Irlandos at 14:38, December 19, 2005

2005-12-19T14:38:26Z

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! align="center" colspan="2" | Statistics
|---- bgcolor="#FFFFFF"
| [[Prefecture]]: || [[Aetolia-Acarnania]]
|---- bgcolor="#FFFFFF"
| [[Provinces of Greece|Province]]: || [[Province of Nafpaktia|Nafpaktia]]
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| Location: || {{coor dms|38|23|27|N|21|49|20|E|region:GR}}
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| Population: ([[1991]])  - Total  - Density¹  - Rank||  -10,854  -/km² 
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| Communes: ||
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| Elevation:  -lowest:  -centre:|| sea level 3 m(centre) 
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| [[List of postal codes in Greece|Postal code]]: || 303 00
|---- bgcolor="#FFFFFF"*Location:
| [[Area codes in Greece|Area/distance code]]: || 11-30-[[Greece dialing code 26340|26340]] (030-26340) -2
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| [[Municipal codes in Greece|Municipal code]]: || 0219
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| [[License plates in Greece|Car designation]]: || <code>ME</code>
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| Name of inhabitants: || Naupactian ''sing.'', -s ''pl.''
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| Address of administration: || 37 Tzavella St. Nafpaktos 303 00
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| Website: || [http://www.nafpaktos.gr www.nafpaktos.gr] (in Greek)

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'''Nafpaktos''', Latin: '''[[Naupactus]]''' or '''Naupactos''' (Turkish, '''İnebahtı'''; Italian, '''Lepanto'''; modern Greek, Ναύπακτος, rarely '''Epakto'''), is a town in the [[prefecture]] of [[Aetolia-Acarnania]], [[Greece]], situated on a bay on the north side of the straits of Lepanto. The harbour, once the best on the northern coast of the [[Corinthian Gulf]], is now almost entirely choked up, and is accessible only to the smallest craft. Nafpaktos is the capital of the province of Nafpaktia. The origin of Nafpaktos comes from the two Greek words: ναύς ''naus'' ship, boat and πήγνυμι ''pêgnumi'', ''pegnymi'' builder, fixer. Distance from [[Patras]] is about 15 km NE and about 215 km NW of [[Athens]] with the new bridge, the [[Rio-Antirio bridge]] which now has access to the [[Peloponnese]] in the south with tolls. Other distances are WSW of [[Amfissa]], W of [[Itea]] and [[Delphi]], NE of [[Antirio]] and [[Greece Interstate 5|GR-5]]/[[E55]], E of [[Messolonghi]] and SE of [[Agrinio]]. The [[Mornos]] river is a few kilometres ENE where it also is the prefectural boundary with [[Phokida]]. Naupactus is an episcopal see. In Greek legend it appears as the place where the [[Heraclidae]] built a fleet to invade the [[Peloponnesus]].

==History==
In historical times it belonged to the Ozolian [[Locris|Locrians]]; but about 455 BC, in spite of a partial resettlement with Locrians of [[Opus, Greece|Opus]], it [[Battle of Naupactus (429 BC)|fell]] to the [[Ancient Athens|Athenians]], who peopled it with [[Messenia]]n refugees and made it their chief naval station in western Greece during the [[Peloponnesian war]]. In [[404 BC|404]] it was restored to the Locrians, who subsequently lost it to the [[Achaea]]ns, but recovered it through [[Epaminondas]].

[[Philip II of Macedon]] gave Naupactus to the Aetolians, who held it till [[191 BC]], when after an obstinate siege it was surrendered to the [[Roman Republic|Romans]]. It was still flourishing about 170 AD, but in [[Justinian I]]'s reign was destroyed by an earthquake. It was again destroyed by earthquakes in [[553]] and in the [[8th century]] and so on. In the [[middle ages]] it fell into the hands of the Venetians, who fortified it so strongly that in [[1477]] it successfully resisted a four month's siege by a Turkish army thirty thousand strong; in [[1499]], however, it was taken by Beyazid II. The mouth of the [[Gulf of Lepanto]] was the scene of the great sea fight in which the naval power of the Ottoman Empire was nearly completely destroyed by the united papal, Spanish, Habsburg and Venetian forces ([[Battle of Lepanto (1571)|Battle of Lepanto]], [[October 7]], [[1571]]). In 1678 it was recaptured by the Venetians, but was again restored in 1699, by the treaty of Karlowitz to the Ottomans; in the war of independence it finally became Greek once more (March [[1829]]).

==Residents==

The town has schools, lyceums, gymnasiums, churches, banks, a post office, a beach, and a square (''plateia'') located next to the Gulf of Corinth. Residential houses are lined up with the highway.

Today it has about 10,000 people. Residential homes align with the Gulf of Corinth and has a width of about 3 km. It sits on a shoulder of a mountain range of the north while farmlands dominate the western part. The climate is one of the best in Greece. It used to be passed by GR-48/E65 linking Antirrio and Amfissa now it is bypassed to the north at the elevation of 150 to 200 m above sea level. The area isn't forested out of town. The villages are founded around Nafpaktos in the northeast.

The municipality is mainly made up of mountains while much of the fertile land is within the Gulf of Corinth.

In [[1990]], construction of a bypass of Nafpaktos began but when it was finally paved, the opening was delayed for eight years until demonstrations in [[1998]] about favoring the opening of the by-pass of [[Greece Interstate 48 | GR-48]]/[[E65]] and was finally opened in the early [[2000s]].

==Nearest places==

*Antirrio (west)
*[[Skala (Nafpaktos), Greece|Skala]] (northeast)

==Historical population==

{| border="1" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0"
|- bgcolor="#efefef"
! Year !! Communal population !! Change !! Municipal population 
|-
| [[1981]] || 9,012 || - || - || -
|-
| [[1991]] || 10,854 || 1,842/20.44% || 15,045 
|}
==Communities==

*[[Antirio]]?

==Communications==
===[[List of Greek language television channels|Television]]===

*[[Nafpaktos TV]], formerly Lepanto
* [[Lychnos]] - religious

==External links==

*[http://www.nafpaktos.gr Municipality of Nafpaktos - Official Site]
*http://www.nafpaktos.com
*[http://www.nafpaktos.com/battle_of_lepanto.htm The Battle of Lepanto]
*[http://www.culture.gr/2/21/212/21208n/e212hn09.html Nafpaktos Castle]
*http://students.ceid.upatras.gr/~politop/nafpak.html
*http://www.ehistory.com/world/BattleView.cfm?BID=416 - in ehistory.com
*http://www.videonet.gr/castle-naupactos.htm
*[http://www.infopelago.gr/tourism/sterea/naupactos-photos-castle.htm Photos of the Nafpaktos castle]
*http://www.greek-tourism.gr/nafpaktos/history.htm (in Greek)

*[http://www.gtp.gr/LocPage.asp?id=3936 GTP - Nafpaktos]
*[http://www.gtp.gr/LocPage.asp?id=3935 GTP - Municipality of Nafpaktos]


 
<table width = 75% border = 2 align="center">

<tr>
<td width = 10% align="center">'''West:''' [[Antirio]]</td>
<td width = 35% align="center">'''Nafpaktos'''</td>
<td width = 30% align="center">'''East:''' </td></tr>
<tr><td width = 35% align="center">
<td width = 30% align="center">'''South:''' [[Gulf of Corinth]]</td>
<td width = 35% align="center">
</td></tr>
</table>

==See also:==

*[[Communities of Aetolia-Acarnania]]

[[Category:Aitoloakarnania]]
[[Category:Cities and towns in Greece]]

Nafpaktos - Revision history

Irlandos at 14:38, December 19, 2005