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Revision as of 18:00, 10 March 2014 by Alexikoua (talk | contribs) (this part has a 'citation needed' tag from 2010, in case you find a correspodent source, feel free to add it again)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff) Village in Vlorë County, Albania| Qeparo | |
|---|---|
| Village | |
 Qeparo village and the bay on the Ionian Sea | |
| Country |  Albania |
| County | Vlorë County |
| District | Vlorë District |
| Municipality | Himarë |
| Elevation | 450 m (1,480 ft) |
| Time zone | UTC+1 (CET) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC+2 (CEST) |
Qeparo (Template:Lang-el, Kiparo) is a seaside village on the Albanian Riviera in Himarë municipality, District of Vlorë, Albania. It is divided in two parts - the old and new villages.
Name
According to 19th century topographer William Martin Leake, the original name of the village was Kiepero or Kiparos, which derives from the Greek word kipos, meaning garden.
History
In antiquity, the area of Qeparo, like the rest of the Himara region, was inhabited by the Greek tribe of the Chaonians.
During the period of the Balkan Wars, the inhabitants of Greek-speaking villages in the region, such as Qeparo, fought against Albanian speaking-villages, who fought on the side of the Ottoman Empire. The village has an Orthodox Church dedicated to Saint Demetrius, dated 1760, one of the nine churches in Albania dedicated to that saint.
Geography
Qeparo is situated on the western slope of Mount Gjivlash, at about 450 metres (1,480 ft) above sea level. In ancient times, Qeparo was situated in the hill of Kasteli. Later on, its inhabitants settled a little further down, in the Gjivlash Slope, southeast of the hill of Kasteli, to be closer to their fields and to escape the cold of the winter. From 1957 onwards, Qeparo was split into the Old Village (Template:Lang-sq, Template:Lang-el), and the New Village (Template:Lang-sq, Template:Lang-el).
To the east, Qeparo is bounded by the village of Borsh, to the northeast by Çorraj, to the north with Kudhës, to the northwest by Piluri, to the west with the town of Himara and to the south and southwest by the Ionian sea. The Porto Palermo Castle, built by Ali Pasha to guard against the Himariotes is part of the territory of Qeparo.
The village is composed of the following neighbourhoods or brotherhoods (Template:Lang-sq): Ballëguras, Bragjint' e Poshçërë, Bragjint' e Sipërmë, Dhimëgjonas, Gjikëbitaj, Mërtokaj, Ndregjin, Peçolat, Pogdan and Rushat. Every brotherhood had its own patron saint.
Qeparo has cultivated olives for centuries, as mentioned in early 19th century in the work of François Pouqueville, Napoleon Bonaparte's general consul at the court of Ali Pasha in Ioannina.: testimony to this, are some centennial olive trees still existing in the village.
Language
The village is inhabited by both ethnic Albanians and Greeks. Today the inhabitants of Qeparo are bilingual in Greek and Albanian, although in the day-to-day language, mainly Albanian is used The Albanian local dialects, are part of southern Tosk, and more precisely, of the Labërisht sub-group. Labërisht itself is composed of non-unical language groups.
Tourism
Qeparo is one of the favorite tourist destinations in Albania. Two hotels and a few guesthouses serve the tourists' enjoyment of the small beaches.
Notable people
- George Tenet's ancestors
- Janko Pali, Merited Teacher of Albania, writer, teacher, translator, and ethnographer
- Persefoni Kokëdhima, World War II People's Hero of Albania (see also Bule Naipi)
- Koço Kokëdhima notable businessman and publisher in Albania
- Andon Qesari, actor and director
See also
References
- "Location of Qeparo". Retrieved 20 June 2010.
- Gregorič, Nataša. "Contested Spaces and Negotiated Identities in Dhermi/Drimades of Himare/Himara area, Southern Albania" (PDF). University of Nova Gorica. p. 46. Retrieved 15 August 2010.
- Pettifer James, Poulton Hugh. The Southern Balkans. Minority Rights Group, 1994. ISBN 978-1-897693-75-9, p. 51: "During this period, some Albanian-speaking villages in Epirus fought for the Turks against the Greek-speaking villages (eg Kudhes against Qeparo)"
- Elsie, Robert (December 2000). A dictionary of Albanian religion, mythology, and folk culture. New York University Press. p. 65. ISBN 0-8147-2214-8.
- Bashki e Himares. p. 5, 12.
- Ndarurinze, Renate (2008). Albanien entdecken: Auf den Spuren Skanderbegs (in German). Berlin: Trescher Verlag. p. 243. ISBN 3-89794-125-2.
- Ulqini, K. "Phénomènes de l'ancienne organisation sociale à Himara et à Suli". Ethnographie albanaise (in French). XV (1987). Tirana: 201.
- "I see that this place is full of olive groves"... in: Pouqueville, F.C.H.L., Voyage en Morée, à Constantinople, en Albanie et dans plusieurs autres parties de l'Empire Ottoman pendant les années 1798, 1799, 1800 et 1801. Paris Chez Gabon 1805.
- Reed Fred A.. Salonica Terminus: travels into the Balkan nightmare. Talonbooks, 1996 ISBN 978-0-88922-368-4, p. 102: "a mixed Greek-Albanian village called Qeparo nestled in a narrow valley."
- Hammond Nicholas Geoffrey Lemprière. Epirus: the geography, the ancient remains, the history and topography of Epirus and adjacent areas. Clarendon P., 1967, p. 122: ""to the Greek-speaking village of Qeparo."
- Gregorič, Nataša. "Contested Spaces and Negotiated Identities in Dhermi/Drimades of Himare/Himara area, Southern Albania" (PDF). University of Nova Gorica. p. 63. Retrieved 15 August 2010.
In their day-to-day conversations locals of Dhermi, Palase, and Himara mainly use a Greek dialect and partly a southern Albanian (Tosk) dialect, while the locals of Ilias, Vuno, Qeparo, Kudhes, and Pilur mainly speak the Albanian tosk dialect
- Gjinari, Jorgji (1989). Dialektet e gjuhës shqipe (in Albanian). Academy of Sciences of Albania, Institute of Linguistics. p. 57.
- Totoni, M (1971). Dialektologjia shqiptare I, Vëzhgime rreth të folmeve të Kurveleshit (Template:Lang-en) (in Albanian). p. 85.
- Sotiri, Natasha (2001). E folmja dhe toponimia e Qeparoit (in Albanian). Academy of Sciences of Albania. p. 13. ISBN 99927-759-0-4. OL 3756700M.
Kështu, banorët e Qeparoit janë njëgjuhësh, shqipfolës, megjithëse janë fare pranë me qytetin e Himarës, banorët e së cilës janë dygjuhësh (shqip dhe greqishtfolës). Në krahun tjetër të Himarës vjen fshati Vuno, i cili edhe ai është shqipfolës; pas Vunoit vjen Dhërmiu, që është shqip dhe greqishtfolës. (in English: Thus the inhabitants of Qeparo are monolingual, Albanian speaking, although we are very near to the town of Himara, whose inhabitants are bilingual (Albanian and Greek speaking). On the other side of Himara is the village of Vuno, which also is Albanian speaking, after Vuno comes Dhermi, which is Albanian and Greek speaking)
Further reading
- Widmann, Carlo Aurelio; Paladini, Filippo Maria (ed.): Dispacci da Corfù - 1794 - 1797. Venice, La Malcontenta, 1997.
- İnalcık, Halil: Hicrî 835 Tarihli: Sûret-i Defter-i Sancak-i Arvanid . Metni bir Giriş ile Neşreden Halil İnalcik. Metin dışında H. 991 tarihli Avlonya Kanunnâmesi ile 1 harita, 29 tıpkı-basım vardır. (Türk Tarih Kurumu Yayınlarından XIV. Seri – No. 1. Tahrir defterleri.) Türk Tarih Kurumu Basımevi – Ankara. 1954, p. 27 - 28.
- Region of Himara: Official municipality website.
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