Agrafa (mountains)

Agrafa (Άγραφα)
Mount Arenta in the Agrafa Mountains, Evrytania
height	2315  m (Mount Tymfristos (Τυμφρηστός))
location	Greece Karditsa Prefectures , Evrytania
Mountains	Pindos Mountains
Coordinates	39 ° 8 '23 "  N , 21 ° 38' 58"  E Coordinates: 39 ° 8 '23 "  N , 21 ° 38' 58"  E

Agrafa ( Greek Άγραφα ) refers to a mountain range in the west of the Greek regions of Thessaly ( Karditsa regional district ) and Central Greece ( Evrytania regional district ).

The name Agrafa can be traced back to the situation during the Ottoman Empire from the beginning of the 15th century to the beginning of the 19th century, when the difficult accessibility of the Agrafa Mountains allowed the inhabitants to be relatively independent compared to other areas ruled by the Ottomans. The inhabitants of this region were not listed or not recorded on the Sultan's tax lists ( ta agrafa τα άγραφα 'the [areas] not recorded'). The Agrafa Mountains are also known as the mountainous heart of central Greece

geography

The Agrafa Mountains form the continuation of the southern Pindos Mountains with its main massif Tzoumerka, pointing from north-northwest to south-southeast, and connects the southern Pindos Mountains with the mountains and massifs of Giona, Vardousia, Parnassos and Panetoliko in the southern part of mainland Greece. For a time the entire Pindus massif was called Agrafa; but this has not been able to prevail.

The boundaries of the Agrafa Mountains were defined variably, especially over time. François Pouqueville delimits the region in his travelogue in the west by the valley of the Acheloos river , which separates the Agrafa Mountains from the Valtou Mountains (Ori Valtou). In the southeast the Agrafa Mountains are limited by the beginning of the valley of the river Sperchios east of the mountain Tymfristos . In the east, the Agrafa Mountains are bounded by the area around Trikala, which corresponds to the western boundary of the western Thessalian plain.

The highest point in the Agrafa Mountains varies depending on the geographical definition of its boundaries. After Pouqueville, the highest point of the Agrafa Mountains is the Tymfristos with its 2312  m height.

summit

Name German	Also known as Greek	Name greek	Also known as Greek	Height in m	Location in Agrafa	prefecture	Administrative region
Tym Fristos	Velouchi	Τυμφρηστός	Βελούχι	2312	East Agrafa	Evrytania	Central Greece
Schizokaravo	Karava Agrafon	Σχιζοκάραβο	Καράβα Αγράφων	2184	North Agrafa	Karditsa	Thessaly
Voutsikaki				2152	North Agrafa	Karditsa	Thessaly
Moutsiara				2133	North Agrafa	Karditsa	Thessaly
Salagianni				2129	North-West Agrafa
Fteri	Pteri			2126	West Agrafa	Evrytania
Deldimi				2126	North-West Agrafa
Flitzani				2106	North-East Agrafa
Liakoura				2040	South-West Agrafa	Evrytania
Svoni				2039	East Agrafa
bolero				2016	North-East Agrafa
Galata				2016	North-East Agrafa	Evrytania
Kalyvia				2016	East Agrafa	Evrytania
Katarrachias	Καταρραχιάς	Katarachias	Καταραχιάς	2002	East Agrafa	Evrytania
Pende Pyrgi				2003	East Agrafa	Karditsa
Zigourolivado				1977	North Agrafa	Karditsa	Thessaly
Kopsi				1939	SE	Evrytania
Koukeika				1931	East Agrafa	Karditsa
Koufolongos				1882	North-East Agrafa	Karditsa
Plaka				1852	West Agrafa
Kamaria				1782	East Agrafa
Gidokastro				1756	NW
Gidolivado				1775	North-East Agrafa
Petalouda				1770	North-East Agrafa	Karditsa
Kafki				1751	South-east Agrafa
Koukouroundzas				1720	East Agrafa
Gravani				1713	South-West Agrafa
Fidoscale				1705	South-east Agrafa
Kafki				1667	North-East Agrafa
Spani				1647	South-east Agrafa
Karamanoli				1628	North-East Agrafa	Karditsa
Ouranos				1619	South-east Agrafa
Marathos				1608	East Agrafa
Vatoscale				1601	South-east Agrafa
Fourka				1566	South-West Agrafa	Evrytania
Tsouma				1518
Itamos Agrafon				1405	North-East Agrafa

history

According to the traditional sources, the Doloper settled in the landscape itself and gave the landscape the derived name Dolopia. According to the information provided by Pausanias and Harpocration, the Doloper sent envoys to the Amphictyon League . Dolopia probably only had one important town, Ktimeni or Ktimene. Dolopia and with it the Agrafa Mountains were the subject of territorial disputes between the Kingdom of Macedonia as its northern neighbor and the Aetolian League as its western and southwestern neighbor. Dolopia was conquered by Perseus for Macedonia. According to Livy, Dolopia then fell to the Aetolian League when it expanded into Thessaly.

In the period under Ottoman rule from the 15th century to 1829, the area of ​​the Agrafa Mountains belonged to the Vilâyet Aspropotamos (approximately area of ​​today's West Agrafa) and the Karpenisi administrative district (approximately area of ​​today's East Agrafa including the area around Karpenisi and Tymfristos ). Both were in the administrative area of ​​the Sanjak Thessaly. Despite the Ottoman occupation and administration, the Ottoman Empire controlled little more than the city of Karpenisi with its garrison of Ottoman forces. Due to the inaccessible terrain of the Agrafa Mountains, it remained de facto independent, together with its vast majority of Greek residents. The name Agrafa is said to come from this time, which is supposed to indicate that the inhabitants of the Agrafa Mountains were not registered in the sultan's tax lists. Under the rule of Ali Pasha Tepelena until 1821, the area of ​​the Agrafa Mountains came more closely under the control of the Ottoman Empire through his harsh interventions.

The Agrafa Mountains were the scene of the Greek War of Independence from 1821 to 1829. In 1823, the Greek insurgents, led by Markos Botsaris, attacked the Ottoman garrison of Karpenisi and destroyed it.

In the Greek civil war from February 1946 to 1949, the Agrafa Mountains were repeatedly the scene of sometimes violent military clashes between the left-wing and communist rebels on the one hand and the right-wing and nationalist government troops of the regular Greek army on the other. As in the times of the Greek War of Independence and the resistance against the occupation by the Axis powers during World War II from 1941 to 1944, the inaccessible mountainous terrain of the Agrafa Mountains proved to be an ideal place for guerrilla warfare. One of the leaders of the left-wing rebels, Aris Velouchiotis , referred to Mount Velouchi (Tymfristos) by his last name. From April 5 to 30, 1947, the Greek army undertook Operation Adler in the Agrafa Mountains and the Tzoumerka massif to the north-northeast, which was directed against the rebels. However, this action was not successful. In addition to the capture of a few rebels, the space gained cost a significant number of lives on the part of the regular army. The fighting strength of the rebels did not suffer from these military operations.

In 1948 the first significant military successes of the Greek government troops against the insurgents occurred in the area of ​​the Agrafa Mountains. First, the rebel headquarters for the Agrafa Mountains near Mastrogianni was captured in a diversionary attack between April 13 and 14, 1948 with a battalion of command forces of the Greek army. On April 15, 1948, the 1st Corps under General Tsakalotos began a large-scale military operation in which a pincer attack was carried out from Agrinio in the west and from Lamia in the east along the valley of the Sperchios. After the army had successfully advanced in the area of ​​Lidoriki in Fokida, the rebels threatened to be encircled in the Mornos river valley and retreated north over the Agrafa Mountains.

On May 15, 1948, the Greek army's operation ended. According to their estimates, more than 2,000 rebels had died. Around 4,500 suspicious people had already been arrested prior to this military operation (March 1948). Nevertheless, in the further course of the civil war there were heavy fighting in the area of ​​the Agrafa Mountains. The rebels even succeeded in taking Karpenisi at the end of 1948. They withstood a counterattack by the Greek army, and in the second they had to give up Karpenisi and retreat to the north-west into the Agrafa Mountains. In 1949 the fighting ended with the fall of the Gramos Mountains in the north and the associated defeat of the rebels.

population

Pouqueville gives a population of the area of ​​the western Agrafa Mountains (Vilayet Aspropotamos) of 5839 Greek families based on the Ottoman cadastre, which adds up to a population of 39,195, which only includes the Greek population. For the Vilayet Karpenisi and thus the eastern Agrafa Mountains, Pouqueville gives 1690 Vlach families from Ottoman cadastres . Due to the majority of the population from Vlach, this area was also called Vlachochoria (Vlachen villages). In total, the area counted 3717 families, corresponding to 18,585 inhabitants.

Flora and fauna

Information from the Greek forest authorities reported in 1953 that, compared to just under 150 years earlier (1805), agricultural production, for example of wine, had fallen dramatically. The silk production was completely stopped in this period from 1805 to 1953. During the same period, honey production in the Agrafa Mountains increased sevenfold. In 1805 William Martin Leake estimated the livestock in the Agrafa Mountains to be 40,000 sheep and goats; In 1953 only 18,000 sheep and goats were registered.

Attractions

• Tatarna Monastery
• Manoli bridge
• Kremasta lake
• Plastiras lake
• Agrafiotis river valley
• Tavropos river valley
• Acheloos river valley
• Ski area of ​​the Tymfristos
• Agios Dimitrios hill near Karpenisi

Web links

Commons : Agrafa  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Information about the Agrafa Mountains from Greek Travel Pages (GTP) (in English and Greek).
• Information from the European Environment Agency on the Agrafa Mountains .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Paul D. Hellander. 2006, Lonely Planet publisher. P. 248. ISBN 1-74059-750-8 .
2. ↑ John Murray. A handbook for travelers in Greece. John Murray, 1872. p. 448.
3. ↑ Marion Sarafis, Martin Eve: Background to Contemporary Greece. Rowman & Littlefield, 1990. Foreword, p. 4.
4. ^ Richard Clogg: A concise History of Greece. 2nd edition, Cambridge University Press. P. 15. ISBN 0-521-00479-9
5. ^ Charles Anthon: A system of Ancient and Medieval Geography for the Use of Schools and Colleges. Harper & Brothers Publishers. New York, 1850. p. 414.
6. ^ ^{A b c d} François Charles HL Pouqueville : Voyage de la Grèce. Volume 4, Book 10, Chapter 7. 2nd edition. Firmine Didot Père et Fils, Paris. MDCCCXXVI. P. 16.
7. ^ John Anthony Cramer: A Geographical and Historical Description of Ancient Greece; With a map and a plan of Athens. Volume 1. Clarendon Press, Oxford, MDCCCXXVIII.
8. ↑ John Murray. Handbook for Travelers in Greece including the Ionian Islands, Continental Greece, The Peloponnesus, the Islands of the Aegean, Thessaly, Albania, & Macedonia; & a detailed description of Athens, Ancient & Modern, Classical & Mediaeval. John Murray. 6th edition, 1896. p. 255.
9. ^ Neville Forbes, Arnold Toynbee, D. Mitrany, DG Hogarth: The Balkans: A History of Bulgaria, Serbia, Greece, Rumania, Turkey. Digital Antiquaria, 2004. p. 125. ISBN 1-58057-314-2
10. ^ ^{A b} François Charles HL Pouqueville : Voyage de la Grèce. Volume 4, Book 10, Chapter 7. 2nd edition. Firmine Didot Père et Fils, Paris. MDCCCXXVI. Pp. 17-18.
11. ^ John Robert MacNeill: The Mountains of the Mediterranean World: An Environmental History. Cambridge University Press, 2003. p. 336. ISBN 978-0-521-52288-5
12. ^ John Robert MacNeill: The Mountains of the Mediterranean World: An Environmental History. Cambridge University Press, 2003. pp. 337. ISBN 978-0-521-52288-5