Caméria

A Caméria (; , Tsamouriá) "According to the Ottoman administrative system of the 1880s, Albanians claimed Toskalık or Toskland as encompassing the sancaks of Ergiri, Preveze, Berat and Yanya in the province of Yanya and the sancaks of Görice, Manastir, and Elbasan in the province of Manastir. Toskalık also divided into three parts, Toskalık, Laplık and Çamlık... Chamland (Çamlık) encompassed Margalic, Aydonat, and Filat." é uma região histórica ao longo da costa do Mar Jônico no sudoeste da Albânia e noroeste da Grécia, tradicionalmente associada ao subgrupo étnico albanês dos Chams.Elsie, Robert and Bejtullah D. Destani (2012). The Cham Albanians of Greece: A Documentary History. IB Tauris. . p. XXIX. "Chameria is a mountainous region of the southwestern Balkan Peninsula that now straddles the Greek-Albanian border. Most of Chameria is in the Greek Province of Epirus, corresponding largely to the prefectures of Thesprotia and Preveza, but it also includes the southernmost part of Albania, the area around Konispol. It is approximately 10,000 square kilometres in size and has a current, mostly Greek-speaking population of about 150,000. As an historical region, Chameria, also spelled Chamuria, Chamouria or Tsiamouria, is sometimes confused with Epirus which is in fact a much larger area that includes more inland territory in northwestern Greece, for example, the town of Janina/loannina, and also much of southern Albania. Geographically speaking, Chameria begins to the north at the rivers Pavlle and Shalës in the southern part of Albania. It stretches southwards along the Ionian coastline in Greece down to Preveza and the Gulf of Arta, which in the nineteenth century formed the border between Albania and Greece. It does not include the island of Corfu or the region of Janina to the east. The core or central region of Chameria, known in Greek as Thesprotia, could be said to be the basins of the Kalamas and Acheron Rivers. It was the Kalamas River, known in ancient times as the 'Thyamis, that gave Chameria its name." para. 5-6. "During the beginning of the 20th Century, the northwestern part of the Greek region of Epirus was mostly populated by an Albanian-speaking population, known under the ethnonyme "Chams" [Çamë, Çam (singular)in Albanian, Τσ(ι)άμηδες, Τσ(ι)άμης in Greek]. The Chams are a distinct ethno-cultural group which consisted of two integral religious groups: Orthodox Christians and Sunni Muslims. This group lived in a geographically wide area, expanding to the north of what is today the Preveza prefecture, the western part of which is known as Fanari [Frar in Albanian], covering the western part of what is today the prefecture of Thesprotia, and including a relatively small part of the region which today constitutes Albanian territory. These Albanian speaking areas were known under the name Chamouria [Çamëri in Albanian, Τσ(ι)αμουριά or Τσ(ι)άμικο in Greek]." Por um breve período (1909–1912), três cazas (Filat, Aydonat e Margiliç) foram combinadas pelos otomanos em um distrito administrativo chamado Sanjaco de Çamlik. "Die kazas Filat, Aydonat, Margiliç und die Stadt Parga bildeten seit 1909 einen eigenen sancak Çamlak." Durante o período entreguerras, o topônimo era de uso comumHammond, Nicholas (1967). Epirus: the Geography, the Ancient Remains, the History and Topography of Epirus and Adjacent Areas. Clarendon Press. . p.27. "The present distribution of the Albanian-speaking villages bears little relation to the frontier which was drawn between Greece and Albania after the First World War. In Map 2 I have shown most of the Greek speaking villages in Albanian Epirus and some of the Albanian-speaking villages in Greek Epirus. The map is based on observations made by Clarke and myself during our travels between 1922 and 1939."; p.27. "This wave extended further down the coast into the low-lying area of the Kalamas, the Tsamouria."; p. 28. "Tsamouria is a word which..... Clarke and I were both familiar with it, and it was in common use."; p.50. "Loutsa lies on a saddle of the ridge, which forms the watershed between the Acheron plain and the streams running south-west into the sea, and it is the most southerly of the villages of Tsamouria, the Albanian speaking area of which Margariti and Paramythia are centres."; p.76. "The canton of Margariti. This canton forms the heart of the Tsamouria, the region of Albanian-speaking villages." e o nome oficial da área acima do rio Aqueronte em todos os documentos do estado grego.Baltsiotis. The Muslim Chams of Northwestern Greece. 2011. footnote 2. "In certain sources Chamouria includes the Greek-speaking area to the east of the city of Filiati and does not include the Albanian speaking area of Fanari, named alternatively "Prevezaniko". The official name of the area north of the Acheron river is Chamouria in all Greek state documents for the whole Interwar period." O termo é usado hoje principalmente por albanesesKretsi, Georgia.The Secret Past of the Greek-Albanian Borderlands. Cham Muslim Albanians: Perspectives on a Conflict over Historical Accountability and Current Rights in Ethnologica Balkanica, Vol. 6, p. 173: "Even more accentuated in the immediate post-socialist era, the regional denomination "Chameria" is primarily in use by Albanians with obvious irredentist undertones which refer to an "ethnic Albanian territory" which today remains inside Greek territory..." e está obsoleto em grego,The Greek encyclopedia "Papyrus-Larousse" (Πάπυρος-Λαρούς), c.1965 defines "Tsamouria" (article "Τσαμουριά") as "The older name ... of the modern area of Thesprotia" and directs to article "Thesprotia" (Θεσπρωτία). sobrevivendo em algumas canções folclóricas antigas. A maior parte do que é chamado de Chameria é dividida entre partes das unidades regionais gregas de Thesprotia, Preveza e Ioannina (algumas aldeias no lado ocidental); e o município de Konispol, no extremo sul da Albânia. Além dos usos geográficos e etnográficos, na Albânia contemporânea, o topônimo também adquiriu conotações irredentistas.

Nome e definição

Nome Na Idade Média, esta área era conhecida como Vagenécia.

Chameria era usado principalmente como um termo para a região da moderna Tesprácia, durante o domínio otomano.Balkan Studies By Hetaireia Makedonikōn Spoudōn. Hidryma Meletōn Cheresonēsou tou Haimou. Published by Institute for Balkan Studies, Society for Macedonian Studies., 1976NGL Hammond, Epirus: The Geography, the Ancient Remains, the History and Topography of Epirus and Adjacent Areas, Published by Clarendon P., 1967, p. 31 Sua etimologia é incerta. Possivelmente deriva do antigo nome grego do rio Tiâmis, chamado Cham (Çam) em albanês, seja através do eslavo não atestado *čamь ou *čama, traduzindo o antigo eslavo *tjama, ou uma continuação direta dele.Orel Vladimir, Albanian etymological dictionary, Brill, 1998, pp 49, 50.

Nos relatos de viagens europeus, o termo aparece pela primeira vez no início do século XIX. O termo não foi usado na administração territorial otomana antes do século XX.

Geografia e limites esquerda|miniaturadaimagem|300x300px|Mapa de Thesprotia ou Chamouri, Souli e Parga, por F. Pouqueville (1826) Nos tempos modernos, a região de Chameria foi reduzida ao território dialetológico dos Chams, estendendo-se entre a foz do rio Aqueronte no sul, a área de Butrint no norte e o Pindo no leste.Miranda Vickers, The Albanians: A Modern History, I.B.Tauris, 1999, , p. 113 Após a demarcação permanente da fronteira greco-albanesa, apenas dois pequenos municípios foram deixados no sul da Albânia (Markat e Konispol), enquanto o restante fazia parte da periferia do Épiro da Grécia.