AVLONA (anc. Aulon; Ital. ' Valona;

See also:

• ALB (Lat. alba, from albus, white)

Alb. Vliona)  , a town and seaport of Albania, Turkey, in the vilayet of Iannina . Pop . (190o) about 6000 . Avlona occupies an eminence near the Gulf of Avlona, an inlet of the Adriatic, almost surrounded by mountains . The port is the best on the Albanian coast, and the nearest to Italy . It is protected by the island of Saseno, the ancient Saso, and by Cape Glossa, the northernmost headland of the Acroceraunian mountains . It is regularly visited by steamers from Trieste, Fiume, Brindisi, and other Austro-Hungarian and Italian ports, as well as by many small Greek and Turkish coasters . The cable and telegraph line from Otranto, in Italy, to Constantinople, has an important station here . The town is about 12 m. from the sea, and has rather a pleasant appearance with its minarets and its palace, surrounded with gardens and olive-groves . Valonia, a material largely used by tanners, is the pericarp of an acorn obtained in the neighbouring oak-woods, and derives its name from Valona . The surrounding district is mainly agricultural and pastoral, producing oats, maize, cotton, olive oil, cattle, sheep, skins, hides and butter . All these commodities are exported in considerable quantities, besides bitumen, which is obtained from a mine worked by a French II company .

The imports are woollen and cotton piece-goods, metals and

petroleum . Avlona played an important part in the wars between the Normans and the Byzantines, during the rrth and 12th centuries . In 1464 it was taken by the Ottomans; and after being in Venetian possession in 169o, was restored to them in 1691 . In 1851 it suffered severely from an earthquake .