User talk:Zoupan/1582–83 defter of the Sanjak of Scutari

The 1582–83 defter of the Sanjak of Scutari (known by its inventory name Defter-i mufassal-i liva-i Iskenderiye, no. 59 or 416; Скадарски дефтер No 59 or 416, also дефтер Скадарског санџака or дефтер Скадарске ливе) was an Ottoman defter (tax register and land cadastre) collected in the Sanjak of Scutari, which included parts of modern-day Albania, Montenegro and Kosovo.

The census includes 857 villages and several towns including Shkodër (İşkodra), Peć (İpek), Podgorica (Depedöğen), Bar (Bar) and Ulcinj (Ulçin).

Overview
The old Ottoman census books (tahrir defterleri) are abundant in their data for the history of settlements and population areas to which they relate. They are, in lesser and greater numbers, preserved for nearly all of the Ottoman sanjaks in the Balkans. Of those books, when it comes to researching ethno-demographic relationships and processes, the books on ethnically mixed border regions are of particular interest, where the population trend and changes in population structure normally came to a fuller expression and resulted in larger historical consequences.

Sanjak of Scutari
The census organized in period 1582—1583 shows that there were many nahiyah within Sanjak of Scutari with following number of villages:


 * Shkodër with 128 villages
 * Dušmen with 24 villages; majority had personal names with an Albanian character, minority with a Serbian character. Toponyms show some South Slavic influence. Islamisation was slowly occurring within the nahiyah, based on the presence of characteristically Muslim names within its population.
 * Zabojana with 48 villages; majority had personal names with an Albanian character, minority with a Serbian character.
 * Mrko with 9 villages; majority had personal names with a Serbian character, minority with an Albanian character.
 * Krajina with 18 villages; majority had personal names with an Albanian character. Toponyms show an overwhelming South Slavic influence.
 * Gorje Šestan (Džebel-i Šestan) with 7 villages; majority had personal names with a Serbian character, minority with an Albanian character.
 * Podgorica with 13 villages; majority had personal names with a Serbian character, minority with an Albanian character.
 * Žabljak with 8 villages; majority had personal names with a Serbian character, minority with an Albanian character.
 * Hoti with 8 villages; majority had personal names with an Albanian character, while a minority had with a Serbian character.
 * Bjelopavlići with 6 villages; overwhelming majority had personal names with a Serbian character
 * Vražegrmci with 16 villages; overwhelming majority had personal names with a Serbian character
 * Pobor with 11 villages; overwhelming majority had personal names with a Serbian character
 * Klemente with 2 villages; majority had personal names with an Albanian character, minority with a Serbian character.
 * Kuči with 13 villages; majority had personal names with a Serbian character, minority with an Albanian character.
 * Peć with 235 villages; overwhelming majority had personal names with a Serbian character; very few personal names with an Albanian character mentioned. Islamisation was common within the nahiyah, with many Serbs and Albanians converting to Islam
 * Altin (Altun li) with 41 villages; relative majority had names with a Serbian character, minority with an Albanian character
 * Petrišpan with 33 villages
 * Budimlje with 31 villages; overwhelming majority had personal names with a Serbian character. Presence of Muslim inhabitants present in one village within the nahiyah.
 * Komoran with 20 villages; overwhelming majority had personal names with a Serbian character. Presence of Muslim inhabitants shown in two villages within the nahiyah.
 * Plav with 18 villages; all inhabitants had personal names with a Serbian character. No Muslim inhabitants within the nahiyah.
 * Zla Rijeka with 12 villages

There was a total of 709 villages.

From the census, and the other ones issued in other Ottoman regions of modern Albania, it is evident that Scutari was the only Albanian city to have been completely islamized by the second half of the 16th century.

Montenegro Vilayet
The census of 1582–83 registered the "vilayet of the Black Mountain" (vilayet-i Kara Dağ) as a separate administrative unit within the Sanjak of Scutari. The vilayet consisted of the following nahiyah, with number of villages: Grbavci with 13 villages, Župa with 11, Malonšići with 7, Pješivci with 14, Cetinje with 16, Rijeka with 31, Crmnica with 11, Paštrovići with 36 and Grbalj with 9 villages, which brings the total number of villages to 148.

Present-day region of Kosovo
The Peć nahiya had 235 villages of which some 30 villages had Albanian families besides the majorital Orthodox Serbs. The ethnic makeup of the Peć nahiya was:


 * Village of Osek - Muslim (Islamicised) majority, with some settled Christian Albanians
 * Village of Selojani - Muslim majority, small Christian Albanian and Serb population
 * Village of Mramor - 22 houses. Albanian majority
 * Village of Belovci - 50 Serbian houses.
 * Village of Granica - 65 Serbian houses.
 * City of Peć - 18 mahalas (hamlets); 3 free, 13 Muslim (newly Islamicised), 5 Serbian (2 houses were Albanian)
 * Village of Belo Polje - 2 Serbian mahalas. 3 priests.
 * Village of Bukovica - Serbian. 2 converts to Islam.
 * Village Lipovac - Islamicised Albanian.
 * Village Trakakin - Albanian. Islamicised majority.
 * Village of Baba - Serbian. 1 convert to Islam.
 * Village Videš - Serbian.
 * Village Veliki Đurđevik - 64 Serbian houses. 2 families from Prizren and Vučitrn.
 * 17 Serb villages: 1 Albanian house.
 * Village Suho Grlo - 3 Serbian mahalas. 1 Islamicised Serb.
 * 3 Serb villages
 * 17 Serb villages: 3 Muslim houses. 8 priests.
 * Village Zlokućani - Serbian. 5 Muslim houses.
 * Village Kavlica - Serbian. 8 Muslim houses.
 * Village of Strelice - 70 Serbian houses. few Islamicised.
 * 8 Serb villages
 * Village Rusance - Albanian majority. 3 Muslims.
 * Village Muževine - Serbian. 1 priest.
 * Village Srednja Crnja - 8 Albanian Muslim houses.
 * 34 Serb villages: total 2 Albanian houses in 2 villages.
 * Village Njivokos - Serbian majority. Notable Islamicisation.
 * Village Vrela Manastir - Serbian.
 * 13 Serb villages: 1 Islamicised house.
 * Village Gusnica - 20 Albanian Islamicised houses.
 * 15 Serb villages: Islamicisation occurred in 3 villages.
 * Village of Vinodol - Serbian. 8 soldier houses from Bosnian Sandzak.
 * Village (?) - Serbs, Albanians and Muslims.
 * 20 Serb villages: occurrence of Islamicisation.
 * 2 Albanian villages: Islamicised.
 * 39 Serb villages: 9 monasteries (one is Dečani). 1 Albanian male.
 * Village of Brestovac - 10 Albanian houses.
 * Village of Belica - 35 Muslim houses.
 * 56 villages: 42 Serb villages of which 14 with a Muslim minority.
 * Village of Novosel - Muslim and Albanian.
 * Village Labrani - Serbian majority. 2 Muslim houses.
 * Village Dubak - 10 Albanian houses and 9 Muslim houses.
 * Village Dobroševo - 28 houses. Albanian majority. 3 Muslim houses.
 * Village Šankovac - Serbian majority. 3 Muslim houses.
 * Village Dobrič-Dol - Muslim.
 * Village Gornji Petrič - Serbian majority. ~50 Serbian houses, 3 Muslim houses.
 * Village of Vranić - Muslim and Albanian.
 * Village Crni Potok - 25 Muslim houses.
 * Village Arženik - Serbian. Few Muslim houses.
 * Village Prelopci - Serbs, Albanians and Muslims.
 * Village of Rugovo - 86 Serbian houses.

The Altun-li nahiya, which straddled the Kosovo-Albania border, had 41 villages with a Serb majority and Albanian minority.

It is evident from the census that the arrival of the Ottoman Empire brought change in the demographic picture of Kosovo.