The provided image is a scanned page (p. 245) from a South Slavic (likely Serbian or Croatian) geographical or ethnographic work titled Geografski Raspored Balkanskih Naroda (“Geographical Distribution of the Balkan Peoples”). The highlighted passages offer a clear, explicit academic statement on the origins of the Albanians (Arbanasi) in relation to the ancient Illyrians.

This excerpt is particularly valuable because it originates from a non-Albanian scholarly tradition, demonstrating that the Illyrian descent of the Albanians was a widely accepted view in regional scholarship, not merely an Albanian national narrative.

Key Excerpts and Translation

The most directly relevant highlighted section reads:

Poznato je da su Arbanasi potomci starih Ilira, donekle poromanjeni za vreme rimske vladavine, zatim izmešani sa Slovenima, naročito u toku Srednjega Veka.

English translation:

“It is known that the Arbanasi [Albanians] are descendants of the ancient Illyrians, somewhat Romanized during the period of Roman rule, then mixed with the Slavs, especially during the Middle Ages.”

Additional highlighted context reinforces this:

“Pre dolaska južnih Slovena, Iliri su zauzimali zapadni deo Poluostrva, od srednjeg Dunava do Epira i centralnih oblasti.”
(“Before the arrival of the southern Slavs, the Illyrians occupied the western part of the Peninsula, from the middle Danube to Epirus and the central regions.”)

Specific tribal placements: The Albani lived in the area around modern Kruja (central Albania); the Dardani inhabited the center of the Peninsula, including Kosovo, Metohija, and the regions around the southern Morava and Vardar rivers, with the Paioni (Paeonians) as their southern relatives.

These statements align with classical sources (Strabo, Ptolemy, Pliny) that locate Illyrian tribes such as the Albani (near the later Albanian heartland), Dardani (in Dardania/Kosovo), Liburni, Delmati, Labeati, and Pirustae across the western Balkans long before Slavic migrations in the 6th–7th centuries CE.

Historical and Scholarly Context

This passage reflects a mainstream mid-20th-century (or earlier) South Slavic ethnographic perspective. It acknowledges:

Pre-Slavic Illyrian dominance in the western Balkans.

Direct descent of the Albanians from the Illyrians (specifically linking them to the ancient Albani tribe).

Limited Romanization followed by Slavic admixture during the medieval period — a model consistent with linguistic evidence showing Albanian as a Paleo-Balkan language with some Latin and later Slavic loanwords, yet preserving a distinct Indo-European core.

The text treats this as established knowledge (“Poznato je da su…” — “It is known that…”), not as a controversial hypothesis. It also notes the Illyrians’ resistance to Rome and their tribal organization, further grounding the account in classical historiography.

Significance for the Broader Debate

In the context of ongoing online discussions about Balkan ethnogenesis, this excerpt directly counters claims of a late (11th-century) Caucasian origin for the Albanians or any denial of Illyrian-Albanian linguistic and ethnic continuity. When read alongside Byzantine sources (e.g., Michael Attaliates’ 11th-century mention of the Arbanitai as a local Balkan population), archaeological finds (Illyrian helmets, fortifications, and toponyms), and modern linguistics (Albanian as the sole surviving Illyrian descendant), the South Slavic geographical text provides independent corroboration from a neighboring scholarly tradition.

The highlighted emphasis on the Dardani in Kosovo and Metohija is especially relevant: Dardania was an ancient Illyrian (or Illyrian-Paeonian) region whose name and population continuity predate Slavic settlement by over a millennium.

Conclusion

This page from Geografski Raspored Balkanskih Naroda serves as a concise, scholarly affirmation that the Albanians (Arbanasi) are recognized as descendants of the ancient Illyrians, with subsequent Roman and Slavic influences layered upon an indigenous Paleo-Balkan foundation. Such statements, appearing in regional ethnographic literature, underscore a once-broad consensus on Illyrian-Albanian continuity — a view supported by classical geography, onomastics, and archaeology, and still upheld in mainstream historical linguistics today.

The image itself is a primary visual artifact of this scholarly position, useful for illustrating how Balkan peoples’ own geographers and ethnographers historically mapped ancient Illyrian tribes onto the pre-Slavic western Balkans and explicitly connected them to the Albanian ethnonym and territory.