In the 17th century, there was a certain Pavle Đuroj, read as “Pavel Gjura”, who was an Albanian captain and the son of Venetian captain Pep Gjuraj Arbanas. We also find information about an Albanian named Fran Kuka from Lezhë.

Cited:

“Pavle Đuroj, the son of the Venetian captain Pepe Đuroj Arbanas and a prostitute from Crete, was long persecuted by the Venetians because of a large amount of embezzled money. He settled in Dubrovnik. Here he married and kept a small shop. He became a sea captain on a ship and often sailed for Italy and Albania. Dubrovnik documents refer to him as “capitaneus Paulus Giuroi epirota”. In southern Italy he became a Spanish agent.

Frano Kuka from Lezhë moved to Dubrovnik for better trade. Here he married a widow named Jela, daughter of Nikola Grande, who, like all Dubrovnik citizens, had money invested in Naples, and also some property in Rijeka Dubrovnik. He often went to Albania with goods and money from Dubrovnik businessmen. For a while he kept a mail boat. During the Spanish campaign in 1617, he was in Naples and then became a Spanish agent. A certain Bali, a compatriot of Kuka, was also similar.

Reference

https://istorijskizapisi.me/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/Istorijski-zapisi-1952-OCR.pdf