George Kastrioti Skanderbeg or Gjergj Kastrioti Skënderbeu (6 May 1405 – 17 January 1468), widely known as Skanderbeg (from , meaning "Lord Alexander", or "Leader Alexander"), was a 15th-century Albanian

Albanians

Albanians are a nation and ethnic group native to Albania and neighbouring countries. They speak the Albanian language. More than half of all Albanians live in Albania and Kosovo...

 lord. He was appointed as the governor of the Sanjak of Dibra by the Ottomans

Ottoman Empire

The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...

 in 1440. In 1444, he initiated and organised the League of Lezhë

League of Lezhë

The League of Lezhë was an alliance of Albanian Principalities forged in Lezhë on the 2nd of March 1444. It was initiated and organised by Skanderbeg with the aim of uniting the Albanian principalities that had been founded in the 12th - 14th centuries, to fight the Ottoman Armies...

 and defended the region of Albania against the Ottoman Empire for more than two decades.