Shkodër

Shkodër (/ˈʃkoʊdər/ SHKOH-dər, Albanian: [ˈʃkɔdəɾ]; Albanian definite form: Shkodra; historically known as Scodra or Scutari) is the fifth-most-populous city of Albania and the seat of Shkodër County and Shkodër Municipality. Shkodër has been continuously inhabited since the Early Bronze Age (c. 2250–2000 BC), and 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 the Buna, Drin and Kir rivers. Due to its proximity to the Adriatic Sea, Shkodër is affected by a seasonal Mediterranean climate with continental influences.

An urban settlement called Skodra was founded by the Illyrian tribe of Labeatae in the 4th century BCE. 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. It has historically developed on a 130 m (430 ft) hill strategically located in the outflow of Lake Shkodër into the Buna. The Romans annexed the city after the third Illyrian War in 168 BC, when the Illyrian king Gentius was defeated by the Roman force of Anicius Gallus. In the 3rd century AD, 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 AD, 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.

The city was first attested in classical sources as the capital of the Illyrian kingdom with the name Skodra (Ancient Greek: Σκόδρα, with the ethnonymic genitive Σκοδρινῶν "of the Skodrians", appearing on 2nd c. BC coins) and Scodra (Latin form).

Although the ultimate origin of the toponym Σκόδρα Scodra is uncertain, the name is certainly pre-Roman. A Paleo-Balkan origin has been suggested, relating it to the Albanian: kodër (definite form: kodra) 'hill', and Romanian: codru '(wooded) mountain, forest', with the same root as the ancient toponym Codrio/Kodrion.

The further development of the name has been a subject of discussion in Albanian historical linguistics. Some linguists treat the development from Illyrian Σκόδρα Skodra to Albanian Shkodra/Shkodër as evidence of regular development within the Albanian language. Others have argued that Albanian Shkodra/Shkodër fails to display certain known phonological changes that would have to have happened if the name had been continually in use in Proto-Albanian since pre-Roman times, based on the fact that */sk-/ consonant clusters are usually morphed into a */h-/, and not */ʃk-/, and o is morphed into a, not preserved. However, the phonetic changes sk > h and o > a occurred at an early stage of Proto-Albanian, because they regularly do not involve early Greek and Latin loanwords. Contacts of Albanian with Greek date back as early as the 7th century BC since the foundation of the Greek colonies on the Adriatic coast of Albania, hence those phonetic changes in Proto-Albanian certainly predate the foundation of Skodra (4th century BC) and the usage of its name. On the other hand, the o in Shkodër would postdate first contacts with Latin, because in the earliest Latin loanwords in Albanian the ŏ is rendered as u. The preservation of ŏ in the Albanian form is to be explained probably because Latin was the predominant language of the Adriatic coastal areas, naturally exercising a significant pressure and influencing the linguistic forms of the local toponyms in Albanian. Similar cases of this process can be seen in the old Albanian toponym Trieshtë, which evolved regularly through Albanian phonetic changes from Trieste, but which was recently replaced in Albanian under strong pressure from Italian into the current name Trieste; and the old Albanian toponym Gjenòvë, which evolved regularly through Albanian phonetic changes form Genova, also featuring the characteristic Albanian accent rule. Nevertheless, the Albanian toponym Shkodër certainly predates the end of the ancient Roman period.

In modern times, the term was adapted to Italian as Scodra (Italian pronunciation: [ˈskɔːdra]) and Scutari ([ˈskuːtari]); in this form it was also in wide use in English until the 20th century.^{[citation needed]} In Serbo-Croatian, Shkodër is known as Skadar (Serbo-Croatian Cyrillic: Скадар), and in Turkish as İşkodra.

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). Artifacts and faunal remains provide evidence that the first inhabitants of the area of Shkodër were Pleistocene hunter-gatherers. 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. 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 BC), 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.