[b] The subject population of Ali's domains was quite heterogeneous, including Albanians, Aromanians, Bulgarians, Greeks, Jews, Roma, Serbs, and Turks.

[19] Like other semi-independent regional leaders that emerged in that time, such as Osman Pazvantoğlu, he took advantage of a weak Ottoman government to expand his territory until he gained de facto control over much of Albania and mainland Greece, either directly or through his sons.

[21] As Pasha, Ali was supported by an exclusively Albanian military establishment, which included many people who had undertaken brigandage activities earlier in their life.

[18] Despite the conclusion of the Russo-Turkish War and the expansion of his territories, the Pashalik's defeat against the Souliotes resulted in Ali's obsession with capturing the Confederacy.

A peace agreement was made, with prisoners and hostages being exchanged and Parasouli villages captured in the previous two years being returned to the Souliotes.

[33] In 1797, France conquered Venice and gained from it control over the Ionian Islands and several coastal possessions in Epirus (Parga, Preveza, Vonitsa, Butrinto, and Igoumenitsa), making them neighbours to the Pashalik.

In order to gain further access to the Ionian Sea, Ali formed an alliance with Napoleon I of France that same year, who had established Francois Pouqueville as his general consul in Yanina.

[40] Following four years of conflict, in 1803 Ali Pasha raised Albanian forces from Epirus and Southern Albania for a final assault on the Souli Confederacy.

[37] Some Souliotes fled to Parga, but were forced to cross the sea into the Septinsular Republic in March 1804 after Ali threatened to attack the city.

[44] Anxious to expand its influence to the Greek mainland, Russia signed alliances with Himariot and Cham Albanian beys on 27 June 1804, who were rivals to Ali Pasha.

Additionally, Russia mobilised Souliot refugees in the Septinsular Republic for an offensive against the Pashalik, but this was cut short when Ali Pasha learned of the Russian plans and an Ottoman naval squadron made an unexpected appearance off Corfu.

[17] He evidently had mixed feelings about the despot, noting the splendour of Ali's court and some Orthodox cultural revival that he had encouraged in Yanina, which Byron described as being "superior in wealth, refinement and learning" to any other Albanian town.

In a letter to his mother, however, Byron deplored Ali's cruelty: "His Highness is a remorseless tyrant, guilty of the most horrible cruelties, very brave, so good a general that they call him the Mahometan Buonaparte ... but as barbarous as he is successful, roasting rebels, etc.."[54] In 1809, Ali Pasha invaded the Pashalik of Berat, ruled by fellow Albanian Pashalik, Ibrahim Pasha.

[55][46][56] As Sephir bey had displayed qualities which might prove formidable hereafter, Ali contrived to have him poisoned by a physician; and, in his usual fashion, he hanged the agent of the crime, that no witness might remain of it.

[58][better source needed] Also as a result of persecution against local Sarakatsani and Aromanians several families that belonged to those communities were forced to migrate to regions outside Ali's rule.

This decision was highly unpopular among the predominantly Greek and pro-Venetian population of Parga, who refused to become Muslim subjects and decided to abandon their homes.

Moeroever, after years of subversive activity stoked by nearby Venetian, Russian and French presence, as well as a growing bourgeoisie and literate class, Epirus was fertile ground for the Greek national uprising.

[69] The reformist Sultan Mahmud II, who sought to restore the authority of the Sublime Porte, took this opportunity to move against Ali by ordering his deposition.

His spies learnt that the presence of the Souliotes had caused a rift in the imperial force, with the local beys and agas threatening to desert.

[71] Initially the coalition was successful and managed to control most of the region, but when the Muslim Albanian troops of Ali Pasha were informed of the beginning of the Greek revolts in the Morea they abandoned it.

[72] Meanwhile Ali knew that Greeks in his service, his secretaries Manthos Iconomou and Alexis Noutsos, the physician Ioannis Kolettis were agents of the Filiki Eteria as well as several klephts and armatoli who had been enlisted but the organization had refrained from recruiting Albanians.

At its peak, the Pashalik controlled the regions of Elbasan, Ohrid, Görice, western Salonica, Avlona, Delvina, Ioannina, Trikala, Karli-Eli, Inebahti, Eğriboz, and Morea.

[74] The territories of the Pashalik of Yanina have been characterized by a long period of international trade, mainly with Italy, and in particular with Ancona, Venice, Livorno, and Padua.

Silk braid, blankets, scarves, gold and silver thread, and embroidered slippers and garments were among the main commercial products exported to Italy and sold throughout the Balkans.

[76] Ali by making Ioannina stronger for his own advancement had provided the Greek merchant class a platform from which to expand their perspectives and activities.

The British gained control of the Ionian Islands in 1809; after then they became the major commercial partner of the region lumber trade was continued with the English.

Ioannina exported fruits like lemons, oranges, and hazelnuts produced in Arta, but also olive oil, corn, and Albanian tobacco, the latter being particularly in demand for snuff.

[78] Ioannina also operated as the hub for the distribution of many imports from different European regions, which were brought to the capital of the Pashalik on horseback from eastern Adriatic ports such as Preveza, Vlorë, and Durrës.

[86] Hoxha stated that in the regions of southern Albania and Chameria the Albanians were the dominant population, and there were also Aromanians, a small number of Greeks (mainly in the Dropull valley and villages of Himara) and few Turks and Jews.

[88] Through Greek educational efforts from the mid-19th century in Greece, especially in the areas which composed the Pashalik of Yanina until 1822 the Albanian population, which was for a large part Orthodox Christian, experienced a substantial Hellenization.