Cham Albanians

Common card · No. 305963

Cham Albanians or Chams (also spelled Çam Albanians or Çams; Albanian: Çamët; Greek: Τσάμηδες, romanized: Tsámides) are a subgroup of Albanians who originate from Chameria, a region along the Ionian coast of northwestern Greece and southernmost Albania. The Chams have their own particular cultural identity within Albanian subgroups. A number of Chams contributed to the Albanian national identity and played an important role in starting the renaissance of the Albanian culture in the 19th century. Chams speak their own dialect of the Albanian language—the Cham Albanian dialect—which is a Southern Tosk dialect and one of the two most conservative ones (the other being Arvanitika). During the late 1930s, Chams suffered from intimidation and persecution under the dictatorship of General Metaxas. Following the Italian occupation of Albania in 1939, Chams became a prominent propaganda tool for the Italians and irredentist Albanians. As a result, on the eve of the Greco-Italian War, Greek authorities...

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