Albania–Montenegro border

Albania made in London

The Treaty of San Stefano of 1878 gave Montenegro the Albanian districts of Gusinje and Plav, and the Congress of Berlin later that year still left Montenegro and Serbia lands that Albanian nationalists claimed. Albanian revolts against Ottoman rule spread through the north from 1909.^[1]

On 8 October 1912 Montenegro declared war on Turkey and crossed the Buna to attack Scutari (Shkodër), joined later by the Serbian army. Austria, rather than see Albania partitioned and Serbia win an Adriatic outlet, persuaded the Great Powers to recognise an autonomous Albania. Their ambassadors agreed its frontiers in principle in London in the summer of 1913, and a North Albanian Frontier Commission finished its work in June 1914.^[1]

Lake and mountains

The First World War delayed the final settlement. On 9 November 1921 the Conference of Ambassadors confirmed the 1913 line with some changes, and a British, French and Italian commission marked it on the ground between 1922 and 1925.^[1]

The line follows the Buna up from the sea, crosses to Lake Shkodër and runs down the middle of the lake, then climbs the ridges of the Albanian Alps. It splits the local tribes, leaving the Grude and part of the Hoti outside Albania, and excludes Gusinje and Plav.^[1]

“Following the northeastward ridges of the Albanian Alps, the Grude tribe and part of Hoti are excluded, Kastrati and Kelmendi included…”^[1]