Written by Petrit Latifi

Sulejman bey Kargalija or Voivode Süleyman Kargalija, was an Albanian lord from Shkodër who lived in the early 19th century.¹ He was the Ajanin of Dupnish (Dupnitsa) after he settled in Strumnica, where he appointed many estates.² The Ottomans tried to lower his influence but failed. Kargalija died from a cannon ball near Belgrad fighting Serbs on August 15, 1813. ³ Kargalijas fortified tower and home was built in 1807.

During his reign, Kargalija established a semi-independent administration. After his death, his son, Ali Beg, carried on his fathers legacy and fought the Greek heterists of 1821 in the Battle of Dragašan in Wallachia. He also fought the Russians in 1831, allying himself with Mustaph Pasha of Shkodër.⁴

References

1. https://books.google.se/books?id=voFMAQAAIAAJ&q=%D0%B0%D0%BB%D0%B1%D0%B0%D0%BD%D0%B5%D1%86+%D0%BE%D1%82&dq=%D0%B0%D0%BB%D0%B1%D0%B0%D0%BD%D0%B5%D1%86+%D0%BE%D1%82&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=1&printsec=frontcover&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiXmvGv3tWHAxUaHhAIHb6DBSM4FBDoAXoECAYQAg ↩︎
2. https://books.google.se/books?id=UagtAQAAIAAJ&q=Kargalija&dq=Kargalija&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=1&printsec=frontcover&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjNubO64NWHAxWEHRAIHXHRHigQ6AF6BAgHEAI ↩︎
3. https://archive.org/stream/osvetavolumenbs00unkngoog/osvetavolumenbs00unkngoog_djvu.txt ↩︎
4. https://archive.org/stream/osvtalistyproroz16vlekuoft/osvtalistyproroz16vlekuoft_djvu.txt ↩︎