Note: Tirana is the capital city of Albania, located on the Ishm river at edge of a fertile plain. Founded by Turkish general Sulayman Pasha in the 17th century, the town is today still mostly Muslim. In the 20th century, after successive Italian and German occupations during World War II, a communist People's Republic was proclaimed in Tirana on Jan. 11, 1946. The city subsequently expanded considerably, and hydroelectric and thermal power plants were completed in 1951. Tirana ranks now as the nation's largest city and main industrial center. Its population by a 1991 estimate was around 300,000.
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