Kilkis
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Kilkis Κιλκίς |
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|---|---|
| Location | |
  Kilkis
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| Coordinates | 40°59′N 22°52′E / 40.983°N 22.867°ECoordinates: 40°59′N 22°52′E / 40.983°N 22.867°E |
| Time zone: | EET/EEST (UTC+2/3) |
| Elevation (center): | 280 m (919 ft) |
| Government | |
| Country: | Greece |
| Periphery: | Central Macedonia |
| Prefecture: | Kilkis |
| Mayor: | Dimitrios Terzedis |
| Population statistics (as of 2001[1]) | |
| City | |
| - Population: | 24,812 |
| - Area:[2] | 306.557 km² (118 sq mi) |
| - Density: | 81 /km² (210 /sq mi) |
| Codes | |
| Postal: | 611 00 |
| Telephone: | 23410 |
| Auto: | NI, ΚΙ* |
| Website | |
| www.dhmoskilkis.gr | |
Kilkis (Greek: Κιλκίς, Macedonian/Bulgarian: Кукуш, Kukuš) is an industrial city in Central Macedonia, Greece. As of 2001 there were 17,430 people living in the city proper and a total of 24,812 people living in the administrative area of the municipality of Kilkis. It is also the capital city of the prefecture (or nomos) of Kilkis and the capital of one of the two local provinces (or eparchia) of its prefecture.
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[edit] History
[edit] Ancient Times
There have been important findings excavated at various regions of the prefecture of Kilkis with elements dating back to as early as the Bronze and Iron Age. Their remains as well as ancient tombs of the 2nd millennium BC provide invaluable information about lifestyle at that time. The town of Paeonia, near the Axios River, is cited for the first time in the Homer’s Epics. As early as the 8th century BC, the wider region of Kilkis was established as a Greek region and ruled as part of the Macedonian kingdom. Kilkis was in the centre of an area, called Krestonia. When Phillip the 2nd of Macedon, visited Krestonia, the locals offered to him, olives from Krestonia valley, something that he had never eaten before[3]. At that time, many towns flourished, such as Idomeni, Atalanti (Axioupoli nowadays), Gortynia (Gorgopi nowadays), Fyska, Terpillos, Klitae (Xylokeratia nowadays), Vragylos (Metalliko nowadays), Ioron (Palatiano nowadays), Chaetae (Tsaousitsa nowadays), Carabia (Limnotopos nowadays), Bairos (Kastro nowadays), Morrylos (Ano Apostoli nowadays), Doveros (Doirani nowadays), Evropos and Kallindria.
[edit] Roman and Byzantine Times
In 148 BC, the Romans take over for two and a half centuries and eventually gave way to invasions of different tribes, such as the Goths, the Huns, the Avars and the Slavs who gradually settled in the Balkan Peninsula. The name of the city had different variants, depended on the accent of the different languages, the invaders spoke. Kallikon in early Byzantine times, Kalkis or Kilkis by the Greeks, Kilkitsi or Kılkış by the Ottomans and Кукуш (Kukuš, Kukush) by Slavs[4].
Kilkis changed hands several times over the years between the Byzantine and Bulgarian Empires. In the Byzantine era it finally flourished, despite an almost complete destruction[citation needed] by the Bulgarians at the end of 10th century. During the reign of the Palaeologus dynasty in particular, the prefecture saw the completion of a number of important infrastructure works.[citation needed]
[edit] Ottoman Rule
The period of prosperity ended in 1430, when Thessalonica and the entire region came under the Ottomans. After 1850, there was one Greek church, "Panagia tou Kilkis", (Madonna of Kilkis), at the foot of Saint George hill and one Greek school. In the Macedonian Struggle, several inhabitants of Kilkis participated with their efforts. The leaders of Greek efforts were Georgios Samaras, Ioannis Doiranlis and Petros Koukidis with their armed corps. Evangelia Traianou Tzoukou and Ekaterini Stampouli were also the leaders for the Greek education and hospitalization of Macedonian fighters,[5] although the Bulgarians had the city under control. Great support to the Greek efforts was given by the Chatziapostolou family. Chatziapostolou family owned a great farm in Metalliko, the field crop of which, was almost completely given to fund the Greek efforts. The farm was also a shelter for the Macedonian fighters.[6]
By the mid 1800s Kilkis had become a town primarily populated with Bulgarians[7] (Slav speaking Christians with Bulgarain consciousness[8]). According to a neutral estimation, there were about 500 Greeks, 500 Turks and 4.500 Bulgarians[9] at that era. A 1873 Ottoman study concluded that the population of Kilkis consisted of 1,170 households of which there were 5,235 Bulgarian inhabitants, 155 Muslims and 40 Romani people.[10] A Vasil Kanchov study of 1900 counted 7,000 Bulgarian and 750 Turkish inhabitants in the town.[11] Another survey in 1905 established the presence of 9,712 Exarchists, 40 Patriachists, 592 Uniate Christians and 16 Protestants. [12]
[edit] First and Second Balkan Wars
In the First Balkan War of 1912 it was briefly taken over by Bulgaria. In the Second Balkan War of 1913, the Greek army captured the city after a three-day battle between June 19 and June 21 from the Bulgarians who were badly outnumbered. The battle was costly, with over 8,652 casualties on the Greek side and 7,000 on the Bulgarian,[citation needed]. Kilkis was almost completely destroyed after the battle by the Greek army,[13] and virtually all of its pre-war 7,000 Bulgarian inhabitants were expelled into Bulgaria. The new town was built closer to the railway to Thessaloniki, around the Greek church of Saint George, and was settled by Greeks transferred from Bulgaria, the Ottoman Empire and Yugoslavia, especially from Strumica. The Patriachists from Strumica built the church of Pentekedeka Martyron (Fifteen Martyrs, which took its name from the main church of the Greek patriacharate in Strumica. The resettled Greeks were so many that Kilkis was temporarily renamed Nea Stromnitsa (New Strumica).[14]
In the mid-twenties, after the Asia Minor Catastrophe when Greece lost its Asia Minor territories to Turkey, waves of destitute refugees washed into Kilkis, thus giving a new boost to the region and contributing to the increase of its population. Likewise, the Turks (a generic term for the Muslim population) of the region had to leave for the new Turkish state in the exchange of populations. By 1928 1,679 Refugee families comprising of 6,433 individuals had been resettled in Kilkis.[15] Barely two decades later, the Second World War broke out and devastated the region once again.
[edit] World War II
The significance of the Battle of Kilkis-Lahanas for the Greeks can be appreciated by the fact that Greece named a battleship after the city. However, Kilkis was sunk by a German Junkers Ju 87 (Stuka) dive-bomber on April 23, 1941, along with its sister-ship, in the third week of the invasion of Greece by Nazi Germany. The city of Kilkis came under the Axis of Bulgarian occupation in 1943 when the Bulgarian zone of occupation was expanded to include the prefectures of Kilkis and Halkidiki. The new authorities pursued a policy of "Bulgarianisation" to annex the region to Bulgaria, but were forbidden from doing so by their German allies, who feared destabilising Greece if the Bulgarians proceeded. The region became a major centre for Greek partisan resistance activity before being liberated and rejoint Greece in 1944. The local Macedonian Slavic dialect, the Solun-Voden dialect, is rarely spoken by Kilkis' inhabitants.[16]
[edit] Municipal districts
- Chorygi
- Kastanies
- Kristoni
- Leipsydri
- Aktopotamia (Ακροποταμιά) [2001 pop: 212]
- Ano Potamia (Άνω Ποταμιά) [2001 pop: 105]
- Kato Potamia (Κάτω Ποταμιά) [2001 pop: 118]
- Megali Vryssi
- Melanthi
- Mesiano
- Dafnochori (Δαφνοχώρι) [2001 pop: 63]
- Leventochori (Λεβεντοχώρι) [2001 pop: 266]
- Stavrochori
- Vaptisti (Βαπτιστής) [2001 pop:456]
- Kyriakeika (Κυριακαίικα) [2001 pop: 55]
- Krousson (Κρουσσών)
[edit] Subdivisions
- Gavra
- Argyroupolis (Αργυρούπολη) [2001 pop: 591]
- Xirovryssi (Ξηρόβρυση)
- Zacharaton (Ζαχαράτο) [2001 pop: 101]
- Kolchida [2001 pop: 371]
- Metalliko (Μεταλλικό), [2001 pop: 371]
- Sevasto (Σεβαστό) [2001 pop: 150]
- Koromilia
[edit] Famous inhabitants of Kilkis
- Alexander Stanishev, Bulgarian scientist and politician, ex minister
- Georgios Floridis, Greek politician, ex minister
- Theodoros Mouratidis,Swedish politician
- Savvas Tsitouridis, Greek politician, ex minister
- Dimitrios Bisbasis "Basis", Cherso, Greek singer
- Panteleimon Savvidis, journalist, tv-presenter
- Konstantinos Kiltidis, Greek politician, sub-minister of Agriculture
- Gotse Delchev, BMARC/SMARO revolutionary (1872-1903)
- Petar Darvingov, Bulgarian officer and military historian
- Dimitar Vlahov, revolutionary (1878 - 1953)
- Hristo Smirnenski, Bulgarian poet (1898-1923)
- Lazaros Pavlidis, Greek author (1929 - 2004)
- Dimitrios Markos, Footballer
- Loukas Mavrokefalidis, Greek Professional Basketball Player (1984)
- Viki Chadjivassiliou, journalist
[edit] References
- ^ "PDF (875 KB) 2001 Census" (in Greek). National Statistical Service of Greece (ΕΣΥΕ). www.statistics.gr. http://www.statistics.gr/gr_tables/S1101_SAP_1_TB_DC_01_03_Y.pdf PDF. Retrieved on 2007-10-30.
- ^ (Greek) "Basic Characteristics". Ministry of the Interior. www.ypes.gr. http://www.ypes.gr/topiki.htm. Retrieved on 2007-08-07.
- ^ ["N.G.L. Hammond, A History of Macedonia I" (1972)]
- ^ [Article in Greek: Georgios Echedoros, Published in newspaper "Machitis tou Kilkis / Μαχητής του Κιλκίς", (Kilkis Fighter), Kilkis 08 Jan 1996]
- ^ [in Greek: "Obscure Native Macedonian Fighters" published by Company of Macedonian Studies, 2008]
- ^ [In Greek: "Christos Intos: Centres of Organization, Action and Resistance of the Greeks of Kilkis Prefecture during the Macedonian Struggle" Proceedings of Conclave "100 Years after Pavlos Melas' Death", Company of Macedonian Studies, Thessaloniki 2004]
- ^ A report from Koukoush, Journal Bulgarski knizhitsi, Constantinople, No. 10 May, 1858, p. 19, A letter from a Russian official to Alexei N. Bekhmetev, Moscow, about the education of young Bulgarians at Moscow University, August 22nd, 1858, A petition from the Bulgarians in Koukoush to Pope Pius IX, July 12th, 1859, British Diplomatic Documents concerning Bulgarian National Question, 1878-1893, Sofia 1993 (bilingual edition), p. 286
- ^ Vacalopoulos, Apostolos. Modern history of Macedonia (1830-1912), Thessaloniki 1988, p. 61-62
- ^ In Greek "Macedonia: 4.000 years of Greek Civilization" Sakellariou, 1990
- ^ „Македония и Одринско. Статистика на населението от 1873 г.“ Macedonian Scientific Institute, Sofiya, 1995, pages.160-161.
- ^ Vasil Kanchov. „Macedonia. Ethnography and Statistics“. Sofia, 1900, pages.164.
- ^ Brancoff, D.M. "La Macédoine et sa Population Chrétienne". Paris, 1905, р.98-99.
- ^ Report of the International Commission to Inquire into the Causes and Conduct of the Balkan Wars, published by the Endowment Washington, D.C. 1914, p. 97-99
- ^ [in Greek: "Trapped...the Greeks of Skopje", Dimitrios Alexandrou, Erodios, Thessaloniki 2008]
- ^ Κατάλογος των προσφυγικών συνοικισμών της Μακεδονίας σύμφωνα με τα στοιχεία της Επιτροπής Αποκαταστάσεως Προσφύγων (ΕΑΠ) έτος 1928
- ^ Stojkov (Stoykov), Stojko (2002) [1962] (in Bulgarian). Българска диалектология (Bulgarian dialectology). Sofija. ISBN 9544308466. OCLC 53429452. http://www.promacedonia.org/jchorb/st/index.htm.
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