The Bushati family was a prominent Ottoman Albanian family that ruled the Pashalik of Scutari from 1757 to 1831.
Origins
They are descendants of the medieval Bushati tribe, a pastoralist semi-nomadic tribe in northern Albania and Montenegro. The name Bushat is compound of mbë fshat. 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 katun Bushat 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. 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 the Conqueror. In the period of the Pashalik of Shkodra, Kara Mahmud Bushati 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. A century later, when the Albanian national movement was on the rise, yet another theory came forward. According to that theory, which Sami Frashëri recorded, the Bushati were descendants of the old feudal Dukagjini family.
History
Their dominance of the Scutari region was gained through a network of alliances with various highland tribes. Even after the fall of the pashaluk in 1831, the Bushatis continued to play an important role in the Albanian society. During the 19th century, Shkodër was also known as a cultural centre and in the 1840s the Bushati Library was built.
│Mehmed Paşa ├─> Derviş Bey └─> Ömer Bey │ └─> Süleyman Paşa │ ├─> Halil Paşa ├─> Ali Bey ├─> Hasan Paşa ├─> Arslan Paşa ├─> Deli Hüseyin Paşa └─> Kapudan Mehmed Bey │ ├─> Abdullah Paşa └─> Mustafa Bey │ ├─> Haci Süleyman Paşa └─> Mehmed Paşa Plaku │ ├─> İbrahim Paşa ├─> Ahmed Paşa ├─> Karamahmud Paşa └─> Mustafa Paşa Qorri │ └─> Mehmed Paşa │ └─> Şerif Mustafa Paşa │ ├─> Mahmud Paşa ├─> İsuf Bey ├─> Hasan Paşa └─> Riza Bey │ └─> Celal Paşa
