Chirades

Chirades (Greek: Χιράδες, locally known as Kirades) is a Greek settlement in the southwest of Arcadia located about 3 km southeast of the old GR-7 (Corinth - Tripoli - Kalamata) 21 km (old: 19 km) southeast of Megalopoli, about 37 km northeast of Kalamata, about 59 km (old: 57 km) southwest of Tripoli and about 59 km (old 57 km) southeast of Andritsaina. Chirades is connected with the road connecting the old GR-7 and Souli. Chirades had a 2001 population of 301 for the settlement. Messinia is 2 km to the south.

Nearest places

• Paradeisia, north-northeast
• Ellinitsa, northeast
• Tourkoleka, southeast
• Souli, west
• Derveni, northwest

Geography

Chirades is situated in a mountainous area along with a valley and are made up of forests and grasslands. The mountains cover the area and are made up of rocks with grasslands and bushes along with a couple of forests and grasses and bushes around the areas. Farmlands are within the village area. The mountaintop elevating 1,296 m lies 3 km southwest. It offers panoramic views of the Tetrazio mountains to the northwest and a nearby one to the east. Its main production are olives, citrus, fruits, vegetables and other crops, several common crops are rarely common.

Its residential houses and buildings are within the main road and it is about 400 to 500 m long and 100 to 150 m wide. Much of the houses were stone built until the 1960s. Electricity arrived in the same year. Vehicles arrived in the 1970s, the pavement of the main road and television arrived in the 1980s and computer and internet are rarely known in the beginning of the 21st century and up to date technology are not seen.

Population

History

The village used to have a large population before the beginning of the 20th century. After World War II and the Greek Civil War, the population began to decline as residents moved to larger towns and cities and outside of Greece.

On Saturday August 25, 2007, Chirades was struck by an enormous fire that ravaged from Derveni in the morning hours and quickly spread into the village and paralyzed communications including roads, residents along with firefighters, helicopters and planes battled the fire day and night and several around the area were towering as high as from 30 to 50 m. The fire later spread southeast to Tourkoleka on Sunday August 26, 2007 and continued to spread to that area. Almost every forests and bushes were burnt and greenspaces had disappeared and it is temporary before it can grow back in years.

See also

• List of settlements in the Arcadia prefecture

References