to the south.
Q 25What is Albania's currency, introduced in 1926?
The lek
The lek, issued from 1926 and once divided into 100 qindarka, is generally said to take its name from Leka, the Albanian short form of Alexander the Great's name.
Q 26What was Albania's population according to the 2023 census?
About 2.4 million
The 2023 census counted about 2.4 million residents (2,402,113), down from 2.8 million in 2011 as emigration continued.
Q 27Which religious group formed the largest share of Albanians in the 2023 census, at about 46%?
Sunni Muslims
Sunni Muslims were the largest group in the 2023 census, where about 46% ticked Muslim; Catholics and Orthodox each came in under 10%, and Albania has no state religion.
Q 28Which Sufi order, headquartered in Albania, accounted for nearly 5% of the population in 2023?
Bektashi
The Bektashi order, a Shia-leaning Sufi brotherhood, moved its world headquarters to Tirana after Turkey banned Sufi orders in 1925; it counted 4.8% of Albanians in 2023.
Q 29Mother Teresa, of Albanian family, was born in 1910 in which city?
Skopje
Mother Teresa was born Anjezë Gonxhe Bojaxhiu in Skopje, then in the Ottoman Empire, on 26 August 1910; Tirana's airport and a main square carry her name.
Q 30In which year did Albanian writer Ismail Kadare win the first Man Booker International Prize?
2005
Ismail Kadare won the inaugural Man Booker International Prize in 2005, beating Gabriel García Márquez and Milan Kundera; he made his name with The General of the Dead Army (1963).