Greece - Zagorochoria – North Pindos National Park

Zagori (“the place behind the mountains”, from the Slavic za “behind” and gora “mountain”) constitutes a distinctive geographic and cultural unit of great architectural and environmental interest. Its own inhabitants divide it, based on the natural boundaries traced by the local rivers, into four subunits: Vlachozagoro, Lakka Zagoriou (the villages in the Zagoritikos river valley), the Villages of the Ano Vikos Valley and the Villages of the Voidomatis Valley. These four subunits form a single territorial unit, Zagori. Its first settlements, its oldest core, lie in the west part of present-day Zagori (Papigo and Pedina). The two other parts developed later. Most of the modern villages were established during the Ottoman period, while most of the villages of East Zagori were founded in the 15th century. All the villages have been through periods of prosperity and decline, so their numbers have not been constant. Zagori was never inhabited by occupying forces, but always remained a self-governing community (“To Koinon ton Zagorision”, The Common of the Zagorisians). During the Ottoman period, Zagori established a special relationship with the Ottoman administration: it was self-governed, autonomous and enjoyed tax exemptions, in return for sending a number of youths (called voiniks) to Constantinople to work as grooms of the Sublime Porte. As a result of this complex historical experience there were no tsiflikia (tsiftlik: a big landed property created under a specific law provision of the Ottoman Rule) in Zagori. Another outcome of the historical evolution in the area was that due to the restricted financial opportunities available to the inhabitants, handicraft production (pre-industrial mass production of goods for trade) was not developed in large scale, unlike in other parts of Epirus. The local economy was based on livestock farming, forestry, farming and revenues coming from emigration.