of Balša II, his widow and his daughter who married Mrkša Žarković, managed to keep the possession of the region up to 1417 when Ottomans captured Vlora.
Ottoman era: autonomy and revolts
The Ottoman Empire overran northern Epirus from the late 14th century, but being a natural fortress, Himara was the only region that did not submit to Ottoman Turkish rule. It became a symbol of resistance to the Turks but suffered from an almost continuous state of warfare. 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 Himara, but when the ongoing Turkish-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, son of Skanderbeg in his uprising against the Ottomans. The uprising failed, but the Himariotes rose again in 1488, and between 1494–1509, destabilizing Turkish control but failing to liberate their territory.
The Ottoman Sultan Suleyman the Magnificent personally mounted an expedition in 1537 that destroyed or captured many surrounding villages but did not manage to subdue the area. The Ottomans found it necessary to compromise with the inhabitants of Himarë by grading them a series of privileges: local self-government, the right to bear arms, exemption from taxes, the right to sail under their own flag into any Ottoman port and to provide military service in time of war. However, despite the privileges, the Himariotes revolted against Ottoman authority during the following conflicts: Turco-Venetian War (1537–1540), War of the Holy League (1571), Morean War (1684–1699) Ottoman–Venetian War (1715–1718) and the Russo-Turkish wars of the 18th century. On the other hand Ottoman reprisals depopulated the area and led to forced
