Chameria (Albanian: Çamëria, Greek: Τσαμουριά Tsamouriá) is a term used mostly by Albanians for parts of the coastal region of Epirus in southern Albania and northwestern Greece associated with the Cham Albanians. Most of what is called Chameria is divided between the Greek prefectures of Thesprotia and Preveza, the southern extremity of Albania's Sarandë District and some villages in eastern Ioannina Prefecture. The term is rejected in Greece due to its perceived connotation of Albanian irredentism, and because the Greek toponyms Epirus and Thesprotia have been established for the region since antiquity.

Name and definition

Etymology

The region is named after Cham Albanians, by adding the suffix -eria, which in Albanian language denotes "land of the Chams". Chameria was mostly used as a term for the region of modern Thesprotia, during the Ottoman rule^[1][2] and in modern times when speaking about the Cham Albanians. It is of uncertain etymology and it derives from the ancient Greek name of the Thyamis river, which in Albanian language is called Cham (Çam).

Boundaries

The region of Chameria, is an alternative name for the ancient and modern Thesprotia,^[3] as well as medieval Vagenetia.^[4] The region of Thesprotia, or Chameria, or Vagenetia lies north of Ambracian Gulf and west of the Ioannina mountains.^[5] But the northern borders have been changed during history.

In antiquity, the northern borders of Thesprotia was Thyamis river,^[5] but in medieval ages, this presumed borders were pushed to the north. Vagenetia, which was the name of the region, during the Middle Ages, included today's Sarandë District and Delvinë District of Southern Albania, bordering with Llogara mountains and Muzina mountains in the north and northeast,^[4] the same borders that Chameria had in early modern history.^[2]

But in modern times, it was reduced into the dialectological territory of Chams, including only two small municipalities in Southern Albania (Markat and Konispol), the prefectures of Thesprotia and Preveza in northwestern Greece and a few villages in Ioannina Prefecture.^[6] The modern region of Thesprotia, which was used again, after the annexation of the region by Greece, differs slightly from the modern name Chameria, because includes only the prefectures of Thesprotia and Preveza, without Southern Albania.^{[7][8][9][10]} Konispol, Markat and other parts of southern Albania are known in Greece as Northern Epirus, a term used after the division of the wider region of Epirus between the two countries.

Geography and climate

The region is mostly mountainous, with valleys and hills concetrated in the southern part, while farmlands are in northern part. Most of them with gridded roads and ditches are within the valleys in the central, southern and the western part. There are five rivers in the region, namely Pavllo in the north, Acheron, Louros Arachthos and Thyamis. Four of them are in Greece, with only the first in Albania.

Its climate is mainly Mediterranean and normal temperatures are mainly ranges from 28 to 30 C and as high as 35 C. It receives hot summers and cool winters. Sunny days are slightly shorter than the southern portion and is also rainier. Cold winters that also receives snow are in the higher elevations to the northeast.

History

Antiquity

In antiquity the region was called Thesprotia, named after the Greek tribe of the Thesprotians, which were the inhabitants. According to Strabo, the Thesprotians (along with the Chaonians and the Molossians) were the most famous among the fourteen tribes of Epirus, who once ruled over the whole region. The Chaonians ruled Epirus first while the Thesprotians and Molossians ruled afterwards. Plutarch^[11] tells us that the Thesprotians, the Chaonians and the Molossians were the three principal clusters of Greek tribes that had emerged in Epirus, and all three were the most powerful among all other tribes. An inscription^[12][13] of the mid 4th century BC indicates more data on the nature of the Thesprotian state organisation that was similar as the other Epirotic tribes.^[14]

Medieval Ages

In Medieval Ages the region, known as Vagenetia, was under the jurisdiction of the Roman and later Byzantine Empire. In 1205, Michael Komnenos Doukas, a cousin of the Byzantine emperors Isaac II Angelos and Alexios III Angelos founded the Despotate of Epiros, which ruled the region until the 15th century. Vagenetia as the whole of Epirus soon became the new home of many Greek refugees from Constantinople, Thessaly, and the Peloponnese, and Michael was described as a second Noah, rescuing men from the Latin flood. During this period, are documented the first migration of Albanians and Aromanians into the region.^[15] The Despotate of Epiros had a number of conflicts mainly with Bulgarian Empire, Nicea and Anjou dynasties. The Empire soon fell into a civil war between John V Palaiologos and John VI Kantakouzenos, and Epirus was conquered by the Serbian King Stefan Uroš IV Dušan in 1348. During this time, two Albanian states were formed in the region. In the summer of 1358, Nikephoros II Orsini, the last despot of Epirus of the Orsini dynasty, was defeated in battle against Albanian chieftains. Following the approval of the Serbian Tsar, these chieftains established two new states in the region, the Despotate of Arta and Principality of Gjirokastër.^[4] Internal dissention eased the Ottoman conquest, which proceeded with the capture of Ioannina in 1430, Arta in 1449, Angelokastron in 1460, and finally Vonitsa in 1479, giving an end to the Despotate of Epirus and the newly established Albanian states, putting Vagenetia, under Ottoman rule.

Ottoman rule

During the Ottoman rule, the region was under the Vilayet of Ioannina, and later under the Pashalik of Yanina. During this time, the region was known as Chameria (also spelled Tsamouria, Tzamouria) and became a district in the Vilayet of Yanina.^[1][16]

In the 18th century, as the power of the Ottomans declined, the region came under the semi-independent state of Ali Pasha Tepelena, an Albanian brigand who became the provincial governor of Ioannina in 1788. Ali Pasha started campaigns to subjugate the confederation of the Souli settlements in this region. His forces met fierce resistance by the Souliotes warriors. After numerous failed attempts to defeat the Souliotes, his troops succeeded in conquering the area in 1803.^[17]

After the fall of the Pashalik, the region remained under the control of the Ottoman Empire, while Greece and Albania declared that their goal was to include in their states the whole region of Epirus, including Thesprotia or Chameria.^[18] Finally, following the Balkan Wars, Epirus was divided in 1913, in the London Peace Conference, and the region came under the control of Kingdom of Greece, with only a small portion being integrated into the newly formed State of Albania.^[18]

Modern history

When the region came under Greek control, its population included speakers of Greek, Albanian, Aromanian and Romani. In the aftermath of the 1923 population exchange between Greece and Turkey, the region was settled by Greek refugees from Asia Minor.^[19] In 1936 the Ioannina prefecture where the area was included, divided into two parts and the new prefecture took the name Thesprotia which was its ancient name. Cham Albanians were given religious, but no ethnic minority status and there was little evidence of direct state persecution at this time^[20].

Muslim Chams were counted as a religious minority, and some of them were transferred to Turkey, during the 1923 population exchange,^[21] while their property was alienated by the Greek government.^[22] Orthodox Cham Albanians were counted as Greeks, and their language and Albanian heritage were under pressure of assimilation.^[23]

During the Axis occupation of Greece (1941-1944), large parts of the Muslim Cham community collaborated with the Italian and German forces committing a number of war crimes^[24]. At the end of World War II, nearly all Muslim Chams in Greece were expelled to Albania, because of that activity^[25]. However, another part of Muslim Chams provided military support to the resistance forces of the Greek People's Liberation Army, while the rest were civilians uninvolved in the war. Led by Zervas' former officer, Col. Zotos, a loose paramilitary grouping of former guerrillas and local men went on a rampage. In the worst massacre, in the town of Filiates on 13 March, some sixty to seventy Chams were killed.^[26]

Demographics

Since the Medieval Ages, the population of the region of Chameria was of mixed and complex ethnicity, with a blurring of group identities such as Albanian and Greek, along with many other ethnic groups. Information on the ethnic composition of the region over several centuries is almost entirely absent, wirh the strong likelihood that they did not fit into standard "national" patterns, as the 19th century revolutionary nationalist movements wanted.

Historical

In Greek censuses, only Muslims of the region were counted as Albanians. According to the 1913 Greek census, 25,000 Muslims were living at the time in the Chameria region^[23] who had Albanian as their mother tongue, from a total population of about 60,000, while in 1923 there were 20,319 Muslim Chams. In the Greek census of 1928, there were 17,008 Muslims who had it as their mother tongue.

The only census that counted Orthodox population of the region of Albanian ethnicity, was made by fascist Italy in 1941, but Greek authors claim that the way it was accomplished was exaggerated. This census found that in the region lived 54,000 Albanians, of whom 26,000 Orthodox and 28,000 Muslim and 20,000 Greeks.^[22] After the war, according to Greek censuses where ethno-linguistic groups were counted, Muslim Chams were 113 in 1947 and 127 in 1951.

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Current

The exact number of Albanians still residing in the Chameria region is uncertain, since the Greek government does not include ethnic and linguistic categories in any official census. According to one source, Orthodox Chams today are approximately 40,000.^[6] Albanian is still spoken by a minority of inhabitants in Igoumenitsa.^[27] According to Ethnologue, Albanian language is spoken as a mother-tongue by about 10,000 Albanians in Epirus and the village of Lechovo, in Florina^[28] According to a survey conducted in 1994 the language is dying fast, because it receives no kind of encouragement.^[29]

Major settlements