Achaea

Achaea Prefecture
Νομός Αχαΐας
Location of Achaea Prefecture in Greece
Location of Achaea Prefecture municipalities
Country:  Greece
Capital: Patras
Periphery: West Greece
Population: 331,316 (2005) Ranked 5th
Area: 3,271.507 km² 
(1,263 sq.mi.) Ranked 14th
Density: 101 /km² 
(262 /sq.mi.) Ranked 9th
Number of municipalities: 21
Number of communities: 2
Postal codes: 25x xx - 26x xx
Area codes: 261, 269x
Licence plate code: ΑΖ, AX
ISO 3166-2 code: GR-13
Website: http://www.achaia.gr/

Achaea (Greek: Αχαΐα Achaïa, [axaˈia]; Ἀχαία in polytonic orthography) is an ancient province and a present prefecture of Greece, on the northern coast of the Peloponnese, stretching from the mountain ranges of Erymanthus and Cyllene on the south to a narrow strip of fertile land on the north, bordering the Gulf of Corinth, into which the mountain Panachaicus (1,902 m, the northernmost mountain range in the Peloponnese) projects.

Achaea is bounded on the west by the territory of Elis, on the east by that of Sicyon, which, however, was sometimes included in it. The population in 2001 had reached over 300,000.

The future municipalities of Achaea (from November 2010).

Contents

Geography

Its geography features the Omblos and Marathia mountains to the east, Erymanthos to the centre, Chelmos or Aroania in the southeast, Skollis in the southwest, Movri and Mavros Oros to the west. Rivers ordered from west to east include the Larissos, Tytheos, Parapeiros and Charadros to the northwest and Selinountas, Vouraikos and several others to the east. Most of the forests are in the mountain ranges, though several are in the plains including the extreme west. There are grasslands around the mid-elevation areas and barren lands in the highest areas.

Climate

Achaea has hot summers and mild winters. Sunny days dominate during the summer months in areas near the coast, while the summer can be cloudy and rainy in the mountains. Snow is very common during the winter in the mountains of Erymanthus, Panachaicus and Aroania. Winter high temperatures are around the 10°C mark throughout the low lying areas.

Provinces

Note: Provinces no longer hold any legal status in Greece.

Municipalities and communities

Municipality YPES code Seat (if different) First existence Refounded
Aigeira 0701 Aigeira - -
Aigio 0702 Aigio - -
Akrata 0703 Akrata - 1997
Aroania 0704 Psofida - -
Diakopto 0706 Diakopto - 1997
Dymi 0707 Kato Achaïa - 1997
Erineos 0708 Kamares - 1994
Farres 0722 Chalandritsa - 1997
Kalavryta 0709 Kalavryta - 1997
Larissos 0711 Metóchi - 1997
Lefkasio 0713 Kleitoria - 1997
Messatida 0714 Ovrya - 1997
Movri 0715 Sageika - 1997
Olenia 0723 Lousika - 1997
Paion 0716 Dafni - 1997
Paralia 0717 Paralia - -
Patras 0718 Patras 1830 not refounded
Rio 0719 Rio - -
Sympoliteia 0720 Rododafni - -
Tritaia 0721 Stavrodromi 1830s-1910s 1997
Vrachnaiika 0705 Vrachnaiika - -
Community YPES code Seat (if different)
Kalentzi 0710 Ágios Geórgios - -
Leontio 0712 Leontio - -

Former municipalities

Main towns and cities

Here are the cities ranked by the largest, as of 2003.

History

Ancient Achaea

Medieval and modern history

Achaea remained a province of the Byzantine Empire after the fall of the western Roman Empire. However, after the Fourth Crusade several new crusader states were founded in Greece. One of these was the Principality of Achaea, which like the Roman province, covered a much larger area than traditional Achaea.

The Principality of Achaea fell to the Ottoman Empire in the mid-15th century. The area was later invaded by the Venetians in the late-16th and the 17th centuries and later invaded by the Ottomans again.

In 1821, it became part of Greece. During the Greek War of Independence, Aigio was the first city to be liberated by the Greeks and several villages days after as well as the city of Patras. Achaea or Achaia later produced several heroes including Kanaris, Zaimis and Roufos and prime ministers of Greece including Andreas Michalakopoulos as well as some head of states.

In the first years of the country, the prefecture amalgamated to form the prefecture of Achaea-Elis of Achaea and Elis until 1899 and covered an area of around 6,000 km², the older enlarged again in 1909 and did not finally split again until 1936. The area of Mataragka remained historically Ilia until the 1990s along with the area of Vouprasi.

Georgios Mavrommatis (ran in 1828) was the first prefectural head in modern Achaea and Georgios Glarakis was the first leader that ran in the 1830s.

Achaea saw an influx of refugees that arrived from Asia Minor during the Greco Turkish War of 1919-1922. Tens of thousands were relocated to their camps in the suburbs of Patras and a few villages mainly within the coastline. One of the camps was named Prosfygika

After World War II and the Greek Civil War, many of its buildings were rebuilt and this work took several years.

In the 20th century, the area which excluded Metochi reverted from Ilia as the municipality of Kalotychia became Vouprasias. That part had been a part of Ilia, then Elis during the ancient times. Another reorganization reverted Mataranga and Spata into the prefecture of Achaia and the municipality of Larissos.

A mid-1994 late-night (around 3 AM local time) earthquake rumbled the area with a magnitude around 5 on the Richter scale. This was a minor one. It was after another earthquake. A forest fire consumed the northern part of the Panachaicus in the mid-1990s. Many municipalities were recreated between 1994, several more and 1997 and several others in 1998 which revived Tritaia, Movri, Erymanthos, Kalavryta and many more. Every administrative community became municipal and communal districts.

Population

Karst Field near Kato Loutsi north of Kastria in Achaia, Greece

Achaea today has about one-third of its peninsula's inhabitants and two-thirds of Achaia living in the Patra area which is the capital of Achaea and the Peloponnese, and more than half of the population live in the city (municipality). It is also the third largest city in Greece excluding Piraeus. The main industrial area is 20 km south of the city near Fares, and Tsoukoulaiíka and Vrachnaiíka.

Aigion is a seaside city with a city hall and a city square is in its heart. The population is around 30,000.

Culture

Kalavrita is a town situated more than 70 km to the east via the road from Achaea's capital. A few kilometres to its west is a monastery situated on the peak of the hill. Its name is Aghía Lávra. 12 to 20 km east, is Cave Lakes where lakes are inside this brilliant cave. It is open to tourists, and the length is around 300 to 500 m. The mountain hosts the most modern Greek telescope, named Aristarchus (after the ancient Greek astronomer - Aristarchus of Samos) and operated by the National Observatory of Athens A narrow gauge railway track runs for 30 km, mainly as a tourist attraction. The track begins near Kalavrita and ends off Diakopton.

Economy

Patras is one of the main industrial and commerce centers in Greece.

Temeni is a place where the famous spring water Avra (Άυρα) or Aúra is manufactured. It is owned by Tria Epsilon, a division of Coca-Cola Company and a parent.

There are no oil refineries except for a small refinery near Rio.

Transport

There are two main bus terminals in the cities of Patras and Aigio.

The main highways are:

Pavement began in the 1960s, the 1970s and the 1980s

A bypass which bypasses Patras begun construction in 1990, and extended construction to GR-33 in 1992, Savalia in 1993, East Patra or Patras in 1995, and in 1998 into GR-8. Lights were installed in the early 2000s on the beltway, and opened to traffic on late 2003. It starts from near Roitika and ends just south of Rhion.

GR-8 was the first superhighway, along with GR-5 in the prefecture. The beltway is the second, and the bridge will be the third. Its length now has almost 100 km of superhighway. Its length was only 70 to 75 km until 2003.

The Rio-Antirrio bridge, which started construction in 2000 (though plans had been made throughout the 1990s, and was supposed to begin in those years), opened in mid-2004, connecting the mainland and the Peloponnese. This eliminated much of the ferry service which has been used for about half a century for automobiles. Since then, there is only the rare ferry service in the city of Aigio(n), which is the ferry route to Aghios Nikolaos in Phocis.

A future superhighway between Patras and Pyrgos was announced in the winter of 2003 and will be in plan, but no date has been set.

Communications

Newspapers, fanzines and others

Current newspapers

Ceased and defunct newspapers

Radio

Television

Companies

Persons

Sports

There are two skiing resorts, one on the Panachaicus west of the mountain top (elevation around 1700 m) east of Patras, it will be Nafpaktos's closest because of the new bridge (mid-2004) and the other on Aroania, sometimes still called Chelmos, near Kalavrita. It is Kalavrita's closest resort.

Sporting teams

Division rankings were as of the 2005-06 season for most teams, for football (soccer), they are run by the Achaia Football Clubs Association:

Teams with multiple sporting clubs
Basketball only
Defunct and historic teams

Notes

References

External links

Prefectures of Greece

Achaea · Aetolia-Acarnania · Arcadia · Argolis · Arta · Athens · East Attica · West Attica · Boeotia · Chalkidiki · Chania · Chios · Corfu · Corinthia · Cyclades · Dodecanese · Drama · Elis · Euboea · Evros · Evrytania · Florina · Grevena · Heraklion · Imathia · Ioannina · Karditsa · Kastoria · Kavala · Kefalonia and Ithaca · Kilkis · Kozani · Laconia · Larissa · Lasithi · Lefkada · Lesbos · Magnesia · Messenia · Pella · Phocis · Phthiotis · Pieria · Piraeus · Preveza · Rethymno · Rhodope · Samos · Serres · Thesprotia · Thessaloniki · Trikala · Xanthi · Zakynthos

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