Pano Bixhili ( ) was an 18th-century General Consul of Russia in

Albania Albania ( ; or ), officially the Republic of Albania (), is a country in Southeast Europe. It is located in the Balkans, on the Adriatic Sea, Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea, and shares land borders with Montenegro to ...

and Himara. Pano Bixhili came from the village

Dhërmi Dhërmi ( sq-definite, Dhërmiu; , ''Drymádes'') is a village in Vlorë County, Albania. It is part of the municipality of Himarë. The village lies 42 kilometers south of the city of Vlorë and 69 kilometers north of the southern city of Sarand� ...

, modern

, then

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empire, was an empire, imperial realm that controlled much of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th to early 20th centuries; it also controlled parts of southeastern Centr ...

, from an

Albanian Albanian may refer to: *Pertaining to Albania in Southeast Europe; in particular: **Albanians, an ethnic group native to the Balkans **Albanian language **Albanian culture **Demographics of Albania, includes other ethnic groups within the country ...

family background, whom spoke

in the

Tosk Tosk ( sq-definite, toskërishtja) is the southern group of dialects of the Albanian language, spoken by the ethnographic group known as Tosks. The line of demarcation between Tosk and Gheg (the northern variety) is the Shkumbin River. Tosk is ...

dialect and more specifically in the Lab sub dialect. In 18th century documents from the Russian Imperial Archive of External Affairs, he and his brother Gjika are described as "noble Albanians from

Epirus Epirus () is a Region#Geographical regions, geographical and historical region, historical region in southeastern Europe, now shared between Greece and Albania. It lies between the Pindus Mountains and the Ionian Sea, stretching from the Bay ...

". One of the most notable Albanian families of the Venetian and Ottoman period the Bixhili provided diplomats to the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...

in the 18th century. Moreover, they also provided several officers to the ''Regimento Cimarioto'' (Himariote regiment) of the Venetian army as well as for the ''Albanskoe Volsko'' and the ''Odesskii Grecheskii Divizion'' Russian army. Being an influential personality, he became the Russian consul in

and Himara, in the 1780s. During the

Russo-Turkish War (1768-1774) The Russo-Turkish wars ( ), or the Russo-Ottoman wars (), began in 1568 and continued intermittently until 1918. They consisted of twelve conflicts in total, making them one of the longest series of wars in the history of Europe. All but four of ...

together with Loudovikos Sotiris from

Lefkada Lefkada (, ''Lefkáda'', ), also known as Lefkas or Leukas (Ancient Greek and Katharevousa: Λευκάς, ''Leukás'', modern pronunciation ''Lefkás'') and Leucadia, is a Greece, Greek list of islands of Greece, island in the Ionian Sea on the ...

, became the revolutionary leaders of an

uprising Rebellion is an uprising that resists and is organized against one's government. A rebel is a person who engages in a rebellion. A rebel group is a consciously coordinated group that seeks to gain political control over an entire state or a ...

against the Ottomans. He was probably also a member of the Greek patriotic organization

Filiki Eteria Filiki Eteria () or Society of Friends () was a secret political and revolutionary organization founded in 1814 in Odesa, Odessa, whose purpose was to overthrow Ottoman Empire, Ottoman rule in Ottoman Greece, Greece and establish an Independenc ...

. The Bixhili family are mentioned from the 16th century to the 19th century in historical sources. According to an official Albanian DNA project known as rrenjet the Bixhili family DNA was uploaded and analysed. The results show that the haplogroup of the Bixhili family are J2a-M410>L25>Y197827,

Haplogroup J-M172 In human genetics, Haplogroup J-M172 or J2 is a Y-chromosome haplogroup which is a subclade (branch) of haplogroup J-M304. Haplogroup J-M172 is common in modern populations in Western Asia, Central Asia, South Asia, Southern Europe, Northweste ...

References

{{Reflist, 2 People from Himara Year of death unknown Year of birth unknown 18th-century Albanian people