cajupi

Çajupi was born on 27 March 1866, in Sheper, a village near Leskovik, in the southern part of Albania, which was then part of the Ottoman Empire. His father, Harito Zako, was a tobacco merchant, with a business extending throughout the then-Ottoman Empire and also into Italy and other parts of western Europe. Çajupi's elementary education was undertaken at the nearest Greek elementary school. In 1882, he moved to Alexandria, where he studied French for five years at Sainte Catherine des Lazaristes. During his time in Alexandria, Çajupi met several western European lawyers representing businesses in Egypt. These meetings convinced him to study law in Switzerland, and in 1887, Çajupi arrived in Geneva, where he studied law for five years. While studying law in Switzerland, he met his future wife, Eugenia. The couple had a son, Stefan. After graduating, Çajupi practiced law in Geneva for three years. Eugenia died in 1892, and this tragedy forced Çajupi to leave Switzerland and return to Albania. After his return in 1894, Çajupi found employment representing a German company in Cairo. Çajupi came to spend most of life residing in Egypt. [1](^1^) While participating in the Albanian nationalist movement (especially between 1898 and 1912), Çajupi expressed his patriotic beliefs in the form of poetry and prose, with his poetry taking its cue from Tosk Albanian. The nationalist and patriotic messages of his poems made them extremely popular among Albanian adults and children, and led to Çajupi being revered as the most important Albanian poet after Naim Frashëri, a position he still holds in the modern state. Çajupi in 1898 also got involved in the Albanian alphabet question and wrote a series of articles in the periodical Albania where he advocated for adoption of a Latin script and objected to a Greek or Ottoman Turkish script for writing Albanian. [1](^1^) In 1879, he co-founded the Society for the Publication of Albanian Letters, which aimed to publish Albanian books and open Albanian schools. He moved the headquarters of the society from Istanbul to Bucharest, where he established the first Albanian printing house in 1886. He printed and published many works of Albanian literature, history, and culture, including his own epic poem, Histori e Skënderbeut (History of Skanderbeg), dedicated to the national hero of Albania, and his novel, The Last of Beys, which depicted the life and struggles of the Albanian aristocracy in the late Ottoman era. He also edited and contributed to several Albanian periodicals, such as Drita, Dituria, and Liria. [1](^1^) He died on 11 July 1930, in Istanbul, where he had returned in 1896. He was buried in the Eyüp Cemetery, near the tomb of his friend and colleague, Sami Frashëri. He is regarded as one of the most important figures of the Albanian National Awakening, and his works are considered as valuable sources for the study of Albanian history and culture. [1](^1^)