Arvanites

Arvanites (; or ; ) are a population group in Greece of Albanian origin. For many centuries the Arvanites regarded themselves and were regarded by Greeks as a distinct ethnic community. Their important role in the Greek War of Independence and the common Christian Orthodox religion they shared with the rest of the Greek-speaking population, led to them being regarded as an integral part of the Greek nation in the 19th century and they were exposed to increasing assimilation by the modern Greek state.

During the 20th century, Arvanites in Greece began to dissociate themselves much more strongly from the Albanians, stressing instead their national self-identification as Greeks. The Greek government pursued policies that actively discouraged the use of Arvanitika, and today, almost all Arvanites self-identify as Greeks and do not consider themselves Albanian. Nowadays, they are bilingual, traditionally speaking Arvanitika – an Albanian variety – along with Greek. Arvanitika is currently in a state of attrition due to a language shift towards Greek, the large-scale internal migration to the cities, and the subsequent intermingling of the Arvanite community with the wider Greek population during the 20th century onwards.