Tower houses in the Balkans in the context of Culă

Kurvelesh is a region in southern Albania, within the Southern Mountain Range. In the region, which is divided into the communes of Brataj, Horë-Vranisht, Kurvelesh and Picar, fifteen villages are located. It is considered to be the heart of the larger Labëria region. The Kurvelesh region is inhabited by Lab Albanians. Traditionally neighbourhoods of local villages in the region had houses built as fortresses lacking windows on the ground floor while the blood feud used to be a common feature of the area. The people of Kurvelesh practised endogamy by intermarrying within the villages of the region.

The Maniots (/ˈmæniəts/) or Maniates (Greek: Μανιάτες) is the traditional name for the native Greek inhabitants of the Mani Peninsula in the southern Peloponnese region of Greece. They have historically been known as Mainotes, and the peninsula as Maina.

In the early modern period, Maniots gained a reputation as fierce and proudly independent warriors, who engaged in piracy and blood feuds. They lived mainly in fortified villages and "tower houses" built as defenses against "Frankish" (see Frankokratia) and Ottoman invaders.

Kampos (Greek: Κάμπος) is a village and a community in the Mani Peninsula, in Messenia in southern Greece. Kampos had 367 inhabitants in 2021. It is on the provincial Kalamata-Areopoli road, 22 km. away from Kalamata.

In the village there is the Byzantine Church of Saints Theodores which is known for its frescoes. Also, there is the small Church of St. John with 13th-century frescoes, and the tower house of the Koumoundouros family, in which Alexandros Koumoundouros (a 19th-century politician and prime minister of Greece) was born. Near this tower-house there is the arched Mycenaean tomb of Machaon, son of Asclepius. Above the village is the castle of Zarnata.

Bujan is a village and a former municipality in the Kukës County, northern Albania. At the 2015 local government reform it became a subdivision of the municipality Tropojë. The population at the 2023 census was 1,738.

It is part of the Highlands of Gjakova, an ethnographic region of Albanian and Kosovo, and is known for hosting the 1943 Bujan Conference.

In traditional Albanian culture, Gjakmarrja (English: "blood-taking", i.e. "blood feud") or hakmarrja ("revenge") is the social obligation to kill an offender or a member of their family in order to salvage one's honor. This practice is generally seen as in line with the social code known as the Canon of Lekë Dukagjini (Kanuni i Lekë Dukagjinit) or simply the Kanun (consisting of 12 books and 1,262 articles). The code was originally a "non-religious code that was used by Muslims and Christians alike."

Protecting one's honor is an essential component of Albanian culture because it is the core of social respectability. Honor is held in very high regard because it carries over generations. Legacies and history are carried in the family names of Albanians and must be held in high priority, even at the cost of one's life. Therefore, when a personal attack of a formidable magnitude is unleashed on a member of any family, an equal punishment is to be expected by the laws of the Kanun. Some of the actions that initiate gjakmarrja include "killing a guest while he was under the protection of the owner of the house, violation of private house, failure to pay a debt, kidnapping or the seduction or rape of a woman." This often extends many generations if the debt is not paid. Those who choose not to pay with the lives of their family members live in shame and seclusion for the rest of their lives, imprisoned in their homes.