EPIRUS OUR ANCESTRAL LAND
Epirus/Lower Albania, as 19th Century travelers saw it</p>
Ali Pash Tepelenas rise brought Albania to the forefront of attention throughout Europe and raised the question with many as to how this area would fit into the great power game. It was an opportune time for the west European philhellenes to further refocus their attention on the European Turkey and many traveled to the area and included Albania in their itinerary.</p>
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One can easily see that these travelers admired Greece and marveled with ancient Greek history. During that age of revolution many dreamed of finding the Greeks ready to claim their history and continue their great past. But the reality on the ground wasnt a case for optimism. Baron John Cam Hobhouse Broughton gave a reality check about the Greeks:“A great proportion of those comprehended under the term Romaioi, or Christians of the Greek Church, and amongst whom would be found the chief supporters of an insurrection, are certainly of a mixed origin, sprung from Scythian colonists. Such arc the Albanians, the Maniotes, the Macedonian, Uulgarian, and Wallachian Greeks. And yet the whole nation, including, I presume, these Christians, has been laid down only at two millions and a half, of all ages and sexes, and consequently there is no part of Continental Greece to which a body of Turks might not be instantly brought, sufficient to quell any revolt: the Mahometans of Albania arc themselves equal to the task, and on a rising of the Giauours, the Infidels, would leave all private dissension, to accomplish such a work. The Greeks taken collectively, cannot, in fact, be so properly called an individual people, as a religious sect dissenting from the established church of the Ottoman Empire.Any general revolution of the Greeks, independent of foreign aid, is quite impracticable; for notwithstanding the great mass of the people, as is the case in all insurrections, has feeling and spirit enough to make the attempt, yet most of the higher classes, and all the clergy, except as far as the expressions of discontent may operate, are apparently willing to acquiesce in their present condition.”1These philhellenes gave increased attention to the restless Pasha of Iannina and crisscrossed Epirus to learn about its people. Their findings are presented in books they published upon their return to England and France. It should be pointed out that these reports are incomplete and characterized by prejudice and inaccuracies. Many of them saw the reality on the basis of religion, that is Christian or Muslim. Then the informative details that they give are fallible. What can one make out of Cobhouses statement that Arta, based on a estimate by a Greek that not a fourth part (of inhabitants) are Mahomrdans. Or the statement by William Eton that Paramathian Albanese…speak Greek and know no other language.2*My intention is to utilize the provided information to indicate how these travelers saw the Albanians in Epirus during the early 19th century, and thus formulate an opinion as to the ethnic character of Epirus, realistic data for which subject has been lacking and what is worse erroneous data and perceptions have been put use to the determent of Albanians. It is not an easy task and any formulation will be incomplete.It should be made clear that these travelers were not attempting to indulge in ethnic controversies, as one would expect in a discussion of the subject today. They just wanted to see where these people fit in their scheme of things; the world was still very religious and for many, religion was important and thats how they identified people; for others a new era was dawning and language that people spoke was given primacy. Still, whatever they said, was determined by the reality that Epirus was part Ottoman Empire towards which many intellectuals felt confrontational. The unfortunate thing was that European visitors could not be more specific and precise about the information they gave about the people because they had to rely on what their guards, village priests or other non-authoritative sources told them. Devenport alludes to the problem of collecting information about Albanians. He states:” The Albanians speak neither Greek, nor Turkish, nor Italian ; they have a peculiar idiom, which is interpreted to us by the Corfiotes, who farm the continental domains of the Venetian government. It would be difficult to keep up the least intercourse with them by means of printing; the knowledge of reading and writing being still more rare among them than it is in the islands, where we correspond with the villages only through the medium of the priests.”3 Some of the authors as I indicated, define Albanians and Greeks on the basis of language, while others identify on the basis of Christian and Mohammedan or Turkish. I will not focus on comments that do not distinguish ethnicity from religion and concentrate on sources that attempt to make that distinction. In spite of all the shortcomings, observations provided by the west European travelers remain interesting and helpful in formulating general opinions as to the ethnic status of Epirus at the beginning of 19th century. It is interesting to note that the authors had no doubt that Epirus was part of Albania. For example one of the earlier travelers, Baron John Hobhouse Broughton introduces readers to Albania as follows: “The same shade which which involved this part of Europe in ancient times, seems never to have dispelled during the middle and latter ages. All that we have, till very lately, known of modern Albania is, that it is a province of European Turkey, bounded to the north and northeast by a chain of mountains called Black Mountains, dividing it partly from the country formerly called Macedonia, and partly from Servia and Dalamtia; having to the west the Gulf of Venice, to the east Macedonia, Thessaly, and Greece proper; and being terminated to the south by the Gulf of Leponto, or according to some, the gulf of Arta. This extent of the country has been divided by the Venetians, I believe, into Upper and Lower Albania, the first being supposed to correspond nearly with the ancient Illyricum, and the last with Epirus. Some writers, indeed, when speaking of Albania, have alluded only to the former, which they would bound to the south by an imaginary line separating it from the latter countrythere does obtain amongst the inhabitants a notion of distinction between the northern and southern parts; but I have never seen a map in which the line of separation is distinctly marked and perhaps the whole region, even including Acanania, may be correctly denominated Albania.”4Sir Henry Holland attempted to define southern Albania on the basis of language and other characters of the population:“Albania, as a country, cannot be defined by any strict line of boundary; but it is rather determined in its outline by the language and other characters of the population. The country around Ioannina, and even Acarnania, though inhabited chiefly by Greeks, are often spoken of under this name; and at present, when annexed to the power of an Albanian ruler, not entirely without reason. Correctly speaking, however, according to the distribution of population, Albania occupies a tract of coast, beginning by a narrow line in the Suli Mountains, to the nor
Per me shume artikuj te ngjashem vizitoni: http://www.albpelasgian.com/?p=179
Epirus/Lower Albania, as 19th Century travelers saw it</p>
Ali Pash Tepelenas rise brought Albania to the forefront of attention throughout Europe and raised the question with many as to how this area would fit into the great power game. It was an opportune time for the west European philhellenes to further refocus their attention on the European Turkey and many traveled to the area and included Albania in their itinerary.</p>
One can easily see that these travelers admired Greece and marveled with ancient Greek history. During that age of revolution many dreamed of finding the Greeks ready to claim their history and continue their great past. But the reality on the ground wasnt a case for optimism. Baron John Cam Hobhouse Broughton gave a reality check about the Greeks:“A great proportion of those comprehended under the term Romaioi, or Christians of the Greek Church, and amongst whom would be found the chief supporters of an insurrection, are certainly of a mixed origin, sprung from Scythian colonists. Such arc the Albanians, the Maniotes, the Macedonian, Uulgarian, and Wallachian Greeks. And yet the whole nation, including, I presume, these Christians, has been laid down only at two millions and a half, of all ages and sexes, and consequently there is no part of Continental Greece to which a body of Turks might not be instantly brought, sufficient to quell any revolt: the Mahometans of Albania arc themselves equal to the task, and on a rising of the Giauours, the Infidels, would leave all private dissension, to accomplish such a work. The Greeks taken collectively, cannot, in fact, be so properly called an individual people, as a religious sect dissenting from the established church of the Ottoman Empire.Any general revolution of the Greeks, independent of foreign aid, is quite impracticable; for notwithstanding the great mass of the people, as is the case in all insurrections, has feeling and spirit enough to make the attempt, yet most of the higher classes, and all the clergy, except as far as the expressions of discontent may operate, are apparently willing to acquiesce in their present condition.”1These philhellenes gave increased attention to the restless Pasha of Iannina and crisscrossed Epirus to learn about its people. Their findings are presented in books they published upon their return to England and France. It should be pointed out that these reports are incomplete and characterized by prejudice and inaccuracies. Many of them saw the reality on the basis of religion, that is Christian or Muslim. Then the informative details that they give are fallible. What can one make out of Cobhouses statement that Arta, based on a estimate by a Greek that not a fourth part (of inhabitants) are Mahomrdans. Or the statement by William Eton that Paramathian Albanese…speak Greek and know no other language.2*My intention is to utilize the provided information to indicate how these travelers saw the Albanians in Epirus during the early 19th century, and thus formulate an opinion as to the ethnic character of Epirus, realistic data for which subject has been lacking and what is worse erroneous data and perceptions have been put use to the determent of Albanians. It is not an easy task and any formulation will be incomplete.It should be made clear that these travelers were not attempting to indulge in ethnic controversies, as one would expect in a discussion of the subject today. They just wanted to see where these people fit in their scheme of things; the world was still very religious and for many, religion was important and thats how they identified people; for others a new era was dawning and language that people spoke was given primacy. Still, whatever they said, was determined by the reality that Epirus was part Ottoman Empire towards which many intellectuals felt confrontational. The unfortunate thing was that European visitors could not be more specific and precise about the information they gave about the people because they had to rely on what their guards, village priests or other non-authoritative sources told them. Devenport alludes to the problem of collecting information about Albanians. He states:” The Albanians speak neither Greek, nor Turkish, nor Italian ; they have a peculiar idiom, which is interpreted to us by the Corfiotes, who farm the continental domains of the Venetian government. It would be difficult to keep up the least intercourse with them by means of printing; the knowledge of reading and writing being still more rare among them than it is in the islands, where we correspond with the villages only through the medium of the priests.”3 Some of the authors as I indicated, define Albanians and Greeks on the basis of language, while others identify on the basis of Christian and Mohammedan or Turkish. I will not focus on comments that do not distinguish ethnicity from religion and concentrate on sources that attempt to make that distinction. In spite of all the shortcomings, observations provided by the west European travelers remain interesting and helpful in formulating general opinions as to the ethnic status of Epirus at the beginning of 19th century. It is interesting to note that the authors had no doubt that Epirus was part of Albania. For example one of the earlier travelers, Baron John Hobhouse Broughton introduces readers to Albania as follows: “The same shade which which involved this part of Europe in ancient times, seems never to have dispelled during the middle and latter ages. All that we have, till very lately, known of modern Albania is, that it is a province of European Turkey, bounded to the north and northeast by a chain of mountains called Black Mountains, dividing it partly from the country formerly called Macedonia, and partly from Servia and Dalamtia; having to the west the Gulf of Venice, to the east Macedonia, Thessaly, and Greece proper; and being terminated to the south by the Gulf of Leponto, or according to some, the gulf of Arta. This extent of the country has been divided by the Venetians, I believe, into Upper and Lower Albania, the first being supposed to correspond nearly with the ancient Illyricum, and the last with Epirus. Some writers, indeed, when speaking of Albania, have alluded only to the former, which they would bound to the south by an imaginary line separating it from the latter countrythere does obtain amongst the inhabitants a notion of distinction between the northern and southern parts; but I have never seen a map in which the line of separation is distinctly marked and perhaps the whole region, even including Acanania, may be correctly denominated Albania.”4Sir Henry Holland attempted to define southern Albania on the basis of language and other characters of the population:“Albania, as a country, cannot be defined by any strict line of boundary; but it is rather determined in its outline by the language and other characters of the population. The country around Ioannina, and even Acarnania, though inhabited chiefly by Greeks, are often spoken of under this name; and at present, when annexed to the power of an Albanian ruler, not entirely without reason. Correctly speaking, however, according to the distribution of population, Albania occupies a tract of coast, beginning by a narrow line in the Suli Mountains, to the nor
Per me shume artikuj te ngjashem vizitoni: http://www.albpelasgian.com/?p=179