History of Albania
The Principality of Arbër and a Sicilian union known as the medieval Kingdom of Albania were established in the Middle Ages. Some areas became part of the Venetian and later Serbian Empire. Between the mid-14th and the late 15th centuries, most of modern-day Albania was dominated by Albanian principalities. They fell to the rapid invasion of the Ottoman Empire. Albania remained under Ottoman control as part of the province of Rumelia until 1912.  After a short occupation by the Kingdom of Serbia, the first independent Albanian state was founded by the Albanian Declaration of Independence. An Albanian national consciousness was formed in the  later 19th century. It is part of the larger phenomenon of the rise of nationalism under the Ottoman Empire.