Giannitsa - Revision history

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2009-10-28T13:38:19Z

History

Irlandos at 13:30, October 28, 2009

2009-10-28T13:30:30Z

Irlandos: New page: '''Giannitsa''' or '''Yiannitsa''' (Greek Γιαννιτσά) is the largest town and municipality in Pella Prefecture, Macedonia, Greece. It chief importanc...

2009-10-28T13:27:23Z

New page: '''Giannitsa''' or '''Yiannitsa''' (Greek Γιαννιτσά) is the largest town and municipality in Pella Prefecture, Macedonia, Greece. It chief importanc...

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'''Giannitsa''' or '''Yiannitsa''' ([[Greek language|Greek]] Γιαννιτσά) is the largest town and municipality in [[Pella Prefecture]], [[Macedonia]], [[Greece]]. It chief importance is as an agricultural centre - especially since it is just 40km from [[Thessaloniki]].

The former shallow, swampy, and variable-sized '''Giannitsa Lake''' or '''Loudias Lake''' (classical), south of the town, was drained in 1928-1932 by the New York Foundation Company.<ref>Eugene N. Borza, ''In the shadow of Olympus: the emergence of Macedon'' (1992) ISBN 0691008809, p. 289; Matthieu Ghilardi ''et al.'', "Human occupation and geomorphological evolution of the Thessaloniki Plain (Greece) since mid Holocene", ''Journal of Archaeological Science'' '''35''':1:111-125 (January 2008)</ref> It or the surrounding marshland are sometimes called '''Borboros''' 'slime' or '''Borboros Limen'''.<ref>Ghilardi; Théophile Alphonse Desdevises-du-Dezert, ''Géographie ancienne de la Macédoine'' (A. Durand, 1863)</ref>

Not far from the city are the ruins of ancient [[Pella]], birthplace and capital of [[Alexander the Great]]. Giannitsa (then called Yenije) was an important center in the Ottoman period, and several important monuments survive: the tombs of Gazi Evrenos (a 19th-century substitute for the original) and Gazi Ahmed Bey, the Great Mosque, the Army Mosque, the hammam of Evrenos, and the clocktower, which have been declared historical monuments by the [[Greek Archaeological Service]].<ref name="hist">Vasilis Demetriades, "The Tomb of Ghāzī Evrenos Bey at Yenitsa and Its Inscription", ''Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies'' (University of London) '''39''':2:328-332 (1976); Eleni Kanetaki, "The Still Existing Ottoman ''Hamam''s in the Greek Territory", ''Middle East Technical University Journal of the Faculty of Architecture'' '''21''':1-2:81-110 (2005); citing M. Kiel, "Yenice-i Vardar. A forgotten Turkish cultural center in Macedonia of the 15th and 16th century", ''Studia Byzantina et Neohellenica Neerlandica'' '''3''':300-329 (1971)</ref>

The town is home to 26,296 people (2001 census), and its attractions include the annual fair, the "Paniyiri", which runs for two weeks every September. The municipality has a population of 31,442 and a land area of 208.105 km². Other significant towns in the municipality are Ampeleiai (pop. 1,095), Melission (983), Pentaplatanon (956), and Paralimni (816).

The city was called Γενιτσά until February 1926 when its name was Hellenized.<ref>Institute for Neohellenic Research, "Name Changes of Settlements in Greece" [http://pandektis.ekt.gr/dspace/handle/123456789/170067 Genitsa/Giannitsa]</ref> In other languages, the city is called: Ottoman Turkish ''Yenice-i Vardar'' ('new-town of Vardar').

==History==

Giannitsa was inhabited since the Neolithic era. Artifacts give witness that is was inhabited in the Hellenistic era as well. In later Byzantine times, it was called Vardarion.
Around 1372, it was conquered by [[Gazi Evrenos]]. Yenije became the base of the ghazi followers of Evrenos who took [[Macedonia]] and later Albania. Yenije was an important Ottoman cultural center in the 15th and 16th centuries.<ref name=hist />

Yenije was a battleground between Bulgarian and Greek partisans in the [[Struggle for Macedonia]]. [[Penelope Delta]]'s ''Secrets of the Swamp'' (referring to the shores of Giannitsa Lake) is a romanticised account of this from the Greek point of view.

Yenije "retained its emphatically Turkish character up to 1912" and members of the Evrenos family lived in Yenice in a large palace in the center of town until then. The Greek army captured Yenice after the [[Battle of Giannitsa]] in the [[First Balkan War]] (1912); part of the town was destroyed by fire.<ref>Demetriades, p. 329</ref>

After [[1924]], the city became thoroughly Hellenised with the exchange of the populations between Greece and Turkey and the departure of its Bulgarian inhabitants.

On [[14 September]] [[1944]], during the German occupation of Greece, about 120 residents of Giannitsa were executed by forces of the Jagdkommando Schubert and collaborationist Greek [[Security Battalions|units]] under the command of Georgios Poulos. Part of the city was also burned.

==References==
<references/>

==External links==
*[http://www.giannitsa.gr/ Official website]

{{Credit wikipedia}}

[[Category:Pella prefecture]]

← Older revision		Revision as of 13:30, October 28, 2009
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−	'''Giannitsa''' or '''Yiannitsa''' ([[Greek language\|Greek]] Γιαννιτσά) is the largest town and municipality in [[Pella ~~Prefecture~~]], [[Macedonia]], [[Greece]]. It chief importance is as an agricultural centre - especially since it is just 40km from [[Thessaloniki]].	+	'''Giannitsa''' or '''Yiannitsa''' ([[Greek language\|Greek]] Γιαννιτσά) is the largest town and municipality in [[Pella prefecture]], [[Macedonia]], [[Greece]]. It chief importance is as an agricultural centre - especially since it is just 40km from [[Thessaloniki]].

	The former shallow, swampy, and variable-sized '''Giannitsa Lake''' or '''Loudias Lake''' (classical), south of the town, was drained in 1928-1932 by the New York Foundation Company.<ref>Eugene N. Borza, ''In the shadow of Olympus: the emergence of Macedon'' (1992) ISBN 0691008809, p. 289; Matthieu Ghilardi ''et al.'', "Human occupation and geomorphological evolution of the Thessaloniki Plain (Greece) since mid Holocene", ''Journal of Archaeological Science'' '''35''':1:111-125 (January 2008)</ref> It or the surrounding marshland are sometimes called '''Borboros''' 'slime' or '''Borboros Limen'''.<ref>Ghilardi; Théophile Alphonse Desdevises-du-Dezert, ''Géographie ancienne de la Macédoine'' (A. Durand, 1863)</ref>		The former shallow, swampy, and variable-sized '''Giannitsa Lake''' or '''Loudias Lake''' (classical), south of the town, was drained in 1928-1932 by the New York Foundation Company.<ref>Eugene N. Borza, ''In the shadow of Olympus: the emergence of Macedon'' (1992) ISBN 0691008809, p. 289; Matthieu Ghilardi ''et al.'', "Human occupation and geomorphological evolution of the Thessaloniki Plain (Greece) since mid Holocene", ''Journal of Archaeological Science'' '''35''':1:111-125 (January 2008)</ref> It or the surrounding marshland are sometimes called '''Borboros''' 'slime' or '''Borboros Limen'''.<ref>Ghilardi; Théophile Alphonse Desdevises-du-Dezert, ''Géographie ancienne de la Macédoine'' (A. Durand, 1863)</ref>

@@ Line 20: / Line 20: @@
 After [[1924]], the city became thoroughly Hellenised with the exchange of the populations between Greece and Turkey and the departure of its Bulgarian inhabitants.
-On [[14 September]] [[1944]], during the German occupation of Greece, about 120 residents of Giannitsa were executed by forces of the Jagdkommando Schubert and collaborationist Greek [[Security Battalions|units]] under the command of Georgios Poulos. Part of the city was also burned.
+On [[14 September]] [[1944]], during the German occupation of Greece, 114 residents of Giannitsa were executed by forces of the Jagdkommando Schubert and collaborationist Greek [[Security Battalions|units]] under the command of Georgios Poulos. Part of the city was also burned.
 ==References==