Albanian-Americans in New York

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The erupting Balkan Wars in the 1990‘s stumble on Albanians occupying the United States. The Albanian community plays a strong role in the highly concentrated population within the boroughs of New York City and it’s Metropolitan area. Albanian Americans ethnic homes generally consist of Montenegro, Kosovo, and Albania. In previous years, dealing with economic struggles in these poor Balkan countries, and social and ethnic discrimination from Serbia, Albanians made movements away from the home they once resided in. Immigration within the Albanian community into New York City was due to issues leading up to the Balkan war in Kosovo in the 1990s. Through immigration, the Albanian ethnic group has accomplished many lifestyle changes, and will flourish economically, socially, and numerically within New York City and it’s Metropolitan area.
The Albanian speaking Balkan countries Montenegro, Albania and Kosovo are populated of different dialects of the language. Albania’s language consists of a very heavy, and proper dialect known as the Tosk Dialect, which in fact is south of Kosovo, and west of Montenegro. Kosovo although being northern from Albania, speaks a more improper, lighter dialect known as Gheg Dialect. Montenegro’s areas of the Albanian speaking language contain a mixture of both the Tosk and Gheg dialects. Additionally, According to the 2011 Albanian census, 56.7% are in fact, Sunni Muslims, its second leading religion is Catholicism which is approximately 10%, and then leads to about 6.75% of orthodox christian (“Republic Of Albania, Instat” 1). Years prior, Kosovo was struggling to build itself as being its own country, being severely controlled by countries such as Serbia. Since 1912, the falling of the first Balkan War,...

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...ces in many neighborhoods. However, the Borough of Manhattan and the Bronx of Albanian residents have stayed consistent in population with no drastic change.
Since immigration, Albanian Americans have accomplished many changes, economically stabilizing themselves, being socially diverse with the new lifestyle, favoring education and work ethic, and increasingly growing in numbers. The New York City’s population for Albanians has increased from the late 1990s to 2010 by thousands of people. As war had once driven them away from their homes, Albanians are now incorporated into the American life and have accustomed to their new lives. Even today, Albanians strive to make new businesses and move away from rundown areas to protect their families. Albanians that have immigrated during the 1990‘s Balkan issues have adjusted greatly to new customs in the New York City area.

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