Country Area 473.4 km2 | ||
Alexandreia or Alexandria (Greek: [aleksa?ðria is a city in the Imathia regional unit of Macedonia, Greece. Its population was 14,821 at the 2011 census. Alexandreia is a rapidly developing city focusing to boost its economy through agriculture, merchandising, alternative tourism and other alternative actions.
Contents
Map of Alexandreia, Greece
Geography
Alexandreia is a located in the vast plain north of the river Aliakmonas and west of the river Axios, named Kampania or also Roumlouki. Its economy is chiefly based on the agricultural utilization of the surrounding fields. The area around Alexandreia has the greatest production of peaches in Greece and apples, pears, tobacco, and cotton are also grown at large. Its elevation is 10 m above mean sea level. Alexandreia is 19 km south of Giannitsa, 23 km northeast of Veroia and 42 km west of Thessaloniki.
Alexandreia has a railway station on the railway from Thessaloniki to Florina. The Platy railway station on the important railway from Thessaloniki to Athens is also situated in the municipality of Alexandreia. The motorways A2 (Egnatia Odos) and A1 pass through the municipality. The Greek National Roads EO1 and EO4 pass through the town.
History
The area where Alexandreia is located today is called Imathia, which is also the name of the prefecture, but it is also known as Kampania or Roumlouki. The area was conquered by the Ottoman Empire during the late 14th century and was then called Roumlouki by the Ottomans. The first possible mention of Alexandreia as a settlement in history was on a Tapu Tahrir of 1530 under the name of Kato-Gode. However, the same name is absent from a map of the area from 1650.
The first solid evidence of a settlement is in an Ottoman tax list (tahrir defterleri) of 1771, which records the settlement of Gidas as the feudal estate of the family of Gazi Evrenos. According to this tax list, Gidas would be charged with 1900 aspers, which would render it the largest village in the area at that time with a probable population of 400 people. There are numerous mentions of Gidas in the following centuries, including the visit of the local Church of St. Athanasios by Cosmas the Aetolian in 1775 as a part of his missionary tours.
According to the references and descriptions of Gidas during this period, it was the largest village in the area of Roumlouki, although the area was generally sparsely populated throughout the centuries. Since the local people were subjugated to the Ottomans, they were charged with heavy taxes, which varied from period to period according to the taxation in the Ottoman empire, and as a consequence there was a general resentment towards the Ottomans. The local people were allowed to keep their religion and language, that is they were mostly Orthodox Christians and spoke the Greek language, although many people turned into Muslims so that they could gain the special privileges granted to Muslims. By being a rural area as well as a feudal property, it meant that the people of Gidas were mostly peasants and animal husbandmen, although there were also merchants trading all local kinds of commodities, and there was also a school.