Mati is also regarded as one of the
tribes of Albania, however not in the sense of a
fis, with blood ties and a common history and single male ancestor. Nonetheless, the region has a strong collective identity and formed its own military unit in war (
bajrak). The basin of the Mat river consists of rolling hills surrounded by mountains that have long protected the inhabitants. Because it was so isolated, the German historian
Georg Stadtmüller (1901–85) postulated that the Albanian people could be traced to this specific region. Mat has been inhabited since at least the
Bronze Age, but no urban areas had developed there until the modest town of
Burrel in the mid-20th century. In the 19th century, the Mat region was inhabited by four different clans headed by one or more families, each a
primus inter pares in the region: the Bozhiqi in the upper valley, the Çelaj to the south, the Olomani or Alamani, and the Zogolli in the north. In the 20th century Mat was the home of
Ahmet bey Zogolli (1895–1961), also known as Ahmet Zogu, who ruled Albania 1924–1939, mostly as King Zog. He had become head of the Zogolli when his father,
Xhemal Pasha Zogolli (1860–1911) died. == Notable locals ==