Prekali was 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 ...

tribe of the Middle Ages. Their origin was probably in the Dukagjin highlands of northern

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 ...

. Since the 16th century, the Prekali tribe gradually became part of other communities in that region.

History

Prekali was a community based on kinship ties that can be traced back to one progenitor. In that sense, it was a ''bashkësi'' (union of brotherhoods), but not a ''fis'', as for a tribe to be a ''fis'' it has to have exclusive communal property rights in a given territory, which is part of their hereditary community. Their name comes from the Albanian personal name ''Preka''. In the cadaster of Venetian Shkodra, there were two villages named ''Prekal'' on the modern Albania-Montenegro border and most of their inhabitants held the patronymic Prekali, an indication that the villages were communal settlements of this tribe. The village of Gaduçi was also mostly inhabited by this tribe. Prekali nën shkallë, headed by pronoiar Jonema Prekali was near the Buna river between the villages of Pentari and Luarzë. Prekali in the mountains (''Prekali në mal'') headed by Andrea Prekali was on the right bank of the river. Gaduçi headed by Gjin Prekali was near Velipoja in the settlement of Malkolaj. In the defter of the

Sanjak of Scutari The Sanjak of Scutari or Sanjak of Shkodra (; ; or ''İşkodra Sancağı'') was one of the sanjaks of the Ottoman Empire. It was established after the Ottoman Empire acquired Shkodra after the siege of Shkodra in 1478–9. It was part of th ...

in 1485 Prekali appears spread throughout the lands north-east of Shkodër and

Drisht Drisht ( sq-definite, Drishti) is a village, former bishopric and Latin titular see ( Roman Catholic Diocese of Drivasto) with an Ancient and notable medieval history (Latin ''Drivastum,'' Italian ''Drivasto'') in Albania, 6 km from Mesi Bri ...

. The village of Gur i Zi in which the tribe held property in 1416, appears as also having the name Prekal in 1485, an indication of their settlement there. A century later, in the defter of 1582, their village near the plains of the Buna river appears under two names Shul Prekala or Gjergj Bardhi. A branch of Prekali was on the process of becoming a feudal family in the early 15th century. For example, in the 1416-17 cadaster one of them Petro Prekali appears as ducal citizen of Balec. Others in the cadaster appear as

pronoia The ''pronoia'' (plural ''pronoiai''; Greek: πρόνοια, meaning "care", "forethought" or "providence," from πρό, "before," and νόος, "mind") was a system of granting dedicated streams of state income to individuals and institutions i ...

rs recognized by Venice in villages of the area. Many others lived in villages throughout the region south of Shkodra. The Ottoman conquest of the country stopped this feudalization process and as many in northern Albania, their community underwent a retribalization of social relations. In this period, the village Prekal appears which still exists today on the banks of the river Kir in the municipal unit of

Postribë Postribë is a former municipality in the Shkodër County, northwestern Albania. At the 2015 local government reform it became a subdivision of the municipality Shkodër. The population at the 2011 census was 7,069.Shoshi, which is about 20km north of Prekal.

Bibliography

{{reflist Tribes of Albania