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2.4.5. “Permanent Struggle” – Resistance to Ottomans
In 1468 Skanderbeg died and in the following years most of today’s Albania submitted to the
Ottoman power. The exceptions were people living in the isolated mountainous places of
Mirdita in the north and some places in the south of Albania. In spite of the ongoing struggles
against the Ottoman dominancy, most of today’s Southern Albania was divided in
administrative units named vilayets as documented in defters (cadastral tax census) (see
Winnifrith 2002: 99). The Ottoman administration distinguished between vilayets of
Gjirokastër, Sopot, Klisura, Belgrat (Berat), Tomorince, Iskrapar, Pavlo, Kurtik, Çartalos and
Akcahisar. The vilayet of Gjirokastër was additionally divided in nahiyets 72 of Sopot,
Himarë/Himara, Vagaynetia and Lahtakasou (southern Pogoni) (ibid.).
While some scholars defend the local perspective (Rusha 2001: 56-57, Jorgji 2006a: 4-6 and
2006b: 18) other remain under the spell of national position (Polo and Puto 1981: 88-89,
Thëngjilli 2004: 147). There are also those whose writings are considered neutral (Winnifrith
2002: 104-105), regardless of their position, all historiographers describe Himarë/Himara area
and its people as autonomous.
Winnifrith writes about the Himarë/Himara people’s autonomy in the following way:
In Albania three areas, it is claimed, gained a special status. All are now inhabited by
Greeks or Vlachs. They are the villages near Himarë on the coast, the Vlach villages
near Voskopojë in the east, and the village Dhrovjan near Sarandë. In these cases the
evidence is a little more dubious, but all three districts have an impressive range of
churches that seem to indicate some degree of liberty and wealth. It would also make
sense for the Ottomans after the war against Skenderbeg, when danger came in
mountain passes and from reinforcements along the coast, to win over by kindly
treatment the inhabitants of mountain passes and coastal villages (Winnifrith 2002:
104).
After 1537, when the Himarë/Himara men won the battle against the army of Sultan Suleiman
the Magnificent, the authonomy of Himarë/Himara was strenghtened. Albanian
historiographers Polo and Puto (1981: 88-89) write that the army of Suleiman was led by
Grand Vizir Ayez Pasha, who received orders from Suleiman to massacre every single men of
Himarë/Himara in order to get the strategic access to Italy. Moreover, the authors describe the
courageous fight of Himarë/Himara men in battles that went on for all the summer, until
72 Nahiye is the smallest administrative unit in the period of the Ottoman leadership (Pollo and Puto 1981: 291).
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