The Bushati family dominates the Shkodër region…

The Bushati family dominates the Shkodër region through a network of alliances with various highland tribes.

Kara Mahmud Bushati attempts to establish an autonomous principality and expand the lands under his control by playing off Austria and Russia against the Sublime Porte.

In 1785 Kara Mahmud's forces attack Montenegrin territory, and Austria offers to recognize him as the ruler of all Albania if he will ally himself with Vienna against the Sublime Porte.

Seizing an opportunity, Kara Mahmud sends the sultan the heads of an Austrian delegation in 1788, and the Ottomans appoint him governor of Shkodër.

When he attempts to wrest land from Montenegro in 1796, however, he is defeated and beheaded.

Kara Mahmud's brother, Ibrahim, cooperates with the Sublime Porte until his death in 1810, but his successor, Mustafa Pasha Bushati, proves to be recalcitrant despite participation in Ottoman military campaigns against Greek revolutionaries and rebel pashas.

He cooperates with the mountain tribes and brings a large area under his control.