Albanians are defined as an ethnic group native to Albania and neighboring countries. The term is also used sometimes to refer to the citizens of the Republic of Albania. Ethnic Albanians speak the Albanian language and more than half of ethnic Albanians live in Albania and Kosovo. A large Albanian population lives in the Republic of Macedonia, with smaller Albanian populations located in Serbia and Montenegro. Albanians produced many prominent figures such as Skanderbeg, leader of the medieval Albanian resistance to the Ottoman conquest and others during the Albanian National Awakening seeking self-determination. Following the Ottoman conquest of the Balkans in the 15th century, the majority of Albanians converted to Islam. Muslim Albanians occupied many important positions in the Ottoman Empire, and were the main pillars of Ottoman Porte's policy in the Balkans. Albania gained its independence in 1912 and between 1945-1992, Albanians lived under a repressive communist regime. Albanians within Yugoslavia underwent periods of discrimination and eventual self-determination that concluded with the breakup of that state in the early 1990s culminating with Albanians living in new countries and Kosovo. Outside the southwestern Balkans of where Albanians have traditionally been located, Albanian populations through the course of history have formed new communities contributing to the cultural, economic, social and political life of their host populations and countries while also at times assimilating too.