I just want to possibly start a forum for a timeline in which the Ottomans never conquer Albania, but Albania is under control of the Republic of Venice. In this scenario I would think that the boundaries of Venetian Albania would be around its modern day borders. I would be interested to see how Albania would be affected in this timeline and how the region would be affected in general, and if this decision might chance the history of southern Europe.
Alternate History Scenario: Albania isn't conquered by the Ottoman Empire but instead it's under Venetian Control.
- Thread starter Rakoci
- Start date
Albania never became fully controlled by Venice, they controlled a small region and the city of Lezhë (Liesso). According to Le Bocche di Cattaro nel 1810 (by Luigi Paulucci) more urban areas were venetian speaking, while the hintherland was either slavic speaking or albanian speaking. So the tendency for the coastal areas is to be venetian speaking while the mountainous regions of Albania (the core of the albanian nation) wil stay albanian speaking living with the aromanian minority.
Yes I know that in OTL very little part of modern albania was under Venetian control. What I'm saying is what if in an alternate scenario, Venice managed to take and keep pratically most of modern Albania under its control. Like for example if Skanderbeg instead of fighting against the Venetians, he became a vassal of Venice in return for military protection and support. And after his death at a later point Albania is integrated into a Venetian territory. That's the scenario I'm thinking.
the coastal, more urbanized cities will be venetian speaking and hintherland will be albanian speaking until the rise of nationalism when separatists seek albanian independence from Venetian control.
They will be catholic, not muslim though.
Albania is one of the few if only areas in Europe that (until recently) operated in a tribal structure. Good luck if the Venetians try to control anything outside of the cities in the coast. They will likely face severe resistance. The Venetian language and culture will likely dominate in the coasts for as long as it continues.
48 of the Grand Viziers in the Ottoman Empire were Albanian as were an untold number of the Janissaries and devşirme.
In lieu of that, there will be more Slavic and Greek Christians recruited. Perhaps Bulgaria ITTL would be as Islamized as Bosnia and Albania.
In lieu of that, there will be more Slavic and Greek Christians recruited. Perhaps Bulgaria ITTL would be as Islamized as Bosnia and Albania.
Also, how differently would Albania develop culturally if it was under the rule of Venice? Would its culture resemble more the culture of the Arbëresh in southern Italy and would Albania be considered southern European or it would be still considered Balkan despite not having Ottoman cultural influence, just like how Croatia and Slovenia are considered Balkan despite being influenced mostly by Hungary and Austria culturally.
Doubt it would butterfly them away.
For the most part the Ottomans recruited Janissaries (who would later become Grand Viziers) from the interior tribal territories of Albania. The Venetians usually stuck to the coasts due to them being easier to control and actually profitable (since they were a merchant republic after all), so these lands would still probably fall to the Turks.
Venice was uninterested in anything that couldn't be seen from atop the main mast of a ship - that said, their expansion in mainland northeastern Italy was motivated by a perceived need to create a buffer zone between them and Milan, so if the Ottomans were to try and conquer coastal Albania, Venice might decide to expand inland. The Aromanians in these new lands might become something not unlike the Morlachs to their north, that is, they'd be perceived by Venice's upper classes as a semi-barbaric people, but also as brave, loyal soldiers.
Basically, Slavicized Vlachs in Dalmatia - their relationship with Venice was... complicated but, since they hated the Ottomans much more than the Venetians, they often found employment as merchants and soldiers under Venice; as soon as the Serenissima was no more, they began to assimilate into Bosniak, Croatian or Serbian society.
Since Albania would feel even more threatened by the Ottomans than Dalmatia, being under Venice could delay or even halt and reverse the decline of the Aromanian population, and the nucleus of an Aromanian nation-state might form somewhere around the Bay of Kotor.