Qeparo ( sq-definite, Qeparoi; el, Κηπαρό, ''Kiparo'') is a seaside village in the municipality of
Himara in
Vlorë County
Vlorë County (; sq, Qarku i Vlorës) is one of the 12 counties of the Republic of Albania with the capital in Vlorë. The county spans and has a total population of 187,675 people as of 2021. It borders the counties of Fier and Gjirokastër, ...
,
Albania
Albania ( ; sq, Shqipëri or ), or , also or . officially the Republic of Albania ( sq, Republika e Shqipërisë), is a country in Southeastern Europe. It is located on the Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea and shares ...
. It is part of the
Albanian Riviera
The Albanian Riviera ( sq, Riviera shqiptare, ), also popularly known as Bregu, is a coastline along the Northeastern Ionian Sea in the Mediterranean Sea encompassing the districts of Sarandë and Vlorë in Southwestern Albania. It forms an impo ...
and the village is divided in two parts – Upper or Old Qeparo on higher ground and Lower or New Qeparo on the coast.
Name
The first identified form of the name of the village is "Clapero" in the 1566 correspondence of the people of
Himara who were seeking refuge from the
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...
with the
Kingdom of Naples
The Kingdom of Naples ( la, Regnum Neapolitanum; it, Regno di Napoli; nap, Regno 'e Napule), also known as the Kingdom of Sicily, was a state that ruled the part of the Italian Peninsula south of the Papal States between 1282 and 1816. It was ...
. The name is thought to derive from the word
kllapë and the Greek suffix ''-erό'', which is commonly used in toponyms (e.g.
Vromero
Bregas ( sq-definite, Bregasi; Greek language, Greek: ''Βρωμερό'' or ''Βρεμερό'') is a village in Vlorë County, southwestern Albania. It is part of the municipality Finiq. It is located to the north of Sarandë, northwest of Metoq, S ...
). As "kllapë/klapa" has nearly the same meaning in the local Albanian and Greek dialects, the question arises as to whether the name is Greek or Albanian. The form ''Qeparo'' is a later innovation which was produced via vowel metathesis and the typical shift of /kl/ to /q/ in southern Albanian dialects. Oral and written historical accounts suggest that the original name of the village was ''Kiepero'' or ''Kiparos'', which derives from the
Greek
Greek may refer to:
Greece
Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe:
*Greeks, an ethnic group.
*Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family.
**Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
word ''kipos'', meaning garden. The connection with Greek ''kipos'' is a folk etymology.
History
Double axes of the
Mycenaean Greek
Mycenaean Greek is the most ancient attested form of the Greek language, on the Greek mainland and Crete in Mycenaean Greece (16th to 12th centuries BC), before the hypothesised Dorian invasion, often cited as the ''terminus ad quem'' for the ...
type that date from the late Bronze Age (1400-1100 BC) have been found in the location ''Shafka e Kudhësit'' between Qeparo and
Kudhës
Kudhës is a village on the Albanian Riviera, Vlorë County, Albania. It is part of the municipality Himarë
Himarë ( sq-definite, Himara; el, Χειμάρρα, ''Cheimarra'' or Χιμάρα, ''Chimara'') is a municipality and region in Vlor ...
in the 1977-78 site survey under the direction of archaeologist Frano Prendi. They belong to the IV-Buchholz/B1a-Deshayes
Aegean sea
The Aegean Sea ; tr, Ege Denizi (Greek language, Greek: Αιγαίο Πέλαγος: "Egéo Pélagos", Turkish language, Turkish: "Ege Denizi" or "Adalar Denizi") is an elongated embayment of the Mediterranean Sea between Europe and Asia. It ...
group of Bronze Age metalworking.
In 1501, villages in the Himara region were governed by their own elders, and the traditional meeting place of the region was in the locality of Spilea, near the village of Qeparo. Certain villages enjoyed more privileges than others, as they were provided with ''Kapedana'' - hereditary leaders with military roles, particularly regarding recruitment. The
Gjika family
The Ghica family ( ro, Ghica; sq, Gjika; el, Γκίκας, ''Gikas'') was a noble family active in Wallachia, Moldavia and in the Kingdom of Romania, between the 17th and 19th centuries. The Ghica family produced many voivodes of Wallachia and M ...
held this title in Qeparo, and a major by the name of Atanasio Gjika was mentioned in
Neapolitan
Neapolitan means of or pertaining to Naples, a city in Italy; or to:
Geography and history
* Province of Naples, a province in the Campania region of southern Italy that includes the city
* Duchy of Naples, in existence during the Early and Hig ...
documents relating to the king's recruitments in the region during the end of the 18th century. Apart from these Kapedana, the villages in the Himara region did not have unique leaders, but rather a council made up of the heads of the local ''
fis
FIS or fis may refer to:
Science and technology
* '' Fis'', an ''E. Coli'' gene
* Fis phenomenon, a phenomenon in linguistics
* F♯ (musical note)
* Flight information service, an air traffic control service
* Frame Information Structure, a Se ...
'' or brotherhoods known as primates in relevant documents.
In 1722, the villages of Himara, Palasa, Ilias, Vuno, Pilur and Qeparo refused to submit to the Pasha of Delvina. Eastern-rite missionary
Giuseppe Schirò
Giuseppe Schirò ( Arbërisht: Zef Skiroi; 10 August 1865 – 17 February 1927)Elsie, ''Albanian literature'',pp. 60–64/ref> was an Arbëresh neo-classical poet, linguist, publicist and folklorist from Sicily. His literary work marked the tran ...
from the
Arbëresh town of
Piana degli Albanesi in Sicily, visited the Himara region in 1722 due to connections based on the founders of Piana degli Albanesi being from the region of Himara. In his report, Qeparo and other villages were described as Albanian ("di natione Albanesi"), while Palasa, Himara and Dhermi as Greek.
The village has an
Orthodox Church
Orthodox Church may refer to:
* Eastern Orthodox Church
* Oriental Orthodox Churches
* Orthodox Presbyterian Church
* Orthodox Presbyterian Church of New Zealand
* State church of the Roman Empire
* True Orthodox church
See also
* Orthodox (di ...
dedicated to
Saint Demetrius
Saint Demetrius (or Demetrios) of Thessaloniki, Thessalonica ( el, Ἅγιος Δημήτριος τῆς Θεσσαλονίκης, (); bg, Димитър Солунски (); mk, Свети Димитрија Солунски (); ro, Sfântu ...
, dated 1760, one of the nine churches in Albania today dedicated to that saint.
The church was erected at a period when
pressure for conversion to Islam was strong. A project for the establishment of a Greek school in the village was initiated by the Greek national benefactors
Evangelos and
Konstantinos Zappas in 1860. In the 1898-1899 school season three Greek schools were operating in Qeparo: elementary, secondary and a girls' school with a total of 100 students.
During the period of the
Balkan Wars
The Balkan Wars refers to a series of two conflicts that took place in the Balkan States in 1912 and 1913. In the First Balkan War, the four Balkan States of Greece, Serbia, Montenegro and Bulgaria declared war upon the Ottoman Empire and defe ...
, the inhabitants of Greek-speaking villages in the region, such as Qeparo, fought against Albanian speaking-villages like
Kudhës
Kudhës is a village on the Albanian Riviera, Vlorë County, Albania. It is part of the municipality Himarë
Himarë ( sq-definite, Himara; el, Χειμάρρα, ''Cheimarra'' or Χιμάρα, ''Chimara'') is a municipality and region in Vlor ...
, who fought on the side of the
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...
.
The Albanian government built the main road along the coast in 1957 and it boosted economic and other opportunities in the area.
The water channel built near the road was a factor that made people over time settle near the sea, resulting in the village becoming split into parts, Old Qeparo and New Qeparo.
Coastal New Qeparo is the hub of both villages where government services are located and social activities take place.
In post communist Albania, some two thirds of the village population emigrated from Qeparo.
The remaining people were involved in developing the village by constructing new homes and focusing on raising the quality of life.
Later, the wider area became a tourist destination and New Qeparo has had to deal with problems related to uncontrolled urban sprawl and population growth.
Emigration mostly impacted Old Qeparo whose population has declined, with many old houses being uninhabited and in various states of disrepair.
Geography
Qeparo is situated on the western slope of Mount Gjivlash, at about 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 ( sq, Fshati i vjetër, el, Άνω or Παλαιό Κηπαρό), and the New Village ( sq, Fshati i ri, el, Κάτω or Νέο Κηπαρό).
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
Porto Palermo Castle ( Albanian: ''Kalaja e Porto Palermos'') is a castle near Himarë in southern Albania. It is situated in the bay of Porto Palermo, a few kilometers south of Himarë along the Albanian Riviera. Huffington Post ranked Porto ...
, probably built by the Venetian and later used 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 ( sq, vëllazëri): ''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 the early 19th century in the work of
François Pouqueville
François Charles Hugues Laurent Pouqueville (; 4 November 1770 – 20 December 1838) was a French diplomat, writer, explorer, physician and historian, member of the Institut de France.
First as the Turkish Sultan's hostage, then as Napoleon Bo ...
,
Napoleon Bonaparte
Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader who ...
's general
consul
Consul (abbrev. ''cos.''; Latin plural ''consules'') was the title of one of the two chief magistrates of the Roman Republic, and subsequently also an important title under the Roman Empire. The title was used in other European city-states throug ...
at the court of Ali Pasha in
Ioannina
Ioannina ( el, Ιωάννινα ' ), often called Yannena ( ' ) within Greece, is the capital and largest city of the Ioannina regional unit and of Epirus, an administrative region in north-western Greece. According to the 2011 census, the c ...
.: testimony to this, are some centennial olive trees still existing in the village.
Demographics
Qeparo was in the past inhabited by Greek speakers and according to Georgios Giakoumis is indicated by the village name.
[ During the interwar period, the inhabitants of Qeparo were Greek speaking. After 1957, the village developed into two parts, New Qeparo where the population became concentrated and Old Qeparo.]
Qeparo in the early 1990s was mainly inhabited by an Albanian speaking population, many being Orthodox Christians. The village of Qeparo is mixed and contains both an Orthodox Albanian
Albanian may refer to:
*Pertaining to Albania in Southeast Europe; in particular:
**Albanians, an ethnic group native to the Balkans
**Albanian language
**Albanian culture
**Demographics of Albania, includes other ethnic groups within the country ...
population inhabiting Qeparo Poshtme (lower neighbourhood) and Greeks
The Greeks or Hellenes (; el, Έλληνες, ''Éllines'' ) are an ethnic group and nation indigenous to the Eastern Mediterranean and the Black Sea regions, namely Greece, Cyprus, Albania, Italy, Turkey, Egypt, and, to a lesser extent, oth ...
living in Άνω Κηπαρό/Ano Kiparo (upper neighbourhood).[Kallivretakis, Leonidas (1995).]
Η ελληνική κοινότητα της Αλβανίας υπό το πρίσμα της ιστορικής γεωγραφίας και δημογραφίας [The Greek Community of Albania in terms of historical geography and demography
" In Nikolakopoulos, Ilias, Kouloubis Theodoros A. & Thanos M. Veremis (eds). ''Ο Ελληνισμός της Αλβανίας [The Greeks of Albania]''. University of Athens. p. 51. "Ε Έλληνες, ΑΧ Αλβανοί Ορθόδοξοι Χριστιανοί; p.53. "QEPARO POSTHME ΚΗΠΑΡΟ ΚΑΤΩ 854 ΑΧ; QEPARO SIPERME ΚΗΠΑΡΟ ΑΝΩ 461 E" Today the inhabitants of Qeparo mainly speak the Albanian Tosk dialect, with the exception of Old Qeparo, where Greek speech is dominant. The Albanian local dialects, are part of southern Tosk
Tosk ( sq-definite, toskërishtja) is the southern group of dialects of the Albanian language, spoken by the ethnographic group known as Tosks. The line of demarcation between Tosk and Gheg (the northern variety) is the Shkumbin River. Tosk is t ...
, and more precisely, of the Labërisht sub-group. Labërisht itself is composed of non-unical language groups, and shares many features with the Arbëresh language
Arbëresh (, also known as ''Arbërisht'', ''Arbreshi'', ''Arbërishtja'' or ''Tarbrisht'') is the variety of Albanian spoken by the Arbëreshë people of Italy. It is derived from the Albanian Tosk spoken in Albania, in Epirus and is also sp ...
which it is related to.[), year=1971, language=sq, page=85] In the early twenty first century, villagers are mainly concentrated in coastal New Qeparo, while the population of Old Qeparo has decreased to due to emigration with those remaining being some 80-100 elderly people.
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
* Georgios Stephanou Georgios Stephanou ( el, Γεώργιος Στεφάνου, link=no, 1824–1901) was a Greek gendarmerie officer and revolutionary. He was one of the leaders of the Greek revolt in Epirus in 1878.
Biography
Stephanou was born in 1824 in Qeparo, ...
, Greek Gendarmerie officer and revolutionary.
* Andon Qesari
Andon Qesari (27 June 1942 – 13 February 2021) was an Albanian actor and stage director. He made a handful of films as an actor, and was also known for his work in theater. The government of Albania
Albania is a unitary parliamentary const ...
, actor and director.
* Ava Max
Amanda Ava Koci (born Amanda Koçi; February 16, 1994), known professionally as Ava Max, is an American singer and songwriter. She signed with Atlantic Records in 2016, through which she released her breakthrough single "Sweet but Psycho" in ...
, Singer & songwriter. Father was from Qeparo.
* George Tenet
George John Tenet (born January 5, 1953) is an American intelligence official and academic who served as the Director of Central Intelligence (DCI) for the United States Central Intelligence Agency, as well as a Distinguished Professor in the P ...
former Head of the CIA. Father was from Qeparo.
See also
* Albanian Riviera
The Albanian Riviera ( sq, Riviera shqiptare, ), also popularly known as Bregu, is a coastline along the Northeastern Ionian Sea in the Mediterranean Sea encompassing the districts of Sarandë and Vlorë in Southwestern Albania. It forms an impo ...
* Dhërmi
Dhërmi ( sq-definite, Dhërmiu; el, Δρυμάδες, ''Drymádes'') is a village in Vlorë County, Albania. It is part of the municipality of Himarë. The village lies 42 kilometers south of the city of Vlorë and about the same distance north ...
* Himara
References
Bibliography
*
*
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 'Copy of the Fiscal Survey for the Province of Arvanid (Albania), Year 1431 A.D.'' 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
{{Albanian Riviera
Populated places in Himara
Populated places established in the 14th century
Albanian Ionian Sea Coast
Labëria
Greek communities in Albania
Villages in Vlorë County