by Artur Vrekaj

Abstract

This article advocates for the restoration of the term “Illyrian Peninsula” in place of “Balkans,” arguing that the latter lacks historical depth and obscures the Illyrian foundations of southeastern Europe. Through a critique of modern toponymy and nation-building narratives, the text highlights the continuity of Illyro-Albanian presence and calls for a reassessment of European historical geography as a matter of scholarly responsibility.

Artur Vrekaj

The geography of continental Europe must be corrected.
If a revision is to be undertaken, Europe will rediscover its own history in this place-name: the Illyrian Peninsula.

In 1808, the German scholar Johann August Zeune introduced the term Balkan as the name of the peninsula—land historically inhabited by the Illyrians—out of a lack of familiarity with the terrain, in his work “Attempt at a Scientific Geography.” In doing so, he sealed the use of this toponym for the territory stretching from the Black Sea to the Adriatic.

Under the names of Hyllis, the Star, and other Illyrian kingdoms beyond the Danube, there lies a history spanning thousands of years up to the present day.

Settler nations, laboratory-made nations, grafts like wild shoots onto pear trees, were written into and multiplied upon the soil of the Illyrian Peninsula: the New Greeks of 1830, the Macedonians of 1945, the Serbs and Montenegrins of the 1800s—all occupying land and populations of Illyro-Albanian origin.

We allowed these newcomer neighbors to kiss the Cross of Constantine, and together with Europeans they spoke of the Byzantine Empire (named after the Illyrian city of Buza), the Eastern Roman Empire with its capital Constantinople—the New Troy of Constantine—
the dream of the New Greeks, written by the hand of a Vlach.

History continues even after Herodotit.

Here, on Albanian lands, Europe converses with America—in the heart of Illyricum, or in Dardania of the Illyrians. Europe is the motherland of Americans, just as Illyricum is the motherland of Albanians. History demands this professional correction. Europe itself will rejoice when the stars smile again over Illyricum.

Otherwise, future European generations will be the greatest losers, inheriting an Illyrian history left uncorrected to this day. The Illyrians—cartographers of southeastern and western Europe—are present there, in the very name Illyria.