Albanophilia

Albanophilia is a non-Albanian person's expression of a strong interest in or appreciation for the Albanian language, Albanian culture, Albanian literature, Albanian history or the Albanian people.

Albanophilia in Europe outside of the Balkans

Sweden

Johann Erich Thunmann in the 18th century supported the theory of the autochthony of the Albanians^[1] and also presented the Illyrian origin theory.^[2]^[3] Later on Gustav Meyer proved that Albanian language was part of the Indo-European family.^[4]

Germany

In 2001 during the Insurgency in Macedonia the German foreign minister Joschka Fischer declared, that the Albanian question in the Balkans is not solved. Around 1912 Germany and Austria supported an Independent Albania, including cities like Parga, Tetovo and Pristina.^[5]

Albanophilia in Balkans

Montenegro

The Montenegrin Federalist Party was the only party in Montenegro which promoted common Illyrian theory with Albanians. The party's theoretician, Sekula Drljević, promoted ideas of a separate Montenegrin ethnicity (ideas that become more extreme throughout the 1930s), arguing that the Montenegrins were Illyrian.^[6] He wrote:

Races are communities of blood, whereas people are creatures of history. With their language, the Montenegrin people belong to the Slavic linguistic community. By their blood, however, they belong [to the Dinaric peoples]. According to the contemporary science of European races, [Dinaric] peoples are descended from the Illyrians. Hence, not just the kinship, but the identity of certain cultural forms among the Dinaric peoples, all the way from Albanians to South Tyroleans, who are Germanized Illyrians.^[7]

Notable Albanophiles

Lord Byron - British poet and adventurer
Bob Dole - American politician and army officer
Edith Durham – British artist and anthropologist^[8]
Robert Elsie - Canadian scholar
Eliot Engel - American politician
Joschka Fischer - German politician
Leo Freundlich – Austrian novelist and writer of Albania's Golgotha
Margaret Hasluck - Scottish archaeologist
Aubrey Herbert - British soldier and traveller
Harry Hodgkinson - British journalist
Norbert Jokl - Austrian Albanologist
Stipe Mesić – Croatian politician
Marko Miljanov - Montenegrin general and writer
Vladimir Oryol - Russian professor
Carl Patsch - Austrian historian
Holger Pedersen - Danish linguist
Milan Šufflay – Croatian historian and politician
Johann Erich Thunmann - Swedish linguist and historian
Franz Nopcsa von Felső-Szilvás – Hungarian aristocrat
Johann Georg von Hahn - German diplomat and philologist
Gustav von Myrdacz - Austrian nobleman
Darren Jason Watkins Jr – American YouTuber^[9]
Woodrow Wilson - American president
Robert Wilton - British author

Pro-Albanian political parties

References

↑ Elsie, Robert (19 March 2010). Historical Dictionary of Albania. Scarecrow Press. p. 159. ISBN 978-0-8108-7380-3. Johann Erich Thunmann (1746–1778) of the University of Halle first disseminated the theory of the autochthony of the Albanians
↑ Schwandner-Sievers, Stephanie; Fischer, Bernd Jürgen (2002). Albanian Identities: Myth and History. Indiana University Press. p. 75. ISBN 0-253-34189-2. Although the first major exposition of the Illyrian theory, published by the German scholar Johann Thunmann in 1774...
↑ Stipčević, Aleksandar (1977). The Illyrians: history and culture. Noyes Press. p. 73. ISBN 978-0-8155-5052-5. The first one who clearly formulated the thesis of the Illyrian origin of the Albanians, was the German historian Johannes Thunmann in the eighteenth century.
↑ Philip Baldi (1983). An Introduction to the Indo-European Languages. SIU Press. pp. 87–88. ISBN 978-0-8093-1091-3. In fact, Albanian was not established definitively Indo-European until the latter part of the nineteenth century, when certain structural and lexical correspondences that demonstrated the Indo-European character of the language were noted (especially by Gustav Meyer)
↑ "deutschland-und-die-albanische-frage". blaetter. Retrieved 17 October 2018.
↑ Morrison, Kenneth (2009). Montenegro: A Modern History. I.B. Tauris. pp. 47–49. ISBN 978-1845117108.
↑ Banac, Ivo (1984). The National Question in Yugoslavia: Origins, History, Politics. Ithaca, New York: Cornell University Press. p. 290. ISBN 978-0-8014-9493-2.
↑ Péter, László; Rady, Martyn C.; Studies, University of London. School of Slavonic and East European (1 January 2004). British-Hungarian relations since 1848. Hungarian Cultural Centre. p. 170. ISBN 978-0-903425-73-5. Edith Durham, the noted Albanophile, comes here to mind.
↑ ""I'm Albanian" - the well-known YouTuber IShowSpeed visits Albania, meets with Prime Minister Edi Rama - Telegrafi". telegrafi.com. Retrieved 2025-12-01.

[1] Elsie, Robert (19 March 2010). Historical Dictionary of Albania. Scarecrow Press. p. 159. ISBN 978-0-8108-7380-3. Johann Erich Thunmann (1746–1778) of the University of Halle first disseminated the theory of the autochthony of the Albanians

[Schwandner-SieversFischer2002-2] Schwandner-Sievers, Stephanie; Fischer, Bernd Jürgen (2002). Albanian Identities: Myth and History. Indiana University Press. p. 75. ISBN 0-253-34189-2. Although the first major exposition of the Illyrian theory, published by the German scholar Johann Thunmann in 1774...

[Stipčević1977-3] Stipčević, Aleksandar (1977). The Illyrians: history and culture. Noyes Press. p. 73. ISBN 978-0-8155-5052-5. The first one who clearly formulated the thesis of the Illyrian origin of the Albanians, was the German historian Johannes Thunmann in the eighteenth century.

[Baldi1983-4] Philip Baldi (1983). An Introduction to the Indo-European Languages. SIU Press. pp. 87–88. ISBN 978-0-8093-1091-3. In fact, Albanian was not established definitively Indo-European until the latter part of the nineteenth century, when certain structural and lexical correspondences that demonstrated the Indo-European character of the language were noted (especially by Gustav Meyer)

[5] "deutschland-und-die-albanische-frage". blaetter. Retrieved 17 October 2018.

[6] Morrison, Kenneth (2009). Montenegro: A Modern History. I.B. Tauris. pp. 47–49. ISBN 978-1845117108.

[7] Banac, Ivo (1984). The National Question in Yugoslavia: Origins, History, Politics. Ithaca, New York: Cornell University Press. p. 290. ISBN 978-0-8014-9493-2.

[PéterRady2004-8] Péter, László; Rady, Martyn C.; Studies, University of London. School of Slavonic and East European (1 January 2004). British-Hungarian relations since 1848. Hungarian Cultural Centre. p. 170. ISBN 978-0-903425-73-5. Edith Durham, the noted Albanophile, comes here to mind.

[9] ""I'm Albanian" - the well-known YouTuber IShowSpeed visits Albania, meets with Prime Minister Edi Rama - Telegrafi". telegrafi.com. Retrieved 2025-12-01.

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v t e Xenophilia
Africa	Egyptian United States
Americas	American Canadian Native Americans in Germany
Asia	Armenian Chinese Georgian Indian Iranian/Persian Japanese Korean Pakistani Taiwanese Turkish/Turkic
Europe	Albanian Austrian English/British Estonian French German Chile Greek Spartan Irish Italian Polish Russian Serbian Swedish DACH Ukrainian Viking
Others	Australian Jewish
See also: Acculturation • Allophilia • Enculturation • Cultural appropriation • Racial fetishism • Exoticism