Malësia e Madhe ("Great Highlands"), known simply as Malësia (, ), is a historical and ethnographic region in northern Albania and eastern central Montenegro corresponding to the highlands of the geographical subdivision of the Malësi e Madhe District in Albania and Tuzi Municipality in Montenegro. The largest settlement in the area is the town of Tuzi. Name Malësia e Madhe is Albanian for "great highlands". It is simply known as Malësia, or in the local Gheg dialect, Malcía (). Elsie also describes the region as part of the Northern Albanian Alps. The tribes are commonly called "highlanders", , anglicized as "Malissori" or "Malisors". An archaic term used by foreign travellers in the 1860s was "Malesians". Geography The region includes parts of the Accursed Mountains mountain range (known in Albanian as ) and hinterland of the Lake Scutari, with valleys of the Cem river. The Malësors (Albanian highlanders) live within northern Albania and historically Malësia e Madhe (great highlands) contained five large tribes with four (Hoti, Kelmendi, Shkreli, Kastrati) having a Catholic majority and Muslim minority with Gruda evenly split between both religions. Within Malësia e Madhe there were an additional seven small tribes. During times of war and mobilisation of troops, the bajraktar (chieftain) of Hoti was recognised by the Ottoman government as leader of all forces of the Malësia e Madhe tribes having collectively some 6,200 rifles during the late Ottoman period. Malësia e Vogël (small highlands) with seven Catholic tribes such as the Shala with 4 bajaraktars, Shoshi, Toplana and Nikaj contained some 1,250 households with a collective strength of 2,500 men that could be mobilised for war. Shoshi had a distinction in the region of possessing a legendary rock associated with Lekë Dukagjini. History During the Ottoman period, when northern Albania was part of the Sanjak of Scutari, Albanian tribes in Malësia sometimes sided with Montenegrin tribes in fighting the Ottomans. An example is from 1658, when the seven tribes of Kuči, Vasojevići, Bratonožići, Piperi, Kelmendi, Hoti and Gruda allied themselves with the Republic of Venice against the Ottomans. In 1757, the Bushati family transformed the sanjak into the semi-autonomous Pashalik of Scutari. After this, the Albanian tribes sided with the Bushati. After the Ottoman Empire lost the Montenegrin–Ottoman War (1876–78), Plav and Gusinje were ceded to Montenegro, which sparked Albanian attacks in the area organized by the nationalist League of Prizren in support of the Ottoman