Bournova

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Bournova or Bornova or Bournabat was a suburb of Smyrna situated NE of that city.

Its name is said to derive from the Turkish "burun" and "ova" - edge of the plain. Alternatively, the name could be derived from "birun" meaning outer and the suffix -abad. A third explanation is that Bournova or Bournabat was merely a corruption of Prinovalis - its name in Byzantine times.

Prior to 1922, Bournova was home to many Greeks and Levantines, some of which were quite wealthy. It had a sports stadium, built prior to 1900, and three sports clubs - "Orpheus", "Hermes" and AC Bournabat. Athletic contests were held here since the latter part of the 19th century and the first football match on Ottoman soil is said to have taken place in Bournova in 1890, when British sailors played a local club.

Much of Bournova was looted and destroyed when the Turkish army entered the town in September 1922 at the conclusion of the Greco-Turkish War. Many of its Greek and Armenian inhabitants were killed in the atrocities that followed, the rest came to Greece as refugees.

Bournova is still remembered today as a result of several songs e.g. "Bournovalia", recently rendered by Glykeria; a different "Bournovalia" by Nikos Gatsos, etc. The most famous one is "Paporaki tou Bournova" (little boat of Bournova) by Manolis Papagikas which was revised and made a hit by Yiannis Kalatzis in the early 1970s. Its original version was sung by many deserters of the Greco-Turkish War (1919-1922).