{{Short description|Albanian politician}} {{Infobox person | name = Kristo Meksi | image = | caption = | birth_name = | birth_date = c. 1849 | birth_place = Labovë, Ottoman Empire (modern day Albania) | death_date = {{Death year and age|1931|1849}} | death_place = Tirana, Albania | death_cause = | other_names = | known_for = Being one of the signatories of the Albanian Declaration of Independence | education = Zosimaia School | employer = | occupation = Albanian politician | title = | height = | term = | predecessor = | successor = | party = | boards = | spouse = | partner = | children = | parents = | relatives = | family = Meksi | signature = | website = | footnotes = }} <!-- Commented out: [[File:Deklarata e pavarsisë së shqipërisë.jpg|thumb|250px|Albanian Declaration of Independence]] -->
'''Kristo Meksi''' (c. 1849–1931) (Kristo Meksi) was an Albanian politician of the early 20th century. He was one of the delegates of Albanian Declaration of Independence<ref>''History of Albanian People''. Albanian Academy of Science. {{ISBN|99927-1-623-1}}</ref> and also one of the first diplomats for Albania.<ref name="Elsie2014">{{cite book|author=Robert Elsie|title=Traveler, Scholar, Political Adventurer: A Transylvanian Baron at the Birth of Albanian Independence The Memoirs of Franz Nopcsa|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5C-xBgAAQBAJ&pg=PA157|date=31 March 2014|publisher=Central European University Press|isbn=978-615-5225-80-2|pages=157–| quote=Kristo Meksi (1849–1931), Albanian political and diplomatic figure...}}</ref>
==Early life== Born in Labovë in 1849, he finished the Zosimaia School in Ioannina and afterwards he migrated to Romania. His patriotic activity started there. In 1906 he financed books and abecedaries in Albanian and collaborated with Thoma Çami to publish 2000 abecedaries in Gheg Albanian.<ref name="Meksi">{{cite book|last=Meksi |first=Fedhon |year=2010|title=Labova e Madhe dhe Labovitët|pages=152–156|isbn=978-9995671891}}</ref> In 1908, Meksi sent books to Musa Demi as a contribution for the start of the Filiates school in Albanian.<ref name="Meksi"/> Meksi was also between the contributors to the first Albanian teachers' school, the Shkolla Normale e Elbasanit, a teacher training institution that was founded on 1 December 1909 in Elbasan.<ref name="Lloshi2008">{{cite book|author=Xhevat Lloshi|title=Rreth ALFABETIT Të Shqipes|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9_gXTda0HS8C&pg=PA76|accessdate=7 January 2013|year=2008|publisher=Logos-A|isbn=978-9989-58-268-4|page=76}}</ref>
==Albanian Declaration of Independence== On 27 October 1912, along with Luigj Gurakuqi and other 25 Albanians, Meksi received in Bucharest Ismail Qemali, who was coming from Trieste to organize the Albanian community of Bucharest for the proclamation of the Albanian Declaration of Independence. Afterwards, Meksi travelled to Albania to participate in the Declaration and become one of its signatories, as the representative of the region of Ioannina.<ref name="Meksi"/> On 4 December 1912, Meksi was elected as one of the members of the Albanian Senate along with other founding fathers such as Mustafa Kruja, Myfti Vehbi Dibra, Eqrem Vlora, and Babë Dud Karbunara.<ref name="Meksi"/>
Meksi was the emissary of the Provisional Government of Albania to the Albanian Congress of Trieste on 16 February 1913, which secured international recognition for that government.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Elsie |first=Robert |author-link=Robert Elsie |year=1999 |title=The Viennese Scholar Who Almost Became King of Albania: Baron Franz Nopcsa and His Contribution to Albanian Studies |journal=East European Quarterly |volume=33 |issn=0012-8449 }}</ref> One year later, in 1914, Meksi was an advisor of Prince Wilhelm Wied.<ref name="Meksi"/>
He worked in the Zogu government as an advisor. He died in Tirana in 1931 after he had become completely blind in his later years.<ref name="Meksi"/>
==References== {{reflist}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Meksi, Kristo}} Category:1840s births Category:1931 deaths Category:Politicians from Gjirokastër Category:Albanian philanthropists Category:20th-century Albanian politicians Category:19th-century Albanian politicians Category:Albanian Roman Catholics Category:All-Albanian Congress delegates Category:Albanian Congress of Trieste delegates Category:Diplomats for Albania Category:Philanthropists from the Ottoman Empire