42°19′N 19°47′E / 42.317°N 19.783°E / 42.317; 19.783

Shala is a historical tribe and region of northern Albania in the valley of the river Shalë, in the Dukagjin Highlands. At the end of the 19th century the tribe was Catholic and had c. 3,000 members and 700 households

The etymology of Shala is unclear. It has been connected to the Albanian term shalë (sinë) denoting an arid or infertile land, however, this etymology does not seem likely considering that the Shala Valley is among the only regions in the Albanian Alps suitable for agriculture. Folk tradition connects their tribal name to the word shalë ("saddle"), a reference to the legend in which the ancestor of the Shala was given a saddle by his brothers as they departed from one another.

The tribal region is situated in northern Albania, in the valley of the river Shalë, north of the Drin and south of Theth, in the Dukagjin Highlands. Shala can be broken down into two main sectors: Upper Shala and Lower Shala. Upper Shala is occupied by the village Theth which, under the Ottomans, comprised its own military-administrative unit (bajrak). Theth is made up of 10 neighbourhoods or quarters (mëhallë or lagje): Okol, Nikgjonaj, Gjelaj, Gjeçaj, Ndreaj, Ulaj, Kolaj, Grunas, Stakaj, and Nën Rreth. Ndërlysaj, located to the south, is an extension of Thethi, as is Rrogam located in the Valbona Valley on the other side of the Valbona Pass. Upper Shala is home to some of the highest peaks in Albania, including Maja Jezercë.

Lower Shala is characterised by wider and gentler slopes and topography than that of its northern counterpart. The region is made up of several villages which themselves extend into separate quarters: Gimaj, Nën-Mavriq (also Dakaj), Lekaj, Abat, Nicaj, Pecaj, Breg Lumi, Lotaj, and Vuksanaj which includes Bob. Under the Ottoman administration, Lower Shala would support at least four separate bajraks, that of Pecaj, Lotaj, Lekaj, and Gimaj.

Since the last decade of the 17th century the region of Kosovo and north-western Macedonia was settled by families belonging to Albanian tribes. The most intensive phase of this migration was between the middle of 18th century until the 1840s. This led to division of many tribes including Shala.

Today in Kosovo, the Shala are concentrated primarily around Vushtrri, Mitrovica, and Trepça in the hilly region known as Shala e Bajgorës, Bajgora being the largest of their 37 settlements. They are divided into four clans or vllazni (brothers): the Gima, Peci, Maleti (related to the Lotaj in Albania proper) and the Lopçi. There are also significant numbers of Shala in Peja (Rashiq, Raushiq and Loxhe Village), in Isniq, Lluka e Epërme and Strellç in Ulët near Deçan, in Klina, in Kopiliq near Drenica, and in the settlements between Rakosh and Citak near Istog. Since the 18th century, the village of Isniq near Decan has been settled by Shala tribe. The Shala in Isniq were formed by Lek Vuka and his three sons : Nik, Prek and Vuk. From that time, the Shala descendants increased in numbers until today they number almost 500 houses within and outside the village. From there some families settled in Tomoc, Lluga and Trubuhoc near Istog and Boletin near Mitrovica.

Based on archival research and the study of local oral traditions and legends surrounding the founding of the Shala as a tribe, it can be concluded that they arrived as part of a wider population movement and redistribution of peoples that occurred following the Ottoman conquests of Albanian-speaking territories in the 15th century.