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Lying at the southeastern end of the Adriatic Sea, opposite the heel of Italy, Albania is a poverty-stricken, mountainous country which became a one-party communist state in 1944. The "land of the eagles," as it is known by its people, became a multiparty democracy in 1991. It has struggled to progress from the economic collapse and regional strife which characterized the 1990s, and remains one of the poorest countries in Europe.