Chapter 4 MORE ABOUT GREECE THE LAND RELIGION Geographically, Greece belongs to Europe The Church of Greece [Εκκλησία της since it forms the southern tip of the Balkan Ελλάδος] is an Orthodox Church, and it is Peninsula. the established church of the country. It holds a place of supreme importance in the life of the nation. Among no other people is the identity of church and state more thoroughly rooted. The church has exerted great power in Greece throughout its history and continues as a dominant force in modern Greece. Over 96% of the population of Greece belongs to the Orthodox Church whose official name is Church of Greece. Tyros, Arkadias, in Peloponnesus region, 1995 Greece consists of a peninsula and many islands. The Greek peninsula includes mainland Greece: Central Greece, Thessaly, Epirus, Macedonia, Thrace, and the Peloponnesus which is part of the mainland although its name means the island of Pelopos. In modern days Peloponnesus was separated The church has played an important role in from the rest of the mainland by a man made preserving the language, traditions, arts, and narrow canal. Euboea, on the other hand, is national identity of the Greek people. For an island joined to the mainland by a bridge. more information about the Church of The two largest Greek islands are Crete and Greece, as well as other denominations in Euboea. Greece includes many islands. Greece, see Chapter 7, p.77. Many of the Greek islands are in groups, such as the Cyclades, the Sporades, and the ETHNIC GROUPS Dodecanese islands in the Aegean Sea, and the Ionian islands in the Ionian Sea. The Most of the population of Greece is Greek. length of the Greek coastline is estimated at In spite of foreign domination, Greeks have 15,000 kilometers. But Greece has more maintained a strong ethnic identity, their than a lot of beautiful coastline. There are language, their religion, and pride in their high mountains and farmland in mainland past. But Greeks are not the only ethnic Greece, as well as in some of the large group in Greece. Minorities constitute only islands, such as Crete. about three percent of the population. - 55 - However regardless of what ethnic group living in Greece were exchanged for one and they were, they were considered Greek half million Greeks from Turkey. citizens, and are included in the Greek civil records, although they may also be listed in In Greece today there are only about 250 their own church records. thousand Turks. Most of these are Moslems but about half of the Turks remaining in Greece today are Greek Orthodox. Most of the Turks are tobacco farmers on the plains of Thrace. A few thousand are residents of the Dodecanese Islands, acquired from Italy in 1947. Slavs Slavic tribes did not settle in the area of Macedonia until the sixth century A.D., and they lived there during the centuries of House built in 1877, Pelasgia, Fthiotidos Turkish rule. There are Christian Slavs, and Moslem Slavs. In the population exchange The minorities are concentrated in the of 1923 some 25 thousand Greeks were northern regions that were historically exchanged for 50 thousand Slavs. The few inhabited by mixed populations and remaining Slavs in Greece are located subjected to many foreign invasions. In almost entirely in Greek Macedonia. 1923 large population exchanges with Turkey and Bulgaria brought in an additional 1,525,000 Greeks and removed large numbers of Turks and Slavs from the country. Pockets of Turks and Slavs were left in Thrace and Macedonia after these population exchanges. Other minorities include Vlachs, Jews, Armenians, Albanians, and Gypsies. Turks Turks form the largest minority group in Greece. The Turkish population in Greece during the four centuries of Ottoman rule was not large. It was composed mostly of The inside of a traditional gate of a village home, government officials, soldiers and built with rocks in 1887; so strong that it was agricultural landowners. These were driven almost impossible to demolish out of the lands that Greece successfully obtained during the Wars of Independence. Vlachs When Greece gained territory from Turkey in 1913 and 1919 many Turks came under The Vlachs are a group of uncertain origin. Greek rule. In 1923 some half million Turks They reside mainly in the Pindus Mountains - 56 - in northern Epirus, western Macedonia, and are now entirely Greek-speaking, but some northwestern Thessaly. Their language has still speak Albanian in the home. many Latin roots. The term vlach is an ancient designation used since the fourth Armenians century A.D. to denote Roman provincials. The Vlachs call themselves the "Aromani." Armenia was an ancient kingdom lying It is speculated that the Vlachs are between the Black Sea and Caspian Sea, descendants of ancient Romans or from northeast of Asia Minor, now included in Greeks who were closely tied to the Romans Turkey, Iran, and the former Soviet Union. in ancient times. Since the demise of their kingdom, the Armenians have spread into Turkey, Syria, The Greek term vlachoi is almost and Greece and throughout the world. synonymous to shepherd because the Vlachs Armenians began settling in Greece before are mostly shepherds. In the winter they the eleventh century A.D. descend from the mountains to seek pasture for their flocks and work for themselves. After the Greek War of Independence, the About 40 thousand Vlachs are in Greece Armenians of Greece rapidly adopted the today. language and culture of the Greeks and intermarried with them. Most of the Armenians in Greece today are refugees or descendants of refugees Armenians who fled Turkey into Greece in 1895-96, in 1914- 1918, and in the 1920s. The Armenian community in Greece kept their own records as well. Some of these records have been microfilmed, and are available at the Family History Library. A Greek lady police officer writing a ticket for traffic violation, Athens 1993 Albanians Albanians came into Greece in the fourteenth century and thereafter. The Byzantine rulers recruited Albanians as mercenaries, and rulers of the Duchy of Athens invited Albanians to colonize in Attica and Voiotia. Street of Thessaloniki (Salonika), 1992 Greeks of Albanian descent and of Greek Orthodox religion now reside mainly in rural Jews areas near Athens, the northeastern Peloponnesus, and on the nearby Aegean Jews have been in Greece in small numbers islands. These Albanians have been largely since ancient times. Thessaloniki (Salonika) assimilated into the Greek population. Most was the center of Jewish activity in Greece. - 57 - However Jewish communities were found in living in blacksmithing and other metal other cities of the country especially those work, animal trading, fortune-telling, and cities that were centers of commerce. public entertainment. In the thirteenth century Ashkenazic Jews immigrated to Thessaloniki from Poland, ADMINISTRATIVE STRUCTURE France and Italy. But, the main influx took place in the fifteenth century and later as The first administrative division of Greece Sephardic Jews, expelled from Spain in took place on 3 April 1833. The land was 1492, were attracted by the religious divided in ten nomos [county], which were tolerance offered under Turkish rule. The divided in 42 eparhia [district], and those in language they brought, Ladino - a modified turn were divided into several dimos form of Spanish, is still spoken by Modern [municipality]. Subsequently the Greek Jews. administrative structure of Greece went through many changes during the years. The most extensive changes took place in 1912, and 1999. Rodos, the beautiful island of Dodecanese Many Greek Jews moved to Palestine after the First World War. Then the Jewish population was reduced from about 100 The Town Hall of Pelasgia, Fthiotidos thousand to a few thousand during the Second World War. By 1943, most Jews Today there are 52 nomos in Greece. Each had been forcibly removed to concentration nomos is divided into several eparhias. camps in Poland. Most of these perished in Each eparhia is divided in several dimos. the Holocaust. The few remaining Jews in Each dimos governs several towns. Before Greece are centered at Thessaloniki. 1999 the large towns and cities were governed by a dimos, and the smaller towns Gypsies were governed by a koinotis [community]. The koinotis in Modern Greek is called The Gypsies are an independent, itinerant koinotita. A koinotis was governed by a people who spread from the Middle East and local community president. A dimos the Balkans throughout Europe. They speak [municipality] is governed by a local mayor. a language called Romany. Gypsies first The dimos/koinotis [municipality] is appeared in Greece in the fourteenth century important to your genealogical research A.D. They generally adopted the religion of because records were kept on that level, and the rulers; Islam under the Ottomans. Greece you need to know the new dimos has about 10 thousand Gypsies. The [municipality] to which your town belongs majority lead a wandering life, earning their today, and to which town are stationed the - 58 - offices of that municipality [Town Halls] Consequently the region does not play a because this is where the old books have significant role in your research. been transferred. These regions, like other localities in Traditionally Greece is divided into several Greece, have different names in other regions: languages. (See chapter 6, p.75.) Central Greece, Peloponnesus, Thessaly, The following pages include a map showing Macedonia, Epirus, Thrace, Crete, Aegean the regions and counties of modern Greece Islands, Ionian Islands, Mount Athos. and the explanation of the map. Emigrants from Greece often refer to these On the explanation the names are given in regions. However the regions are not used transliterated Greek (Greek spelling with for administrative purposes in Greece today, English letters).