Albania 1831-1878







The Pashalik of Shkoder


In 1757, MEHMED BEY BUSHATI proclaimed himself Pasha of Shkoder, eying at a degree of autonomy/independence Mehmed Ali Pasha had established for himself in Egypt. His son and successor KARA MAHMOUD pursued a policy of military expansion; he established his control over northern Albania (up to the Shkumbi River) and over Kosovo. He launched two attacks on Montenegro (1785, 1796) and defeated resp. outlasted several Ottoman expeditions dispatched to subdue him.
Kara Mahmoud's autonomous pashalik did receive the attention of the Austrian and Russian foreign office, both regarding him a potential ally against the Sublime Porte.
In 1796, Kara Mahmoud was killed when he suffered defeat at the hands of the Montenegrins. He was succeeded by his brother IBRAHIM PASHA, a less warlike personality loyal to the Ottoman Empire (-1810). The Bushati Dynasti continued to hold on to the Pashalik until an Ottoman army under Mehmet Reshid Pasha besieged Rozafat Castle at Shkoder in 1831 and forced MUSTAFA BUSHATI to surrender (1831). The pashalik was dissolved, the VILAYETS OF SHKODER and OF KOSOVO established.
An uprising in Shkoder in 1833-1836 failed in reestablishing the autonomy enjoyed under the Bushati. The latter established the BUSHATI LIBRARY in the 1840es, which played an important role in the cultural awakening of northern Albania.






EXTERNAL
LINKS 		Shkodra in Centuries, from shkoder.net
DOCUMENTS List of Walis of Shkoder, from World Statesmen by Ben Cahoon; scroll down
Albanie, from Annuaire 1789-1815, in French
REFERENCE Miranda Vickers, The Albanians - a Modern History, (1995) London : Tauris 2001, 282 pp., KMLA Lib.Sign. 949.65 V637a


This page is part of World History at KMLA
First posted on August 28th 2002, last revised on November 7th 2004

Click here to go Home
Click here to go to Information about KMLA, WHKMLA, the author and webmaster
Click here to go to Statistics