The city appears in the historical record dating back in 1336 by its medieval Greek name, Αργυρόκαστρο, Argyrókastro,[2] as part of the Byzantine Empire.

In antiquity the local urban centre was located in Antigonia, c. 5 kilometres (3 mi) from modern Gjirokastër on the opposite bank of river Drino.

[2] That year Argyrokastro was among the cities that remained loyal to the Byzantine Emperor during a local Epirote rebellion in favour to Nikephoros II Orsini.

[31] The Albanian Zenebishi clan, which held Gjirokastër by the end of the century, is first mentioned in 1304 as land holders in the Angevin holdings in Albania, possibly in the southern coastal area.

[35] During the Albanian Revolt of 1432–36 it was besieged by forces under Depë Zenebishi, but the rebels were defeated by Ottoman troops led by Turahan Bey.

[36] In 1570s local nobles Manthos Papagiannis and Panos Kestolikos, discussed as Greek representative of enslaved Greece and Albania with the head of the Holy League, John of Austria and various other European rulers, the possibility of an anti-Ottoman armed struggle, but this initiative was fruitless.

[5][6] In 1811, Gjirokastër became part of the Pashalik of Yanina, then led by the Albanian-born Ali Pasha of Ioannina and was transformed into a semi-autonomous fiefdom in the southwestern Balkans until his death in 1822.

On 23 July 1880, southern Albanian committees of the League of Prizren held a congress in the city, in which was decided that if Albanian-populated areas of the Ottoman Empire were ceded to neighbouring countries, they would revolt.

[44] Gjirokastër from the middle of the nineteenth century also prominently contributed to the wider Ottoman Empire through individuals that served as Kadıs (civil servants) and was an important centre of Islamic culture.

[6] During the 19th and early 20th century, Albanian speaking Muslims were the majority population of Gjirokastër, while a small number of Greek-speaking families lived there.

[46] This turn of events proved highly unpopular with the local Greek population, and their representatives under Georgios Christakis-Zografos formed the Panepirotic Assembly in Gjirokastër in protest.

[47] The Assembly, short of incorporation with Greece, demanded either local autonomy or an international occupation by forces of the Great Powers for the districts of Gjirokastër, Sarandë, and Korçë.

It was elevated to the status of a museum town,[49] as it was the birthplace of the leader of the People's Socialist Republic of Albania, Enver Hoxha, who had been born there in 1908.

[66] In recent years, many traditional houses are being reconstructed and owners lured to come back, thus revitalizing tourism as a potential revenue source for the local economy.

[71] In 2010, following the Greek economic crisis, the city was one of the first areas in Albania to suffer, since many Albanian emigrants in Greece are becoming unemployed and thus are returning home.

[72] Gjirokastër is served by the SH4 Highway, which connects it to Tepelenë in the north and the Dropull region and Greek border 30 km (19 mi) to the south.

[73][74] In 1727 a madrasa started to function in the city, and it worked uninterruptedly for 240 years until 1967, when it was closed due to the Cultural Revolution applied in communist Albania.

The university has recently been experiencing low enrollments, and as a result the departments of Physics, Mathematics, Biochemistry, and Kindergarten Education did not function during the 2008–2009 academic year.

[83] The program had an attendance of 35 students as of 2010[update], but was abruptly suspended when the University of Ioannina in Greece refused to provide teachers for the 2010 school year and the Greek government and the Latsis foundation withdrew funding.

The population of Gjirokastër was predominantly Albanian-speaking in the final Ottoman era (late 19th/early 20th century) except for a small number of Greek-speaking families.

[85] In the period of the Second World War and its aftermath, some Albanian-speaking Orthodox Christians from the nearby region of Lunxhëri settled in Gjirokastër.

[92] In 2000, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) estimated the Romani and Balkan Egyptians compose 3.4 percent of the town's population.

According to INSTAT, based on the 2011 Census, Gjirokastër Municipality was estimated to have 28,673 residents (a density of 53.91 persons/km2) living in 6,919 housing units, while the county as a whole had a total of 72,176 inhabitants.

With the destruction of nearby Adrianupolis its see was transferred to Gjirokastër and assumed the name Doecese of Dryinopoulis and Argyrokastron (Greek: Δρυϊνουπόλεως και Αργυροκάστρου).

[98] The two existing churches of the city were re-built at the end of the 18th century, after approval by the local Ottoman authorities who received large bribes by the Orthodox community.

[99] During the Ottoman period Gjirokastër was a significant centre for the Muslim Sufi Bektashi Order, especially in relation to its spread and literary activity.

[7] In the early 19th century during the rule of Ali Pasha, British diplomat William Martin Leake during his journey from Vlorë to Gjirokastra and later to present-day Greece, in his diary describes his arrival on 26 December 1804, in the region of Derópoli, or Dropull as it was known from the local Albanians.

The sect was headquartered in Tirana, and Gjirokastër was one of six districts of the Bektashi Order in Albania, with its center at the tekke of Baba Rexheb.

[75] According to the 2011 census, which has been widely disputed due to irregularities in the procedure and its data affected by boycott,[102][103][104][105] the percentages of the local population per religious group are: Islam 42,3%, Bektashis 5,3%, Eastern Orthodox 14,6%, Roman Catholics 2,8%, while a 35,2 had not declared any religion or is non-religious.

[109] The novel Chronicle in Stone by Albanian writer Ismail Kadare tells the history of this city during the Italian and Greek occupation in World War I and II.