Toptani | |
---|---|
Current region | Central Albania |
Place of origin | Krujë |
Members | |
Estate(s) | 50,000 hectares between Durres and Tirana |
The Toptani were a leading noble family in central Albania at the beginning of the 20th century.[1] They belonged to a small number of noble families appointed by the Ottomans who used local chieftains to control Ottoman Albania more easily.[2] Essad Pasha Toptani, a family patriarch, claimed that the family descended from the Thopia family.[3] According to some sources, the name is derived from the word top, which means cannon, as the family owned a cannon at a time when artillery was rare.[4]
The Toptani family initially lived in Krujë before moving to Tirana during the 17th century, when many sipahis moved from rural regions of the Ottoman Empire to cities.[5] Their move from Krujë to Tirana probably contributed to the development of sharecropping in Albania.[6]
The Toptani family possessed around 50,000 hectares near Tirana and Durrës[7] and remained one of the main landowners until the end of the Second World War.[8] The 19th century house of the Toptani family situated in the centre of Tirana was turned into a museum.
Notable members of the family include: