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Shkodër (/ˈʃkoʊdər/ SHKOH-dər,[6] Albanian: [ˈʃkɔdəɾ]; Albanian definite form: Shkodra), historically known as Scodra or Scutari,[c] is the fifth-most-populous city of the Republic of Albania and the seat of Shkodër County and Shkodër Municipality. Shkodra has been continuously inhabited since the Early Bronze Age (c. 2250–2000 BCE),[7][8] and it has roughly 2,200 years of recorded history. The city sprawls across the Plain of Mbishkodra between the southern part of Lake Shkodër and the foothills of the Albanian Alps on the banks of Buna, Drin and Kir.[9] Due to its proximity to the Adriatic Sea, Shkodër is affected by a seasonal Mediterranean climate with continental influences.[9]

An urban settlement called Skodra was founded by the Illyrian tribe of Labeatae in the 4th century BCE.[10][11] It became the capital of the Illyrian kingdom under the Ardiaei and Labeatae and was one of the most important cities of the Balkans in ancient times.[12] It has historically developed on a 130 m (430 ft) hill strategically located in the outflow of Lake Shkodër into the Buna River. The Romans annexed the city after the third Illyrian War in 168 BCE, when the Illyrian king Gentius was defeated by the Roman force of Anicius Gallus.[13][14] In the 3rd century CE, Shkodër became the capital of Praevalitana, due to the administrative reform of the Roman Emperor Diocletian. With the spread of Christianity in the 4th century CE, the Archdiocese of Scodra was founded and was assumed in 535 by Byzantine Emperor Justinian I.

Shkodër is regarded as the traditional capital of northern Albania, also referred to as Gegëria, and is noted for its arts, culture, religious diversity and turbulent history among the Albanians. The architecture of Shkodër is particularly dominated by mosques and churches reflecting the city’s high degree of religious diversity and tolerance. Shkodër was home to many influential personalities, who among others, helped to shape the Albanian Renaissance.

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The earliest signs of human activity in the lands of Shkodër can be traced back to the Middle Paleolithic (120,000–30,000 years ago).[27] Artifacts and faunal remains provide evidence that the first inhabitants of the area of Shkodër were Pleistocene hunter-gatherers.[28] Presence of Neolithic farmers is also testified by artifacts. The Copper and Early Bronze Ages constitute an important watershed for the social evolution on the territories of the eastern Adriatic coast, including Shkodër, with the formation of new cultures and the beginning of new complex historical, ethnogenetic and cultural processes. This period represents for Shkodër the first step of a process of occupation and development. The inhabitants of the intensively settled Shkodër basin produced pottery, practiced agriculture, and manufactured metal tools.[28] Shkodra’s Early Bronze Age culture bears many similarities with the culture of the Eastern Adriatic coast and its hinterland, like the Cetina culture, and it also has connections with the Early Bronze Age culture of Maliq in southeastern Albania. During the developed Early Bronze Age the new practice of tumulus burials appears, which may be associated to Indo-European migrations from the steppes. During the Middle and Late Bronze Age the settlements in the region and extraregional interactions apparently increased. In the Late Bronze Age the inhabitants of Shkodra basin had contacts with Italy or northwest Greece. By the end of the Bronze Age and the beginning of the Iron Age (c. 1100–800 BCE), the formation of a large, cohesive, and quite homogeneous cultural group had already occurred in a well defined territory of the Shkodra region, which was referred in historical sources to as ‘the tribe of the Labeatae‘ in later times.[10]

The favorable conditions on the fertile plain, around the lake, have brought people here in early antiquity. Artefacts and inscriptions, discovered in the Rozafa Castle, are assumed to be the earliest examples of symbolic behaviour in humans in the city. Although, it was known under the name Scodra and was inhabited by the Illyrian tribes of the Labeates and Ardiaei, which ruled over a large territory between modern Albania up to Croatia.[29][30][31] King Agron, Queen Teuta and King Gentius, were among the most famous personalities of the Ardiaei.

The city was first mentioned during antiquity as the site of the Illyrian Labeates in which they minted coins and that of Queen Teuta.[32] In 168 BCE, the city was captured by the Romans and became an important trade and military route. The Romans colonized[33] the town. Scodra remained in the province of Illyricum and, later, Dalmatia. By it 395 CE, it was part of the Diocese of Dacia, within Praevalitana.

In the early 11th century, Jovan Vladimir ruled Duklja amidst the war between Basil II and Samuel. Vladimir allegedly retreated into Koplik when Samuel invaded Duklja and was subsequently forced to accept Bulgarian vassalage. He was later slain by the Bulgarians. Shingjon (feast of Jovan Vladimir) has since been celebrated by Albanian Orthodox Christians.[34]

Relief commemorating the Siege of Shkodër from the 15th century in Venice

In the 1030s, Stefan Vojislav from Travunija, then part of Medieval Serbia,[citation needed] expelled the last strategos and successfully defeated the Byzantines by 1042. Stefan Vojislav set up Shkodër, as his capital.[35] Constantine Bodin accepted the crusaders of the Crusade of 1101 in Shkodër. After the dynastic struggles in the 12th century, Shkodër became an integral part of the Serbian Nemanjić Zeta province. In 1214 the city was briefly annexed to Despotate of Epirus under Michael I Komnenos Doukas.[36] In 1330, Stefan Dečanski, King of Serbia, appointed his son Stefan Dušan as the governor of Zeta with its seat in Shkodër.[37] In the same year Dušan and his father entered the conflict which resulted with campaign of Dečanski who destroyed Dušan’s court on Drin River near Shkodër in January 1331. In April 1331, they made a truce,[38] but in August 1331 Dušan went from Shkodër to Nerodimlje and overthrew his father.[39]

During the disintegration of the Serbian Empire, Shkodër was taken by the Balšić family of Zeta, who surrendered the city to the Republic of Venice in 1396, in order to form a protection zone from the Ottoman Empire. During the Venetian rule the city adopted the Statutes of Scutari, a civic law written in Venetian. The Statutes of Scutari mention Albanian and Slavic presence in the city, but under Venetian rule many Dalmatians were brought to Shkodra and as such formed the majority there. After the Black Death killed most of the inhabitants Albanians and Slavs formed the majority in the city.[40] Venetians built the St. Stephen’s Church (later converted into the Fatih Sultan Mehmet Mosque by the Ottomans) and the Rozafa Castle. In 1478-79 Mehmed the conqueror laid siege on Shkodër. In 1479 the city fell to the Ottomans and the defenders of the citadel emigrated to Venice, while many Albanians from the region retreated into the mountains. The city then became a seat of a newly established Ottoman sanjak, the Sanjak of Scutari.