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autonomous, he was disliked by the Ottoman authorities in Constantinople (see Jacques 1995:
249-250).
In the second part of the 18 th century, with demise of the Ottoman Empire, the autonomous
pashalic disintegrated into four vilayets of Shkodra, Kosova, Monastir and Ioannina. Vilayets
were governed by separate administrations that were further subdivided into sandjaks
(military districts) and these to kazas (city with its sorounding villages). Instead of the feudal
military leadership the Ottoman Porte recognized the feudal latifundia (large estates) which
had developed rapidly in the period of pashalic (see Polo and Puto 1981: 104). Along with the
political and the administrative divisions, movements of people continued. These movements
were mainly based on trading relations, seasonal work and indentured labour.
Some of the elderly villagers of Dhërmi/Drimades can recall their grandfathers’ narratives
about Ali Pasha’s resettlement of disobedient villagers from Dhërmi/Drimades to Salaora 76 in
the Gulf of Arta in Greece in 1810. Ali ordered Salaora to develop as the main port in the
Gulf of Arta. In that period people of Salaora were suffering from Spanish flu 77 and many of
them died. In spite of his cunning attempts to doom people of Dhërmi/Drimades and let them
die of Spanish flue, some of them managed to survive. After the fall of Ali Pasha’s
government, next generations of people of Dhërmi/Drimades moved to the mountains of
Pogoni in Epirus where they founded a village with the same name, Drimades.
Systematic resettlement ordered by Ali Pasha is also mentioned in the works of local authors
like Kristo Dede and Foto Bixhili, and in the tourist guide of Himarë/Himara area, available
on the website (www.himara.eu) of the Municipality of Himarë/Himara and Himara
Community. Referring to Dede, Foto Bixhili describes this event with the following words:
In the period of large displacement and emigrations the systematic movement of the
inhabitants of Nivitsa and St. Vasil in Himarë region took place. Ali Pasha gave a
command to resettle them to Trikala and Thesaly. In spring 1810 Ali Pasha ordered to
resettle the people of Dhermi who had to move to the marshland of Salahora, situated
close to Parga. According to Dede around 2500 people were moved to Salahora. Many
76 Hammond (1967) writes that in the times of Ali Pasha Salaora used to be an island.
77 Spanish flu or Influenza pandemic was caused by an unusually severe and deadly Influenza A virus strain
between 1918 and 1920. By far the most destructive pandemic in history, it killed between 50 and 100 million
people worldwide in just 18 months, dwarfing the bloodshed due to World War I (1914-1918). Many of its
victims were healthy young adults, in contrast to most influenza outbreaks which predominantly affect juvenile,
elderly, or otherwise weakened patients (http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs211/en/).
136