Durrës was founded under the name of Epidamnos around the 7th century BC, by ancient Greek colonists from Corinth and Corcyra in cooperation with the Taulantii, a local Illyrian tribe.

Titus Livius, at the end of the first century BC, writes in Ab Urbe Condita Libri that at the time of the Illyrian Wars (roughly 200 years earlier) the city was not known as Dyrrachium, but as Epidamnus.

[30] In English usage, the Italian form Durazzo used to be widespread, but the local Albanian name Durrës has gradually replaced it in recent decades.

[38] The fact that about the 6th century BC the citizens of Epidamnus constructed a Doric-style treasury at Olympia confirms that the city was among the richest of the Ancient Greek world.

They considered the name Epidamnos to be inauspicious because of its wholly coincidental similarities with the Latin word damnum, meaning "loss" or "harm".

The Roman emperor Caesar Augustus made the city a colony for veterans of his legions following the Battle of Actium, proclaiming it a civitas libera (free town).

The city remained in Byzantine hands until the late 10th century, when control passed to Samuel of Bulgaria, possibly through his marriage with Agatha, daughter of the local magnate John Chryselios.

In circa 1005, however, Ashot and Miroslava, with the connivance of Chryselios, fled to Constantinople, where they notified Emperor Basil II of their intention to surrender the city to him.

At that time the Popes, supported by the Anjous, increased their diplomatic and political activity in the area, by using the Latin bishops, including the archbishop of Durrës.

[53] Two Irish pilgrims who visited Albania on their way to Jerusalem in 1322, reported that Durrës was "inhabited by Latins, Greeks, perfidious Jews and barbaric Albanians".

There were few permanent civilian settlements, and most of the population, including the local kadı, opted to live further inland, such as in the newly established town of Kavajë, 14 km south of Durrës.

The Ottoman chronicler Evliya Çelebi visited Durrës in 1670-71 and noted in his Seyahatname that there were around 150 houses as well as a mosque named after Sultan Bayezid II.

According to diplomat and Turkologist François Pouqueville, about 100 Turkish and Greek merchants lived in the city in 1699, exporting 3,000 quintals (300 tons) of beeswax, 15,000 quintals (1,500 tons) of finished cloth, 15,000 pieces of fine leather, and 60-100 ships of wheat, barley, corn and millet to Venice every year despite an official prohibition from the central government in Constantinople.

[59] The decrepitude of Durrës was noted by foreign observers in the early 20th century, echoing comments made by the Ottoman cartographer Piri Reis almost 400 years before: "The walls are dilapidated; plane-trees grow on the gigantic ruins of its old Byzantine citadel; and its harbour, once equally commodious and safe, is gradually becoming silted up.

On 26 November 1912, as the Ottoman Empire was embroiled in the First Balkan War, a group of nationalists led by Ismail Qemali raised the Albanian flag over Durrës.

Ismail Qemali raised the Albanian flag on 26 November 1912 but the city was occupied by the Kingdom of Serbia three days later during the First Balkan War.

It experienced an economic boom due to Italian investments and developed into a major seaport under the rule of King Zog, with a modern harbour being constructed in 1927.

It was at this time the Royal Villa of Durrës was built by Zog as a summer palace, that still dominates the skyline from a hill close to the old city.

The Communist regime of Enver Hoxha rapidly rebuilt the city following the war, establishing a variety of heavy industries in the area and expanding the port.

Following the collapse of communist rule in 1990, Durrës became the focus of mass emigrations from Albania with ships being hijacked in the harbour and sailed at gunpoint to Italy.

Italy intervened militarily, putting the port area under its control, and the city became the center of the European Community's "Operation Pelican", a food-aid program.

An Italian-led peacekeeping force was controversially deployed to Durrës and other Albanian cities to restore order, although there were widespread suggestions that the real purpose of "Operation Alba" was to prevent economic refugees continuing to use Albania's ports as a route to migrate to Italy.

[64] The summers are predominantly hot and dry, the winters relatively mild, and falls and springs mainly stable, in terms of precipitation and temperatures.

In contrast, the northern coastal stretch of Lalzit Bay is mostly unspoiled and set to become an elite tourism destination as a number of beach resorts are being built since 2009.

Durrës ranks ninth[74] among 22 cities in Southeastern Europe before the capital Tirana, Belgrade, Serbia and Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Major roads and railways pass through the city of Durrës thank to its significant location and connect the northern part of the country to the south and the west with the east.

As part of the South-East European Route 7,[75] the highway will connect the Adriatic Sea ports of Durrës via Pristina, with the E75/Corridor X near Niš, Serbia.

The port is also a key location for transit networks and passenger ferry, giving Durrës a strategic position with respect to the Pan-European Corridor VIII.

[citation needed] In the 21st century, part of Durrës turned into a modernist city, with large blocks of flats, modern new buildings, new shopping centres and many green spaces.

The following year, major economic and political crisis in Albania, and the ensuing breakdown of public order, plunged the school system into chaos.