Zagori in history
The history of Zagori
begins in prehistoric times
and shows continuous
human presence
throughout the centuries,
up to the present day.
Prehistoric period
According to data based on research by prehistoric archaeologists on the Voidomatis River basin, Zagori was inhabited since at least the last ice age, approximately 15,000 to 17,000 years ago. The research concluded that hunters temporarily visited the Rockshelters of Kleidi and Boila, on the banks of Voidomatis river in West Zagori, during the warm season.
The archaeologist Dr. Eleni Kotzampopoulou, presents a brief summary of this chapter of Zagori’s history.
The next evidence of human presence dates back to the Bronze Age and was discovered between the villages of Vitsa and Monodendri. The settlement excavated there was also inhabited during the summer.
Classical and Roman periods
Zagori has many ruins of ancient fortifications or settlements in all three of its sections.
Such as, near the villages of Makrino, Skamneli, Dikorfo, Asprangeli and Agios Menas. For example, near the villages of Makrino, Skamneli, Dikofo, Asprogelio, and Agios Minas. Specifically, in Western Zagori, extensive ruins of a Roman road still survive, passing through the ruins of an ancient city Roinikos or Ruinikos or Reunikos, according to 19th-century scholars. The city and its satellite settlements were connected to the fortress of Kastraki on the hill of the same name, near the village of Agios Menas, which probably served as an acropolis, a refuge-fortress.
Unfortunately, no serious excavations have yet been carried out on any of these sites, and the only information we have at present comes from surface finds or surveys by various contemporary archaeologists.
Byzantine period
The first written references to Zagori date back to the 14th century. According to local scholar Ioannis Papaioannou, there was an old manuscript, lost in the 19th century, which mentions the village of Papingo as the border between the Eastern and Western Roman Empires and the corresponding divisions of the Christian Church. In addition, the same manuscript mentioned two churches in the village that were founded in the 7th century. Furthermore, objects from the Roman era were discovered in Papingo and neighbouring Aristi. In addition, objects from the Roman period have been discovered in Papingo and neighboring Aristi.
Post-Byzantine period
During Ottoman rule, the Zagorians, together with the people of Ioannina, signed a treaty with the Ottoman army that arrived in the region, securing a number of important privileges, several years before the fall of Constantinople. The Zagorians retained a significant degree of autonomy, with their own government, their own military guard, and their own legal system, in exchange for high taxation and an agreed commitment to service in the Ottoman cavalry.
It was during this period, and particularly in the 18th and 19th centuries, that Zagori reached its golden age.
The adult men of Zagori emigrated and organized themselves into communities throughout Eastern and Central Europe, the Middle East, and Egypt, where they mainly maintained various prosperous commercial enterprises.
A large number of teachers from Zagori also dispersed throughout these communities of expatriates.
The commercial and organizational models of the Zagori expatriates are said to have been inspired by the model of the Jewish community of Ioannina.
Zagori became part of modern Greece when Epirus and Ioannina were liberated from the Ottomans in 1912.
Modern Greek period
The region suffered heavy population losses and much of its architectural heritage was destroyed during World War II, as most of the eastern villages were burned down in retaliation for the help the inhabitants offered to the resistance against the Wehrmacht.
After the Greek Civil War (1946-1949), Zagori experienced a significant decline in population, as many of its inhabitants began to seek a better life away from the hardships of this mountainous region.
Zagori, and especially its central and western parts, after specific government measures, such as the declaration of the Vikos-Aoos National Park, the introduction of legislation to protect its cultural heritage, and pilot programs for the development of sustainable tourism in some of its villages, began to develop as a tourist destination in the 1980s.
Since September 2023, Zagori has been listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site as a Cultural Landscape.