Kontias

Kontias (Greek: Κοντιάς), also Kondias and Kodias, accented forms: Kontiás, Kondiás and Kodiás is a village in the Greek island of Limnos, and is the seat of Nea Koutali. Its 2001 population was 629 for the village and the municipal district.

Nearest places

*Tsimandria, east
*Platy, west

Population

Location

Kontias between 12 and 13 km east of Myrina and is connected with the southern branch road linking Myrina and its airport.

History

Byzantine period

The village was first mentioned as Palaiokastellon tou Kontea. In 1346, its farmlaands had around 4,000 modis in which it was known as the "royal plower" famous with the name "Rough Land". From the census had its castle which was built before, around the Venetian rule (1207-76) from which a landowner Kontea inspected the building in which part injured, the same as the Venetians left. The area passed to hte residents of the emperor (royal plower) for several reasons calmed down.

The older human estate marked a series of toponyms which were written down in a census of 1346 bounded the area where it located the farmers as "Loutra" (Spring), "Nerohitis" (Spring), "Aggourokipi" (Zucchini Garden), "Ozolakkos", etc. These toponyms were known around the area and had a spring, garden and a pit.

The village was buils between the hills of Agios Athanasios (86 m), Typos, Vigla and Koukos. From those names, a census read Mount Typos, it knew the location: Drakonto and Senitou mountains, names which edivently corresponded on other hills.

According to suitable narrations, the village was mainly located near the sea and resettled since it was raided by pirates. The original location corresponded to Nevgati where it had a monastery. Mostly it was probably a small lake by the name of Agios Georgios near the gulf which it had remains of a ruined castle. In the 1346 census, it was a castle with the name Exadaktylio (Εξαδακτύλιον) or Exadaktylou (Εξαδακτύλου - six fingers) in which locally near the coast with a hillock elevation of 18 m in which today settled by an inhabitant. It featured Vriokastro (Voreiokastro - ), the name which was heard by Couze in 1858. It survived a surrounding wall and was planned which reminded a plan which it had a venetian castle known as Moudros, in which and remaining prehistoric and classical eras. The castle was located by the guld in which remained ever since a safe anchor cast, in which from the south of cape Stavros and the islet of Prassos in which it has 8 hectares and a perimeter of 440 m.

Ottoman period

The landing at the gulf written sources at the Turkish naval sailor in 1521 of Piri Reis which was known as the Qondia Körfezi entered many ships and remained several treaties for entereing Hellespont (now Canakkale). In the lying in which it was near the port and was quiet, in the maps located the castle in the innermost part of the gulf. In 1521, it did not had a settlement but an old bane which still survives. The gulf of la Condea and the castle which was marked even in a map of Bordone in 1528. In the mid-16th century, in 1552, the wooden writing of Thevet and in 1558, the map which was written for its third edition of Belon's book, it was written as Condias in the innermost part of the gulf. In which an inhabitant objected several safely and resettled by the coast. Later, it had sources only in the port and the castle but not in the old settlement, in which knew the inhabiants left again for the inland. The port had in plan all the information which verified the marking which it had for the sailors of the period and concentrically: Bocchini (Porto Condea 1658), Piacenza (La Condea 1680-85), anonomous (as an island Lacondea 1685), Dapper (Porto COndea and the Condi castle 1688), Coronelli (Condea lake and castle 1690-95) and Manoncourd (lake Cadia 1780). In 1770 in the port of Kontia, it anchored a spor of the Russian Navy during the Orlov Revolt which battled the castle. Analytic sources was the entrance of the safe spot of anchoring in its port and was given by Frieseman in 1789.

In 1785, it had the first new sources of the village in the present location. Auguste de Choiseul-Gouffier in the map excluding its port was also written as the village of Kondia with an inland location. Kontias was mainly an organized settlement and one of the largest places on the island. It had 290 military men in 1856 in which they paid 9,280 gross for entering the military. In 1858, Conze visited the island in which studied the area and mentioned as Kondia in the map. It had 176 families in 1863, it hiked to 187 in 1874. It had 227 houses in 1874 together with all the were a part of Metohchia. The same year sourced as a part of the municipality (koli) of Kondia and had several towns including Tzimandria (now Tsimandria), Portianou, Agkariones, Pisperago (Neo Pedino), Sarpi (now Kallithea) and Livadochori, the same as the present day municipality.

It was a rich village, with the exception of the agricultural works; it had many sailors and navy merchants, including Papayiannis with 60 boats, Anestos Karagiaouris (8 ships), Konstantis Makras (6), Katakouzinos Barkas (4), Antonis Telpizis (4), Konstantinos Mavroudis (2), Beidanis (2). Until 1912, it ran a post office and also two famous fountains, dating from 1910, can be found on this village: Tsikoulas, and Kali Vrisi.

In the mid-19th century, it was written of one of the last pirate routes in Lemnos from the pirate Psyrouki (Ψυρούκη) who was killed near the gulf with the ability to flee with his ship.

Modern Period

It was a municipality during the Turkish rule.Kontias finally joined the rest of Greece after the Balkan Wars in 1913. It became an independent community in 1918 and changed and modified its name to Kondias (Κονδιάς) which was altered into Kontias in 1940. During the years between the wars, it had a growth in its economy and population. It had 1,272 inhabitants in 1920 and was the third largest village in Lemnos. It had 1,500 in 1940 and was second after Myrina in population. It built a refugee settlement in 1926 and had a small population of refugee families. That time had water construction, created a row of trees, a new school, etc. From that time began the island's cotton production with seeds gave from their childres of papa-Kosta Aretou from the USA. It opened a kindergarten school in 1939 as a separate building, it was damaged during the war and rebuilt in 1951 and reopened in 1957. Many years passed and were employeed by Evanthia Savvaidou (1957-62), Kalliopi Nikolaidou (1957-62) and Dimitra Aligianni (1962-67). From 1948, for much, it ran student encampment in Kondia around the school. Its inhabitants left abroad after World War II and the Greek Civil War.

The school

The school was first opened in 1863. It ran with a building, its funbction received around 20% of the total and from the remaining were paid by students. The school became communal in 1874 and a building was built in 1880 near the monastery of Agios Dimitrios with the of its inhabitants. It was marked to a middle school in 1903 and before 1912, it had a separate girl's school.

Two old communal schools in 1918 became a three-grade school for males and females, later it became a five-grade system in 1937 and after the war was marked with a three-grade (1970), second-grade (1974), in the beginning of the 1990s, it returned to a one-grade but later remarked to a four-grade.

Famous alumni included Argyrios Kavouridis (1880-1964) from Kaminia, cousin of the friend Argytios Moshidis. He married and lived in Kontias where he worked with the replication for many years (1913-16 and 1920-40). Mainly he had a house, wooden from the English military body and money from the soldiers, it had six seats in 1922-25. Continuously punished several gifts which he arned the natural organs and papers, he ran the only school museum with stones, animal skins, birds, bird eggs, statuettes, tools, indigenous weapons from Africa, etc. He ran as a school in which the common port was named a Little University. The museum was destroyed during World War II and had a common action. He ran a council team and a pro-forest countil that was known as the Green Team, it done replantings, trails in other villages with historic and archeological areas, broughtin many cultural rankings of the villages. The school buildings were damaged in the 1968 earthquake, it was later rebuilt.

Other than A. Kavouridis, other alumni included Kon. Fragkoudakis (1902-05), Kostas Aretos (1910s-20), Fotini Tsarti, Safo Zafioidou (1927-37), Maria Arsenikaki (1937-52), Ioannis Tsakonas (1930-65), Kiriakos Douramanis (1945-50), Ekaterini Tsakona (1953-62), Panagiotis Poriazis (1960-71), Amfitriti Kapetanou (1966-72), Kostas Kondellis (1971-77), Argyro Lappa (1971-77), the remainder organized a school museum.

ee also

*List of places in the Lesbos prefecture
*Administrative divisions of the Lesbos prefecture

Sources

*"Tourptsoglou-Stefanidou Vassiliki, "Voyages and Geographical Sources From Lemnos Island (15th-20th Centuries)" ("Ταξιδιωτικά και γεωγραφικά κείμενα για τη νήσο Λήμνο (15ος-20ος αιώνας)" = "Taxidiotika ke geografika kimena yia ti niso Limno (15os-20os eonas)")
*Belitsos, Theodoros, "Lemnos and its villages" by Th. Belitsos 1994.
*"Lemnos/Limnos Province CD Rom" ("Cdrom Επαρχείου Λήμνου" = "CD Rom Eparcheiou Limnou"): "Lovable Lemnos"
*Belitsos, Theodoros "" ("Istoriko odiporiko sti Limno: Kodias" = "Historic Route in Lemnos Kontias] "), "Limnos" p 452 (21-3-2007)

External links

* [http://www.gtp.gr/LocPage.asp?id=8127 Kontias at the GTP Travel Pages]
*Map and aerial photos:
**Street map information from: [http://www.mapquest.com/maps/map.adp?latlongtype=decimal&latitude=37.865&longitude=21.154&zoom=6 Mapquest] , [http://local.live.com/mapz.aspx?&lats1=37.865&longs=21.154&alts1=35 LiveLocal] or [http://maps.google.com/maps?||=37.865,21.154 Google] or [http://maps.yahoo.com/maps_result?lat=37.874&lon=21.174&mag=2 Yahoo! Maps]
**Satellite
http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=37.865,21.154&spn=0.11,0.18&t=k Google] or [http://virtualearth.msn.com/default.aspx?cp=37.865|21.154&5style=h&lvl=15&v=1 Microsoft Virtual Earth] - image now available
*Kontias coordinates are: coord|37|51|52|N|21|9|20|E|type:city(629)_region:GR