Its internal boundaries have been enlarged or subdivided into prefectures, counties, districts, subprefectures, municipalities, communes, neighborhoods or wards, villages, and localities.

At the beginning of the 20th century, the territory which now forms Albania was divided among the four separate vilayets (Albanian: vilajete/vilajetet) of Scutari, Janina, Manastir, and Kosovo.

The four vilayets were divided into the sanjaks (sanxhaqe/sanxhaqet) of Scutari, Durrës, Ioannina, Ergiri, Preveze, Berat, Manastir, Serfiğe, Dibra, Elbasan, Görice, Üsküp, Priştine, İpek, Prizren, and Novi Pazar.

Following the successful War of Independence against the Ottoman Empire in 1912, the first Albanian government led by Ismail Kemal initially retained the former Turkish divisions and offices.

The primary division was into the 8 prefectures (prefektura/prefekturat) of Durrës, Berat, Dibër, Elbasan, Gjirokastër, Korcë, Shkodër, and Vlorë.

[7] The authority of this provisional government was never recognized by the Great Powers or the Republic of Central Albania; never administered territory outside Vlorë, Berat, and Lushnjë; and was forced to dissolve after the discovery of its plot to restore some Turkish control to gain more territory and better resist Serbia.

Separately, the International Control Commission drafted and enacted the Organic Statute (Statuti Organik)—Albania's first constitution—on 10 April 1914.

[8] Primarily functioning as a compromise among the Great Powers of the era, it established the Principality of Albania as a constitutional monarchy to be headed by the German prince Wilhelm Wied and his heirs in primogeniture.

[9] An entire chapter of the Organic Statute was devoted to the administrative division of Albania, explicitly preserving Ottoman names and terms.

[16] The mutasarrif was personally responsible for maintaining public order,[17] controlling the local gendarmerie and police directly.

[27] The mudir was responsible for announcing and enacting the central government's laws, carrying out the census, and collecting taxes;[28] the council was charged with ensuring public hygiene, maintaining local water supplies and roads, and overseeing agricultural development and the use of public lands.

[29] Under King Zog, Albania reformed its internal administration under the "Municipal Organic Law" of 1921 and the "Civil Code" of February 1928.

[7] Following the Italian occupation of Albania, the country was organized into 10 prefectures, 30 subprefectures, 23 municipalities, 136 communes, and 2551 villages.