Zadrima in the context of "Drin river"

Vau i Dejës (Albanian pronunciation: [ˌvau i ˈdɛjəs]; 'Deja's Ford') is a town and a municipality in Shkodër County, northwestern Albania. It was formed at the 2015 local government reform by the merger of the former municipalities Bushat, Hajmel, Shllak, Temal, Vau i Dejës, and Vig-Mnelë, that became municipal units. The seat of the municipality is the town Vau i Dejës. The total population is 30,438 (2011 census), in a total area of 499.35 km. The population of the former municipality at the 2011 census was 8,117.

Vau i Dejës (or Vau Dejës or Vau-Dejës) also refers to the city center for the municipality, which is sometimes referred to as Laç or Laç-Vau i Dejës. Located in the northern region of Zadrima, Vau i Dejës is intersected by the Drin and Gjadër rivers. It is also strategically about 41 kilometres from the Adriatic Sea. Settlements in the area can be dated back to the 15th century, while the main city of Vau i Dejës was developed to house workers during the construction of the Vau i Dejës hydroelectric dam from 1971- 73. After the completion of the dam, families displaced from the floodwaters began to inhabit the city. Today Vau i Dejës is composed of 8 villages and a city center. The population in 2008 was 12,345. The municipality covers a total of 31 km and is composed of 1 city center and 8 villages. The villages of Vau i Dejës are Mjedë, Spathar, Shelqet, Kacë, Narac, Dush, Gomsiqe and Karmë. It is the seat of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Sapë.

The Principality of Dukagjini (Albanian: Principata e Dukagjinit) refers to the domains (zotërimet) of the Albanian Dukagjini family in northern Albania and western part of the modern-day territory of Kosovo in the 14th century and 15th century. At their maximum extent, the domains of the Dukagjini extended from Upper Zadrima in the northwest to the Plain of Dukagjini in western Kosovo. The political center of the Dukagjini family was Lezhë until 1393 when it was surrendered to Venice in order to not fall under the Ottomans. The Ottoman sanjak of Dukagjin was named after the rule of the family in the areas that formed it.

The Dukagjini family appears for the first time in historical record in 1281, when their progenitor Gjin Tanushi took the title of dux. They may have been descendants of the earlier Progoni family which roughly claimed the same territory as they.The Dukagjini formed their independent domains when they rebelled against the Balšić noble family. This event must have happened by 1387, because that year the brothers Pal and Lekë Dukagjini signed a trade agreement with the Republic of Ragusa and allowed free passage to the republic's merchants through their territories. It was later ruled by Pal's descendants, Tanush Dukagjini, and Pal Dukagjini II. In June 1393, the two Dukagjini brothers ceded it to Venice, which it kept until 1478 - despite later attempts by the family to retake the city. The difficult to access mountainous hinterland in the east remained under the control of the Dukagjini. In 1398, Little Tanush (son of Pal I), surrendered to the Ottomans, but in 1402, after their defeat at Ankara and the capture of Sultan Bayezid I, he freed himself from them.