Scutari

Scutari is a toponym used for several places in southeastern Europe and western Asia. The most prominent is Shkodër, a city in northwestern Albania near Lake Skadar. Known in Italian and English as Scutari, Shkodër was a major cultural center through antiquity and the Ottoman era, with Rozafa Castle overlooking the Buna and Drin rivers. The name appears in older Western texts referring to the city or its region.

Scutari also referred to Üsküdar, a district on the Asian side of Istanbul, Turkey. Situated along the Bosphorus, Üsküdar has long been rendered as Scutari in Western maps and travel writings. The area contains historic mosques, waterfronts and palaces and formed part of the Ottoman urban orbit around the capital.

During the Crimean War, the Scutari Hospital in the Üsküdar district treated British wounded. Under the leadership of Florence Nightingale in 1854–55, it became famous as a focal point in the development of modern nursing and public health.

Historically the term also designated Ottoman administrative units, such as the Scutari Eyalet or Sanjak of Scutari, which included parts of the western Balkans under Ottoman rule. In modern usage, the geographic names Shkodër and Üsküdar are preferred, while Scutari remains common in historical or literary contexts.