the design is claimed to be that of 15th-century hero Georgi Kastrioti SKANDERBEG, who led a successful uprising against the Ottoman Turks that resulted in a short-lived independence for some Albanian regions (1443-78)
an unsubstantiated explanation for the eagle symbol is the tradition that Albanians see themselves as descendants of the eagle
they refer to themselves as "Shqiptare," which translates as "sons of the eagle"
