By the beginning of the sixteenth century, the Ottoman Empire had completed its conquest of Albania. Under the rule of the Ottoman Empire, Peshkopi (then "Debre-i Zir", which meant "Lower Debre" in Ottoman Turkish) was a small market town, overshadowed by the larger and more flamboyant Debar (, "Greater Dibër"), which today lies just over the Macedonian border. The population of Peshkopi was almost completely Muslim by 1583. In 1873 an Ottoman barracks was built in Peshkopi, housing up to 8,000 soldiers.