Injac Zamputi


Injac Zamputi was an Albanian scholar, writer, and historian.

Early life

Zamputi was born on 12 February 1910 in Shkodra, today's Albania, back then still part of the Vilayet of Scutari of the Ottoman Empire. His paternal grandfather was Italian who had initially settled in Kavaja in 1870, while his grandmother was of Ragusian descent. His father was born in Durres in 1876, while his mother was an Albanian woman from Temal of Dukagjin highlands. Zamputi graduated from the Saverian College in Shkodra, and at the age of 21, and where he would start his academic career as professor of the Albanian language and literature. He would later study political sciences at the University of Trieste in Italy.

Academic life

In 1937, he wrote a melodrama titled Damiani Himarjot, published in the Leka magazine later in 1943. In 1943, he published his first book Zemra Njerëzish and in 1944 his second book, a collection of short stories titled Atje nën hijen e Rozafës. After the Italian invasion of Albania he was the editor of Italian language part of the "Fascist Youth" journal. Right after the end of WWII, he started as director of the Cultural Center in Shkodra, while during 1946-1948 he lived in Gjirokastër, teaching literature in the local lyceum. He would continue to write during the '50s and '60s, three dramas, a melodrama, two long stories, and a poem about the Albanian uprising of 1481 which would not get published, forcing him to focus on history and paleography. He started working in the Medieval History section of the Institute of Sciences, Dokumenta te shekullit XV per historine e Shqiperise, Regjistrimi i kadastres dhe koncencioneve ne rrethin e Shkodres, 1417-1418, and a set of volumes Dokumente per historine e Shqiperise, by periods: 1479–1506, 1400–1405, 1507–1699. Zamputi is also known for transcribing the Elbasan Gospel Manuscript.
In 1993 he moved to Italy, where he kept working on the medieval history, finishing two manuscripts of translated medieval documents, and an autobiography. He died in Tivoli, on 28 February 1998, and was buried in Sharrë near Tirana on 5 March 1998.

Recognition

Despite his huge contribute in the fields of history and albanology, the first scientific title was awarded to him in 1995 as "Punonjës i shquar i shkencës dhe i teknikës", for "distinguished contribute on Albanological Sciences".