Himarë

Himarë (from Greek Χειμάρρα), is a town and a region in southern Albania, opposite the north end of the Greek island of Corfu. It is about 50 km (31 miles) long by 10 km (6 miles) wide.

Apart from the town of Himara, the district includes eight other villages: Dhermi (Δέρμι)), (the second largest settleme of the region), Palase (Πάλασα), Vuno(Βουνό, meaning mountain in Greek), Pilur(Πιλούρι), Qeparo(Κεπαρό), Shen Vasil(Άγιος Βασίλης), Kudhes(Κούδας), and Ilias(Ηλίας).

Geography

The Himara region is characterized by high mountains falling steeply to the sea. There are long white sandy beaches and the few hills close to the sea are generally terraced and planted with olive and citrus trees. At the north, the region begins with the rugged mountains, which the Roman poet Horace characterized as beautiful and breathtaking. Then, from the Logaras National Park, the Acroceraunian (thunder) mountains" (Malet e Vetetimave) extend along the northeast with their constantly misty complexion. The highway that winds down from the Logaras canyon towards the sea is one of the steepest and most dangerous mountain roads in Europe, as shown by the numerous commemorative markers raised where motorists have fallen into the canyon. The views are breathtaking on the way down to Palase, the first village encountered after passing through the "katsikodromos" (Greek for 'goat road'). A short distance south lies Dhermi village, the biggest in the region after the town of Himarë. The English landscape painter Edward Lear visited Palasa and Dhermi while traveling through the region in 1844 and described them as more magnificent in their location than any other village he had seen in Himara, closely resembling closely the Doric speaking settlements of Lakonia and Messenia in southern Peloponnese. On the southern end, Himara's mountainous terrain runs along the sea coast towards the village of Vuno before reaching the town of Himarë, and further south ending in the village of Qeparo, the third largest hamlet in the region.

History

Ancient history

In antiquity the region was inhabited by Chaonian tribe, one of many Epirote tribes in the area. The Chaonians were one of the three principal Greek-speaking tribes of Epirus, along with the Thesprotians and the Molossians , . Yet Herodotus the "father of History" states clearly that all Epirote tribes non-urbanised and somewhat boorish when compared to their southern compatriots eg. the Athenians. Roman contemporaries mention the Chaones as very warlike. The town of Himara is believed to "have been founded by the Chaones as a trading outpost on the Chaonian shore." "Little else is known of the Chaonians", except that the men wore "white kilts". Their music was also referred to as "sheep bleating", probably referring to the polyphonic musical traditions of the region which survive to this day on all of the area called Epirus.

Himara was used by people from the backlands as a harbour to expand further in the front island (Kerkyra-Corfu). As this mountainous people left their highlands and started building a seaside life, the settlement began to grow further up to being a city with a naval based life and many naturally fortified surrounding villages. Fishing, shepherding and trading were the usual trade and business activities for the poeple of this region in ancient times. It is believed that these business activities created most of the main employment for most of the city men as far as the lands of Himara are to harsh and high to consider agriculture. For sure the city quickly evolved in a trading centre, mainly trading with southern Greek merchants who mostly controlled the trade in the Ionian and Aegean seas.

The southern Chaones were situated mainly in between the Gramos mountains, the mountainous seaside of the Ionian sea and river Vjosa. The artifacts found in the modern day village of Kanina on a hill overlooking on the Adriatic ocean and Otranto channel (that separates Ionian and Adriatic waters) from the nearby city of Avlona (modern Vlore), from the ancient Corinthian colony of Kerkira (modern day Corfu) off Epirus.

Following the breakup of Alexander the Great's empire, Himara became part of Epirus under the rule of King Pyrrhus of Epirus- a famous Epirote of that time known for his Pyrrhic victories against the emerging power of Rome and the Illyrian wild tribes. When the region was conquered by the Roman Republic in the 2nd century BC, its settlements were badly damaged and some were destroyed by the Roman General Aemilius Paulus. The remains of one of these settlements, a site close to the shore below the druga called Via Egnatia, can still be seen today (although with difficulty, as its remains are now mostly submerged).

Local tradition identifies the area around the Via Egnatia as the site of Julius Caesar's landing in Epirus in pursuit of Pompey the Great during the Roman civil war. He is said to have assembled his army near Himara before marching on to take the town of Oricon (modern archaeological park ofOricum) on the other side of the mountains, near ancient Avlona (modern Vlorë). On the journey Caesar's ship ran into a storm, during which he is famously said to have told the ship's pilot, "Go on, my friend, and fear nothing. You carry Caesar and his fortune on your boat."

Middle Ages and early modern times

Himarë and the rest of northern Epirus passed into the hands of the Byzantine Empire following the fall of Rome, but like the rest of the region it became the frequent target of various attackers including the Goths, Avars, Slavs, Bulgars, Saracens and Normans[6]. The use of the name "Chaonia" in reference to the region apparently died out during the 12th century, the last time it is recorded (in a Byzantine tax collection document)[6].

The Ottoman Empire overran the rest of northern Epirus from the late 14th century, but Himarë was the only region that did not submit to Ottoman Turkish rule. It became a symbol of resistance to the Turks but suffered an almost continuous state of warfare.

In 1481, one year after the Ottomans had landed in Otranto in southern Italy, the Himariotes rose against them under the leadership of the Byzantine Greek aristocrat Ioannis Kastriotis, the son of Skanderbeg (Georgios Kastriotis) who attempted to regain the lands lost after the death of his father. This rebellion forced the Turks to abandon their campaign in Italy. The attempt failed, but the Himariotes rose again in 1488, and between 1494-1509, destabilising Turkish control but failing to liberate their territory.

The Ottoman Sultan Suleyman the Magnificent personally led a large army in 1537 in a particularly bloody confrontation in Himarë. The oral lyrical traditions of the region commemorate the war with many folkloric songs. One such song tells the story of the massacre of the rrepira. The Sultan apparently sent word to Palasa inhabitants hiding in the mountains that he wanted to make peace and withdraw from their land and invited them to come down to the rrepire for talks. All those who took the Sultan at his word had all four limbs amputated and the living torsos thrown down the rrepire into the depths of the ravine. Another song tells the story of one Himariot Jannisary officer in the Ottoman service named Xhavara Beylik, who after re-discovering his true identity, cut through to the royal tent and came close to killing the sultan himself, after which point the decimated Ottoman army retreated. Suleyman instead recognized the de facto independence of Himarë as an ethnic Greek territory, setting forth a number of laws (or venomet) to regulate the relationship with the Empire. These included such rights as the exemption of the Himariotes from taxes, the right to sail under their own flag into any Ottoman port, and the right to carry guns while travelling in Ottoman territory.

Despite this agreement, the Ottomans subsequently made several unsuccessful attempts to conquer Himara, first in 1571, then again in 1595, 1690 and 1713. In total three different Ottoman sultans personally led military campaigns against Himara, each failing in turn. During these years, the people of Himara established close links to the Italian city states, especially Naples and the powerful Republic of Venice, and later with Austro-Hungary, which controlled Corfu and the other Ionian Islands. During this time and thereafter, many Himariotes emigrated to the outside world and brought valuable skills back home with them. In 1848 even a small village like Dhermi could boast two doctors graduated in Athens and Vienna. However, emigration has also been a source of tragedies and disillusions. Petros Markos a writer born in Dhermi, describes this wound: It's said that the big stones below are the men that had returned back and had died here. While the men that had left and died abroad are transformed in clouds. They come, shed tears and leave. And the big stones, near the shore, collect their tears as the rain is collected.

From 1799 to present times

In 1799, Himarë came under the rule of Ali Pasha Tepelenë, a Muslim enemy of the Himariotes who had risen from being an Albanian guerrilla (Komit) leader to the position of ruler of all of Epirus (both southern and northern) where ethnic Albanians lived.

The story goes that Ali ordered his soldiers to set the forest above the village of Dhermi on fire. Many Himariotes from the parts that opposed Ali Pasha migrated to Italy, settling partially to the already established ethnic Albnanian villages of Piana degli Albanesi and Santa Cristina Gela.

Ali Pasha's rule over Himarë lasted about 20 years until it was abruptly terminated by his murder at the hands of the Turks in his castle of Ioannina. Himarë subsequently reverted to its status quo ante of an enclave surrounded by Ottoman territory. To emphasize the region's special status, the terms that the Himariotes had reached with Sultan Suleiman were inscribed on bronze tablets at the request of their leaders, who wanted to record the agreement on a durable medium so as to stress its importance.

These tablets were inscribed in Turkish and are still preserved to this day in the Topkapi palace museum in Constantinople (modern Istanbul,Turkey). Himara was occupied by Italy during the First World War, when the Italians used Austro-Hungarian war prisoners to build a road running through Himarë, which greatly reduced the region's isolation.

After the fall of communism in 1992, the people of Himarë emigrated in very large numbers, especially to Greece. Many villages were reduced to ghost towns inhabited mostly by old people. Younger people did return temporarily, though, especially during the months of summer. In recent years, the population has expanded somewhat due to a growth in the region's tourist industry. [2] The region has benefitted from the resumption of contacts with the large Himariote diaspora around the world, with communities existing as far afield as the USA, Australia and France as well as closer to home in Greece.[5],[7]

Language

Himarë is a society where a great number of people have traveled abroad and besides their mother tongue Greek also speak English, French, German and some Albanian.

Culture

Himariotes are a culturally homogenous people, regardless of the linguistic diversity of some of their villages. Their mother tongue is Greek, spoken in the region since earliest antiquity. Some of the inhabitants also speak some English (mostly people who have traveled outside the country).[2]

Religion

Modern Himariotes as their forefathers, practice the Orthodox faith.

Famous Modern Himariotes

• George Tenet, Albanian-American former Director of CIA, whose ancestors hail from the village of Qeparo.

He held that position from July 1997 to July 2004, making him the second-longest serving director in the agency's history.

• Pyrros Dimas (Πύρρος Δήμας)

Himara is the home town of the famous ethnic Greek weightlifter. He is the only weight lifting athlete in the whole world who has achieved to win four olympic medals. The three medals are gold and the last one-from the Athens Olympics, 2004 - is a bronze medal. He is considered to be a national hero of Greece today that helped Greek weightlifting reach world records.

• Sotiris Ninis (Σωτήρης Νίνης) immigrated to Greece as a young and very promising football player with Panathinaikos FC of Athens.