Pasha of Scutari
| Pashalik of Scutari | ||||||||||
| Pashallëku i Shkodrës | ||||||||||
| semi-autonomous pashalik under the Ottoman empire | ||||||||||
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 Coat of arms
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| Capital | Shkodër | |||||||||
| Religion |
Sunni Islam Roman Catholicism Eastern Orthodoxy |
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| Government | Pashalik | |||||||||
| Pasha | ||||||||||
| • | 1757–1774 | Mehmed Bushati | ||||||||
| • | 1774–1778 | Mustafa Bushati | ||||||||
| • | 1778–1796 | Kara Mahmud Bushati | ||||||||
| • | 1796–1810 | Ibrahim Bushati | ||||||||
| • | 1810–1831 | Mustafa Sherifi Bushati | ||||||||
| Historical era | Early modern period | |||||||||
| • | Established | 1757 | ||||||||
| • | Disestablished | 1831 | ||||||||
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The Pashalik of Iskodra, or Pashalik of Shkodra, (1757-1831) was a semi-autonomous pashalik under the Ottoman empire created by the Albanian Bushati family from the previous Sanjak of Scutari, which was situated around the city of Shkodër in modern-day Albania and parts of modern-day Montenegro. At its peak during the reign of Kara Mahmud Bushati the pashalik encompassed much of Albania, large parts of Kosovo, western Macedonia and southwestern Montenegro.
The weakening of Ottoman central authority and the timar system of land ownership brought anarchy to the Albanian-populated region of the Ottoman empire. In the late eighteenth century, two Albanian centers of power emerged: Shkodër, under the Bushati family; and Janina, under Ali Pasha of Tepelenë. Both regions cooperated with and defied the Sublime Porte as their interests required.
In 1757, Mehmed Bushati, having eliminated two rival families and heading the Tabak esnaf of Shkodra as their spiritual Sheikh proclaimed himself pasha of Shkodër. Mehmet Bushati known as Mehmet the Old (Plaku) transformed the Sanjak of Scutari, created in 1479, into a semi-autonomous Pashalik of Shkodra. He was praised by Istanbul for ending the Arab and Berber pirates' reign of terror over the Venetian ships in the Adriatic.
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