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Updates:

Now that I allow a tertiary level, I have demoted the communes to tertiary and the districts to secondary.

Albania is divided into 36 rrethe (districts), currently not functioning.

Further subdivisions:

See the Communes of Albania page.

Underneath the districts there are 61 municipalities.

Territorial extent:

Vlor? includes Saseno (Sazan) Island.

Change history:

1. 1912年11月28日: Albania, consisting of the vilayet of Scutari and parts of Monastir and Yanina, declared independence from Turkey.
2. 1913年11月22日: A law titled 典he Appropriate Code of Civil Administration in Albania? took effect. Under it, Albania was divided into eight prefectures: Berati, Dibra, Durr?si, Elbasani, Gjirokastra, Kor軋, Shkodra and Vlora. The prefectures were divided into sub-prefectures, and then into krahina. "At various points in time, the sub-prefecture was called the district (rreth)." (Source [3])
3. 1923: Albania acquired a strip of territory in the south from Greece.
4. ~1925: Albania had the following ten prefectures, further subdivided into 57 districts. Dib?r was later renamed Peshkopi, and Kuk?s renamed Kosovo. The number of districts was 39 in 1927, 30 in 1934, and 61 in 1945.

1. 1946: A new administrative structure was inaugurated. There were 10 prefectures and 39 sub-prefectures. The tertiary level consisted partly of localities, and the following year, all remaining communes were replaced by localities; there were also cities and villages.
2. 1953: Status of prefectures changed to regions.
3. 1958-07: The ten prefectures were re-organized into 26 rrethet (singular, rreth: districts).
4. ~1978: Ersek? renamed Kolonj?.
5. 1992年06月10日: Law No. 7572 created ten new districts. Bulqiz? district split from Dib?r; Delvin? district split from Sarand?; Devoll district split from Kor鉈; Has district split from Kuk?s; Kavaj? district split from Durr?s; Ku輟v? district split from Berat; La? district split from Kruj?; Malesia e Madhe district split from Shkod?r; Mallakast?r district split from Fier; Peqin district split from Elbasan. The FIPS standard, which had previously listed Tiran? district and Tiran? qytet (municipality) as separate entities, merged them into one.
6. 1992年09月22日: Law No. 7608 created twelve qark (counties, or regions), each one consisting of two to four districts. Apparently their competency was limited at first, but expanded in 1995. The districts continued to exist.
7. 1998年11月28日: Albania's new Constitution took effect. It specified that the districts would be replaced as administrative units by the regions. The communes and municipalities would remain as secondary subdivisions. This provision was not implemented until 2000 (see below).
8. 1998年12月15日: ISO 3166-2 published, superseding ISO/DIS 3166-2 (draft standard). Code for Peqin district changed from PG to PQ; for Tepelen?, from SP to TE; for Tropoj?, from BC to TP. This change fixed an error in the draft standard, where the same code PG had been assigned to two districts.
9. 1999年03月01日: FIPS PUB 10-4 Change Notice 2 issued. It assigned FIPS codes from AL29 to AL38 to the ten districts created in 1991, and AL39 to Tiran? municipality (not shown in other sources). The other FIPS codes listed below were unchanged.
10. ~1999: Name of La? district changed to Kurbin. This change was reported in Change Notice 4 to FIPS PUB 10-4, dated 2000年02月25日. In ISO 3166-2 Newsletter Number I-2, dated 2002年05月21日, the name change is reported and the corresponding code is changed from LA to KB. The districts were then as shown in the table above.
11. 2000年07月31日: Law No. 8653 replaced the districts by the regions as administrative units.

Other names of subdivisions:

The Italian names are often used by Western Europeans in general.

1. Dib?r: Dibra, Dibr? (variant)
2. Durr?s: Durresi, Durrsi (variant); Durazzo (Italian)
3. Gjirokast?r: Gjinokast?r (variant); Argirocastro (Italian); Argyrocastro, Argyrokastron (Greek)
4. Kolonj?: Ersek? (obsolete); Kolonja (variant)
5. Kor鉈: Coriza, Corizza, Koritsa, Koritza (Italian); Kor軋 (variant); Kortscha (German)
6. Kuk?s: Kosova, Kossovo (obsolete)
7. Lezh?: Alessio (Italian); Lezha (variant)
8. Lushnj?: Lushenj?, Lushnja (variant)
9. Shkod?r: Esc?tari (Portuguese-obsolete); Shkodra, Skod?r (variant); Scutari (Italian)
10. Tiran?: Tiran (Turkish); Tirana (Italian, Spanish)
11. Vlor?: Vlona, Vlora, Vlon? (variant); Valona (Italian)

Population history: