BOKA E KOTORRIT DHE SHQIPTARËT NDËR SHEKUJ: NDËRLIDHJA ADRIATIKASE E HARRUAR
BOCA DI CATARO AND ALBANIANS DURING CENTURIES: THE FORGOTTEN ADRIATIC CONNECTION

Summary/Abstract: Kotor with its fiord has been an insurmountable point between the Adriatic and the Balkan interior, an essential gravitation in historical, commercial, cultural and geopolitical communication throughout its long history. Therefore, Kotor had inevitable communication with the Albanians, not so far geograpycally.Our focus on the communication of Albanians with Kotor is mainly in the medieval context. In this respect, the communication of Albanians with medieval Kotor is contextualized in several chapters within certain historical context. The first one is related to the early presence of the Benedictines in Zeta and northern Albania, an important role in the strengthening and spread of Christianity in these areas since the 9th-12th centuries. An interesting episode of this communication of Albanians with Kotor is related to the promotion of the iconic cathedral, a symbol of the city since 1166 and the role of the Albanian Catholic clergy. During the e period of the Nemanjics the presence of the Albanians there is specifically related to that of the Vlachs in the surroundings of Kotor Bay, but also Dubrovnik. The other context is that of the period of Ventian's governance, where this geopolitical space was conceived as Albania Veneta. Another contact was related to the role Kotor had in an early jurisdiction of the Catholic churches in Kosovo. An intersting aspect is related to the role of personalities from Boca di Cataro in Albanian history and culture and its diaspora. A special chapter is also related in post-Lepanto era: Kotor and the Albanians after the fall of Ulcinj and Tivar in Ottoman hands, the role of Ulcinian piracy, as well as the maritime-commercial reflections in a new historical, geopolitical constellation of the time. The historical communication of Albanians with Kotor has been multidimensional – political, religious, military, cultural, maritime, etc.

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