Shkodėr, also Scutari (ancient Scodra), city in northwestern Albania, capital of Shkodėr District, at the confluence of the Buenė (Bojana) and Drin rivers. Shkodėr is a trading and industrial center of northern Albania. Manufactures include tobacco products, textiles, cement, leather products, and building materials. There is a major hydroelectric plant on the Drin river south of the city. The city is dominated by a 15th-century Venetian citadel built on a hill. The ancient capital of Illyria, Shkodėr fell to the Romans in 168 BC. The Serbs captured the town in the 7th century; in the 14th century it was sold to the Venetians. The Ottoman Turks captured the city in the next century and held it until 1913, when it was captured by the Montenegrins during the Balkan Wars. An international force occupied the city in the same year, and shortly thereafter it became part of the newly independent kingdom of Albania. Population (1990 estimate) 81,900.
