The Bushati family is an Albanian Muslim family that ruled the Pashalik of Scutari from 1757 to 1831.

Origins

They are descendants of the medieval Bushati tribe, a pastoralist tribe in northern Albania and Montenegro.The name Bushat is compound of (above the village). This is a reference to them being pastoralists that weren't permanently settled. The Bushati started to settle permanently in the 15th century and this process had been completed in the late 16th century. Their settlement includes the village of Bushat in Shkodër in the Zadrima plain from where the Bushati family came. Another part settled with the tribe of Bukumiri in the would-be territory of the Piperi tribe, where they gradually became part of the new, larger tribe in the late 16th century. In the defter of 1497 they appear as in Piperi with 35 households. The Bushati family traces their origin to the Begaj brotherhood of Bushati that had converted to Islam possibly in the early 17th century. To promote their status and political goals statesmen, commanders and leaders from that family put forward different theories about their origins. Turkish traveller Evliya Çelebi in his time recorded a story about them being descendants of a Jusuf Bey Plaku, who traced his origin and status to the era of Mehmed II ((r. 1444 – 1446)). In the period of the Pashalik of Shkodra, Kara Mahmud sought to expand northwards in the old lands of Ivan Crnojević of the Middle Ages. In order to legitimize and strengthen his claim, he put forward another theory that he descended from Skenderbeg Crnojević, Ivan's Muslim son. Albanian writer Sami Frashëri asserted that the Bushati family were descendants of the Dukagjini family.

History

Their dominance of the Shkodër region was gained through a network of alliances with various highland tribes. Even after the fall of the pashalik in 1831, the Bushatis continued to play an important role in Albanian society. During the 19th century, Shkodër was also known as a cultural centre and in the 1840s the Bushati library was built.

Bushati family tree

List of prominent family members

Sources