those of Himarë, Epirus and the coast. Early Ottoman period In 1431 Himarë became a nahiye, an administrative division, of the Sanjak of Albania. It became a symbol of resistance to the Ottomans but suffered from an almost continuous state of warfare. Himariotes participated in Skanderbeg's resistance against the Ottoman Empire. During Skanderbeg's rebellion and the rule of Gjergj Arianiti, Himarë was within the domains of the Principality of Arianiti between 1443 and 1462. In the summer of 1473 the chieftain John Vlasis, with a small unit from nearby Corfu as well as with native Himariot support, took control of the entire coastal region from Sagiada to Himarë, but when the ongoing Ottoman-Venetian war ended (1479) the region was again under Ottoman control. In 1481, one year after the Ottomans had landed in Otranto in southern Italy, the Himariotes joined the forces of Gjon Kastrioti II (son of Skanderbeg) in his uprising against the Ottomans. The Albanian rebellion in Himarë was led by Konstantin Muzaka under the aid of Krokodeilos Kladas. The uprising failed, but the Himariotes rose up again in 1488, and between 1494 and 1509, destabilizing Ottoman control but failing to liberate their territory. In 1501, Himarë was governed by its own elders, and the traditional meeting place of the region was in the locality of Spilea, near the village of Qeparo; the region at this time consisted of 7 villages - Qeparo, Himarë, Vuno, Sopoto (which was divided into two, Shën Vasija and Nivicë Bubari), Dhërmi, Palasa and Kudhës-Perivoli. Certain villages enjoyed more privileges than others, as they were provided with Kapedana - hereditary leaders with military roles, particularly regarding recruitment. The Spiromilio family were the hereditary holders of this position in Himarë, while the Gjika family held the title in Qeparo and the Kasneci family held the title in Vuno. Sopoto also had its own Kapedan but lost the privilege prior to the other three aforementioned villages, as was observed when Neapolitan documents relating to the king's recruitments in the region during the end of the 18th century only mentioned a lieutenant and future captain called Giovanni Spiro (Spiromilio), alongside a major by the name of Atanasio Gjika and a lieutenant called Costantino Kasneci, as well as multiple cadets. Apart from these Kapedana, the villages in the Himarë region did not have unique leaders, but rather a council made up of the heads of the local