It is mentioned as a settlement by Byzantine chroniclers during the struggle of George Kastriotes or Skanderbeg against the Ottomans in the 15th Century, but became a town much later.

The process of its development into a town must have been similar to that of Korçë. In 1614 a local governor, Suleiman Pasha Bargjini, from the village of Mullet, near Petrelë, founded a mosque, a hamam and an imaret, thereby promoting it into the status of a kasaba, township. The possession of a great mosque and a market were two basic features which legally distinguished an Ottoman village from a small town. Tirana must have profited from the decay of surrounding fortress cities, such as Petrelë and, in the 18th Century, Krujë both of which had lost their military importance.

nother favourable factor was the relevant prosperity of the agricultural hinterland. The role of agriculture was so dominant, that Tirana did not succeed in becoming a centre of trade and crafts before the 20th Century. This is reflected in the style of the city’s old houses and plan.

Evliya Çelebi visited Tirana in AH (1661/62) on his way from Elbasan to Lezhë and Shkodër. After having passed the Krrab Pass he reached the kasaba of ‘Tiran’ which was a voyvodelik in the Sandjak of Ohrid and seat of a kadi, a town situated in a wide plain with countless mosques, hans, hamams, shopping streets, gardens and orchards. In his accounts, Evliya Çelebi recalles that ‘all (of its) benevolent, pious buildings are wholly covered with tiles’. Although somehow typified and certainly not abounding in details, Evliya’s account certainly depicts that Tirana was some place of importance. His observation of the use of tiles indicates that they were rather provincial, since important, first quality Ottoman buildings were covered with lead leaves. The fact that, in spite Evliya’s remark, the town in the 17th and 18th Centuries was not a seat of a kadi, tells of its size and importance at that time.

An event of principal importance for the later development of Tirana was the construction of the Great Mosque of Molla Beg and his son Hadji Edhem, which began in the last decade of the 18th century. The transfer of the seat of the most powerful land-owning family in Central Albania, that of Toptan, from Krujë to Tirana, which also took place in the end of the 18th century, must have exerted a stimulating influence in this development. The türbe of Kaplan Pasha, the first Toptan to reside in Tirana, is still standing today.

19th century's Tirana made a good impression to Western travellers. Von Hahn was charmed by the gaily-painted mosques with their surrounding greenery of tall poplars and cypresses. The environs of the town were fertile and prosperous. In his time Tirana numbered 2000 houses, all but 100 of which were inhabited by Muslims. Ippen recorded roughly the same general features and mentioned that the town was expanding. In his time Tirana counted 15.000 inhabitants, of which 13.000 Muslims and 1.300 Orthodox. Justin Godart in 1920 also had a good impression of Tirana, although the number of inhabitants appears to have fallen due to the Balkan Wars and World War I. Godart cites a population of 13.000-14.000 inhabitants.

In religion Tirana was typical of central Albania, where Ghegs from the North and Tosks from the South make up the population. This is reflected in the fact that about half of the population adhered to the Rufay order of dervishes, very popular among the Ghegs, and the other half belonged to the Bektashi order, which is known to have been favoured by the Tosks. Late Ottoman Tirana, at the beginning of the century is thought to have contained 40 mosques, tekkes and mescids.