Ancient country, northwestern Balkan Peninsula, southeastern Europe .
It was inhabited from the 10th century BC by the Illyrians, an Indo-European people who later practiced piracy on Roman shipping. After a series of wars with Rome, it was defeated in 168 BC and established as the Roman province of Illyricum. When the Roman Empire was divided in AD 395, Illyria east of the Drina River became part of the Eastern Empire. It was occupied by the Slavs from the 6th century, and its name changed in the 8th11th centuries to Arbë ri and finally to Albania.