Ilia ( - Ileía) is
a prefecture in the western
Peloponnese
and in the western part of Greece
. The
prefecture is part of the
periphery of
West Greece. It covers the area of ancient
Elis.
Its capital is Pyrgos
.
Geography
The northernmost point of Ilia prefecture is 38° 06′N, the
westernmost is 22° 12′E, the southernmost is 37° 18′N,
and the easternmost is 21° 54′E. The length from north to
south is 100 km (60 miles), and from east-to-west is around
55 km (35 miles). Two tiny peninsulas are part of the
prefecture.
Ilia is
not completely congruent with ancient Elis:
Lampeia
belonged to ancient Arcadia
, and
Kalogria
is now part
of Achaea
.
The
longest river is the Alfeios
.
Other
rivers are the Erymanthos
, Pineios
and Neda
.
Alfeios,
Pineios and Neda flow into the Ionian Sea
in Ilia. Less than 1% of the prefecture is
open water, most of it found in artificial reservoirs and dams, in
the north and east. The
Pineios Dam
supplies water for Northern Ilia. The water is not safe for
drinking, because it contains some
contaminants.
A second, smaller reservoir in the river
Alfeios near Olympia
and Krestena
supplies water to Pyrgos.
The eastern part of the prefecture is forested, with mostly pine
trees in the south.
There are forest preserves in Foloi
and the
mountain ranges of Eastern Ilia. In the north is the
Strofylia forest which has pine trees.
Mountain
ranges include Movri
(around 400
m/1,700 ft), Divri (around 1500 m), Minthe (around 1100 m), and more.
About 1/3 of the land is fertile, the rest is mountainous and not
suitable for crops.
Swamplands used to cover 1-1.5% of the
region, especially in the Samiko
area.
Most of them have been drained for agricultural purposes; only
10 km² has been kept and is now protected.
Here lies
the ancient ruins of Elis, Epitalion
and Olympia, known for the ancient Olympic games which started
in 776 BC. A museum is founded with statues that relate with
the history of Olympia. Another museum is in Elis, but the size is
very small. Monasteries are scattered around the region.
Climate
Ilia has a
mediterranean
climate, with hot, sunny summers. Temperatures over 40 °C have
been recorded. The mountainous interior is colder and snow covers
the mountains in winter. Ilia is more humid than eastern
Peloponnese.
Natural disasters
Ilia is located in a
seismically active
zone, and there are several
earthquakes
each year. Some of the most significant earthquake to have hit the
area are:
Rainy weather in 2002-2003 caused destruction of villages by
mudslides, and some bridges and roads were also cut off.
In
February 2008, frost devastated many crops in Manolada
, Nea Manolada and
Kounoupeli.
In August 2007, enormous
forest
fires took place which led to tens of deaths and a massive
environmental and economical disaster. The final toll for the
prefecture was: 45 dead, 100,000 affected by the fire, 3,500 left
homeless by the fire, 25,000 dead animals, 8,500 hectares of burned
forests, 2,300 hectares of burned farmland.
The archeological
site of Olympia was seriously threatened, but not
damaged.
Municipalities
Before 2006, Ilia was divided into two
provinces:
Ilia
Province and
Olympia
Province.
Ilia Province contained Hollow or Lowland Ilia and the northern
part of
Pisatis. It was the smallest,
but most populous of the two provinces.
The seat was Pyrgos
. Olympia Province contained most of Pisatis
and Triphylia.
Its seat was Andritsaina
, in the mountains, Krestena and Zacharo were the
largest towns in the province.
Population
- 1991: 174,021, density: 65 inh./km²
- 2001: 192,340, density: 71.74/km²
- 2005: 198,765, density: 75.9/km²
Ilia is
the second most populous prefecture of the Peloponnese, after
Achaea. Between 70% to 75% of the population live
on fertile lands away from the mountains.
The population of ancient Ilia (from 1000-1 BC) was in the range of
5,000 to 10,000 and reached 10,000 or 20,000 by 1 BC. The history
of the population of Ilia had suffered sharp population declines
during invasion from northern and Eastern Europe, plagues, a couple
of wars, and poor economy. Most of the population growth above 1%
occurred in the 1800s and well into the 1900s. The biggest decline
to its population was probably when invaders from Northern Europe
dominate Ilia and some wars as well. The population surpassed the
100,000 mark around the quarter of the 20th century and more than
150,000 in the late-20th century. Pyrgos became the largest city
having the population over the 10,000 mark in the mid-20th century,
and above 20,000 in the late-1980s. The population in the northwest
is growing while the population is declining in the southeast and
east.
The urban population is about higher than 60% and has surpassed
population in the latter part of the 20th century, and rising to
70% and 80% of the population. Over the last 4,000 years, the
majority of the population lived in rural areas.
Economy
Agriculture
The primary source of agriculture is corn, tomatoes, potatoes,
green peppers, livestock, watermelon, melon and some vegetables.
There are 3 major operating tomato factories in Savalia (
Kyknos), Gastouni (
Pelargos), and north of Andravida (
Asteris). The most fertile land in Peloponnese is
the plain that covers the northern part of Ilia and the adjacent
part of Achaea.
Textiles used to be dominant in business from antiquity until the
Middle Ages.
In the 1950s, agriculture was the dominant
occupation, except in the towns Amaliada
and Pyrgos
.
Currently, one third of jobs in Elis is in the agricultural sector.
Some of
the new farmers are of Pakistani
origin.
Fishing
Squid, and all types of fish are common in the waters of Ilia.
Fishing
is mainly done in the southeastern Ionian Sea and in the Bay of
Patras. Most of the production is sent into Patras, some
into Athens, some elsewhere in the world (with small production)
and some into the local markets of Ilia from Kyllini and Katakolo.
Overfishing is a problem north of Lechaina.
History
In
classical antiquity, Elis was an independent state, centred on the town Elis
and the sanctuary at Olympia, where the Ancient
Olympic Games were held between 776 BC and 394 AD. After
146 BC, Elis was part of the province
Achaea within the
Roman Empire. In the
Migration Period (3rd - 4th century AD)
Vandals and Visigoths rampaged through the region. After the
breakup of the Roman Empire, Elis fell under the
Byzantine Empire.
In the aftermath of the
Fourth
Crusade, crusaders from Western Europe (traditionally referred
to as
Franks in southeastern Europe)
established the
principality of
Achaea in territory of the defeated Byzantine Empire, including
Elis.
They built castles like Chlemoutsi
. The principality lasted from 1204 until
1460, when it was conquered by the
Ottoman Empire.
The Ottoman Empire ruled most of Greece until the
Greek War of Independence of 1821.
The
Venetian
Republic
controlled a few coastal towns in the 1490s, early
16th century and from 1681 until 1715. Battlegrounds of the
Greek War of Independence in Ilia include Chlemoutsi, Gastouni,
Lala, Lampeia, Pyrgos and Andritsaina.
As a part of independent Greece, Ilia experienced an economic and
agricultural upswing in the first decennia after the war of
independence. Houses were built, and Pyrgos became a regional
centre.
Like most of the Peloponnese, the area was unaffected during World War I. As a result of the
Greco-Turkish
War , Greek refugees from Asia Minor
settled into a.o. the area around
Amaliada.
World War II struck parts of Ilia,
houses were damaged, leaving people homeless, and afterwards the
Greek Civil War caused more
destruction and economic decline. The
return to democracy after the
Greek military junta
of 1967–1974, and Greece joining the
European Communities in 1981 stimulated
economic development and improvement of infrastructure.
Transport
Roads
Ilia has 200 km of
highways.
There are
no limited access freeways in the prefecture yet, but a freeway
(A9) is being built between Patras
and
Kyparissia
, planned opening 2012.
The principal
highways include:
Railways
The total length of railway tracks in Ilia is around 140 km.
There is
a railway line from Patras to Kalamata
via Pyrgos, and a branch line from Pyrgos to
Olympia. Both lines are user for passenger services,
and there are tens of train stations scattered around Ilia.
Ports
The port
of Kyllini in the northwest is the busiest port in Ilia, with car
ferries to the islands of Zakynthos
and Corfu
.
Other ports or harbors are small in size and fit only smaller
boats.
Airports
Ilia has
a military airport near Andravida
, north of Pyrgos. There are no public
airports in the area.
The nearest airport
on land is in Kalamata.
Communications
Telephones became more common after the 1960s when the Hellenic
Telecommunication Organization (
ΟΤΕ) created
hundreds of kilometres of phone lines in the region. Now nearly
every household has a telephone. The ΟΤΕ built tens of towers to
connect more lines for the internet, telephones, and cell phones to
increase the service. Lines began around the mid-20th century to
enable more people to communicate by phones in the whole of Greece.
There are also several communication towers throughout the
prefecture.
- ORT
(Olympiaki Radiophonio Teleorassi meaning the Olympic
Broadcasting Television) serves the whole of Elia in local
programming to the area. ORT is also a Polis affiliate along with
Music All Day. The logo includes the
five Olympic rings.
There are several local radio stations, for instance RSA (
Radio Station of Amalias) from
Amalias and
Eleftheri
Radiofonas Krestenas from Krestena. There are hundreds of
transmitter towers scattered over Elia.
Persons
- Panagiotis Adraktas (b.
September 28, 1948
in Kardamas), a New Democracy politician
- Hristodoulos Aholos or
Acholos
- Panagiotis
Anagnostopoulos, revolutionary leader
- Astydameia
- Atreus
- Avgerinos family:
- Dionyssios N. Bokos, writer of Myrsini,
Nihta Pepromenou, etc.
- Andreas Bratis, writer of To Vartholomo (The
Vartholonio)
- Christopoulos family:
- Christos Daralexis,
journalist
- Themistoklis Daralexis,
politician
- Vyronas Davos, a writer, historian
and a poet, he published works on Ilia during the Frankish,
Ottoman, Venetian periods, the Greek War of Independence and the
Modern period
- Dionyssis Diakos, revolutionary
leader
- Ioannis Diakos, revolutionary
leader
- Takis Doxas, writer
- Epeus, ancient mythological legend
- Ioannis Giannopoulos,
politician
- Kostis Gontikas (b. 1934),
politician
- Dimitrios Gontikas,
(1888-1967) a politician and former president of the Greek parliament
- Aristeidis Griboutis,
journalist
- Miltiadis Iatridis,
revolutionary leader
- Nikos Kahtitsis, writer
- Antonios Kalogeropoulos,
a revolutionary leader from Myrsini (then Souleimanaga)
- Athanassios
Kanellopoulos, politician
- Simon Karas, music historian
- Andreas Karkavitsas
- Kostas Kazakos, actor
- Dimitrios Kioussopoulos,
former Prime Minister of
Greece
- Dionyssos Kokkinos,
writer
- Dimitrios Korkolis,
politician and mayor of Pyrgos
- Krestenitis family:
- Christos Laskaris, poet
- Liourdis family:
- Georgios
Nikoloutsopoulos, a revolutionary leader from Myrsini (then
Souleimanaga)
- Alexandros Panagoulis
- Georgios
Papandreou, an unrelated historian
- Theodoros
Papasimakopoulos, revolutionary leader
- Ioannis Pesmazoglou
- Takis Sinopoulos, poet
- Sisinis family:
- Georgios Sisinis, a Greek
revolutionary leader
- Christos Stefanopoulos,
politician
- Theodoridis family:
- Konstantinos Varouxis,
journalist, Patris writer
- Leonidas Varouxis, journalist,
Patris writer
- Alexis Vilaetis, a 19th century
politician who was elected in 1868
- Charalambos Vilaetis, a
Greek revolutionary leader
- Lysandros Vilaetis, a chief
of Pyrgos and a politician
- Nikolaos Vilaetis
- Panagis Vourloumis
- For the kings of Elis (now Ilia), see section
Sporting teams
References
- I Ileia Dia Meson ton Aionon (Ilia In The Middle
Of The Age) Georgios Papandreou
- Ston Pyrgo kai stin Ileia tou 1821-1930 (Στον
Πύργο και στην Ηλεία του 1821-1930 = In Pyrgos And In Ilia
(1821-1930) Vyronas Davos
1996
- Ilia Before The Revolution of 1821 (η Ηλεία πρίν
την επανάσταση του 1821 = I Ileia prin tin epanastasi tou
1821) Vyronas Davos 1997
- The Life Of The Inhabitants Of Ilia During The Turkish
Rule (η ζωή των κατοίκων της Ηλείας κατα την
τουρκοκρατία = I zoi ton katoikon tis Ileias kata ton
tourkokratia) Vyronas Davos 1997
- Toponmia tis Ileias (Τοπονύμια της Ηλείας =
Toponym of Elis) Vyronas Davos
External links
, minor damage in Ilia
, 2 deaths, hundreds of damaged homes and buildings
were reported in Lechaina, Amaliada and Vartholomio
, Tripoli
Top topics
Wikis
Quiz
Map
Search
