Ottoman Albania

Ottoman Albania comprised Albania during the period it was part of the Ottoman Empire, from 1385 to 1912. Ottoman rule in Albania began after the Battle of Savra in 1385 when most of the local chieftains became Ottoman vassals. The Ottomans erected their garrisons throughout southern Albania by 1415 and established formal jurisdiction over most of Albania by 1431. Independence for some Albanian regions was gained during 1443-1479, with the uprising under the lead of George Kastrioti Skanderbeg. The last towns captured by the Ottomans were Shkodër in 1479 and Durrës in 1501. The territory which today belongs to the Republic of Albania remained part of the Ottoman Empire until declaring independence in 1912 during the Balkan Wars.

The Ottomans expanded their empire from Anatolia to the Balkans in the 14th century. They crossed the Bosporus in 1352, and they crushed a Serbian army in the Battle of Maritsa in 1371 and Battle of Kosovo in 1389. Europe gained a brief respite from Ottoman pressure in 1402 when the Mongol leader, Tamerlane, attacked Anatolia from the east, killed the Turks' absolute ruler, the Sultan, and sparked a civil war. When order was restored, the Ottomans renewed their westward progress. In 1453, Sultan Mehmed II's forces overran Constantinople and killed the last Byzantine emperor.

The division of the Albanian-populated lands into small, quarreling fiefdoms ruled by independent feudal lords and tribal chiefs made them easy prey for the Ottoman armies. In 1385, the Albanian ruler of Durrës, Karl Thopia, appealed to the sultan for support against his rivals, the Balšić noble family. An Ottoman force quickly marched into Albania along the Via Egnatia and routed Balsha II in the Battle of Savra. The principal Albanian clans soon swore fealty to the Ottoman Empire. Gjirokastra became the county town of the Sanjak of Albania in 1419. Sultan Murad II launched the major Ottoman onslaught in the Balkans in 1423, and the Turks took Ioannina in 1431 and Arta, on the Ionian coast, in 1449. The Turks allowed conquered Albanian clan chiefs to maintain their positions and property, but they had to pay tribute, send their sons to the Turkish court as hostages, and provide the Ottoman army with auxiliary troops.

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