Karditsa ( el, Περιφερειακή ενότητα Καρδίτσας, ) is one of the
regional units of Greece
The 74 regional units of Greece ( el, περιφερειακές ενότητες, ; sing. , ) are the country's Seventy-four second-level Administrative divisions of Greece, administrative units. They are divisions of the country's 13 Modern reg ...
. It is part of the
region
In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as zones, lands or territories, are areas that are broadly divided by physical characteristics ( physical geography), human impact characteristics ( human geography), and the interaction of humanity an ...
of
Thessaly
Thessaly ( el, Θεσσαλία, translit=Thessalía, ; ancient Thessalian: , ) is a traditional geographic and modern administrative region of Greece, comprising most of the ancient region of the same name. Before the Greek Dark Ages, The ...
. Its name is derived from its capital
Karditsa
Karditsa ( el, Καρδίτσα ) is a city in western Thessaly in mainland Greece. The city of Karditsa is the capital of Karditsa regional unit of region of Thessaly.
Inhabitation is attested from 9000 BC. Karditsa ls linked with GR-30, the ...
, a small city of approximately 40,000 people.
Geography
Karditsa borders the regional units of
Trikala
Trikala ( el, Τρίκαλα; rup, Trikolj) is a city in northwestern Thessaly, Greece, and the capital of the Trikala regional unit. The city straddles the Lithaios river, which is a tributary of Pineios. According to the Greek National Stati ...
Phthiotis
Phthiotis ( el, Φθιώτιδα, ''Fthiótida'', ; ancient Greek and Katharevousa: Φθιῶτις) is one of the regional units of Greece. It is part of the administrative region of Central Greece. The capital is the city of Lamia. It is borde ...
to the southeast,
Evrytania
Evrytania ( el, Ευρυτανία, ; Latin: ''Eurytania'') is one of the regional units of Greece. It is part of the region of Central Greece. Its capital is Karpenisi (approx. 8,000 inhabitants).
Geography
Evrytania is almost entirely formed ...
to the south,
Aetolia-Acarnania
Aetolia-Acarnania ( el, Αιτωλοακαρνανία, ''Aitoloakarnanía'', ) is one of the regional units of Greece. It is part of the geographic region of Central Greece and the administrative region of West Greece. A combination of the histor ...
to the southwest and Arta to the west. The main rivers are
Megdovas
The Megdovas (, ), also known as Tavropos (, avroˈpos, is a river that flows through the Karditsa and Evrytania regional units, Greece. It is long.Pineios in the north, and the Enipeas in the east. The
Plastiras Dam
The Plastiras Dam ( el, Φράγμα Πλαστήρα) is a concrete arch dam in Karditsa regional unit, Greece that impounds the Tavropos (Megdovas) River, creating an artificial lake called Lake Plastiras.
Name
The dam is named after Niko ...
and Lake Plastiras, located to the west of the city of Karditsa, supply water to the plains and the central part of Greece.
Located in south-western Thessaly, it is primarily an agricultural area. Farmlands dominate the central and the eastern part, which belongs to the
Thessalian Plain
The Thessalian plain ( el, Θεσσαλική πεδιάδα, Θεσσαλικός κάμπος) is the dominant geographical feature of the Greek region of Thessaly.
The plain is formed by the Pineios River and its tributaries and is surrounded ...
. The western and southern part of the regional unit is mountainous, notably the
Pindus
The Pindus (also Pindos or Pindhos; el, Πίνδος, Píndos; sq, Pindet; rup, Pindu) is a mountain range located in Northern Greece and Southern Albania. It is roughly 160 km (100 miles) long, with a maximum elevation of 2,637 metres ...
mountains. The
Agrafa
Agrafa ( el, Άγραφα, ) is a mountainous region in Evrytania and Karditsa regional units in mainland Greece, consisting mainly of small villages. It is the southernmost part of the Pindus range. There is also a municipality with the same n ...
region, straddling the border with
Evrytania
Evrytania ( el, Ευρυτανία, ; Latin: ''Eurytania'') is one of the regional units of Greece. It is part of the region of Central Greece. Its capital is Karpenisi (approx. 8,000 inhabitants).
Geography
Evrytania is almost entirely formed ...
, is well known for its resistance against Ottoman rule and its harsh landscape.
Administration
The regional unit Karditsa is subdivided into 6 municipalities. These are (number as in the map in the infobox):
*
Argithea
Argithea ( el, Αργιθέα) is a village and a historic municipality in the Karditsa regional unit of Greece. The seat of the municipality is in Anthiro. The name derives from ἀργός + θέα (argós + théa, “white view”).
Municipal ...
(2)
*
Karditsa
Karditsa ( el, Καρδίτσα ) is a city in western Thessaly in mainland Greece. The city of Karditsa is the capital of Karditsa regional unit of region of Thessaly.
Inhabitation is attested from 9000 BC. Karditsa ls linked with GR-30, the ...
Mouzaki
Mouzaki ( el, Μουζάκι) is a town and a municipality in the northwestern part of the Karditsa regional unit, Greece. Mouzaki is located on the southwestern edge of the Thessalian plain, where the river Pamisos descends from the Agrafa moun ...
(4)
*
Palamas
Palamas (Greek: Παλαμάς) is a town and a municipality in the Karditsa regional unit, Greece. Population 16,726 (2011). Palamas is located south-southwest of Larissa, the capital of Thessaly, northwest of Lamia, north of Sofades, east-nort ...
(5)
*
Sofades
Sofades ( el, Σοφάδες) is a town and municipality in Thessaly, central Greece belonging to the regional unit of Karditsa. Its 2011 census population was 6,056 people and 18,864 for the municipality, including a large Romani community. Its el ...
(6)
Prefecture
Karditsa was created as a prefecture ( el, Νομός Καρδίτσας) in 1899, and again in 1947. As a part of the 2011 Kallikratis government reform, the regional unit Karditsa was created out of the former prefecture Karditsa. The prefecture had the same territory as the present regional unit. At the same time, the municipalities were reorganised, according to the table below.
History
Encompassing the ancient geographical region of
Thessaliotis
Thessaliotis ( grc, Θεσσαλιῶτις) was one of the four districts into which ancient Thessaly was divided. The others were Pelasgiotis, Histiaeotis, and Phthiotis. Thessaliotis corresponded to the central plain of Thessaly and the upper c ...
, one of the four ancient districts of
Thessaly
Thessaly ( el, Θεσσαλία, translit=Thessalía, ; ancient Thessalian: , ) is a traditional geographic and modern administrative region of Greece, comprising most of the ancient region of the same name. Before the Greek Dark Ages, The ...
, the present day Karditsa regional unit was in the
Kingdom of Macedonia
Macedonia (; grc-gre, Μακεδονία), also called Macedon (), was an ancient kingdom on the periphery of Archaic and Classical Greece, and later the dominant state of Hellenistic Greece. The kingdom was founded and initially ruled by ...
and later the
Roman Empire
The Roman Empire ( la, Imperium Romanum ; grc-gre, Βασιλεία τῶν Ῥωμαίων, Basileía tôn Rhōmaíōn) was the post- Republican period of ancient Rome. As a polity, it included large territorial holdings around the Mediter ...
, the
Byzantine Empire
The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...
, the
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...
from the 15th century until 1881 and finally Greece after the liberation of Thessaly. Its economy and agriculture boomed during that period; Karditsa was administered as the Trikala–Karditsa prefecture until 1947. It was affected by
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
and the
Greek Civil War
The Greek Civil War ( el, ο Eμφύλιος όλεμος}, ''o Emfýlios'' 'Pólemos'' "the Civil War") took place from 1946 to 1949. It was mainly fought against the established Kingdom of Greece, which was supported by the United Kingdom and ...
which saw many buildings destroyed and inhabitants left homeless and in hiding. The prefecture was later rebuilt and received electricity, appliances and motorised transport, while emigration also began in the 1950s, when construction of Lake Plastiras was added. Television arrived in the 1970s and the 1980s for its villages, and its economy later declined, seeing high unemployment in the prefecture.
Population
The population was 121,775 in 2001.
The plains of central and southern Karditsa are inhabited by the
Karagounides
Karagounides ( el, Καραγκούνηδες; singular: Καραγκούνης, ''Karagounis'') are an ethnic Greek subgroup and are the native people of the western plains of Thessaly, Greece. More specifically, the term is used to refer to the ...
( el, Καραγκούνηδες), while the
Agrafa
Agrafa ( el, Άγραφα, ) is a mountainous region in Evrytania and Karditsa regional units in mainland Greece, consisting mainly of small villages. It is the southernmost part of the Pindus range. There is also a municipality with the same n ...
mountains in the west of the prefecture are dominated by a strong
Sarakatsani
The Sarakatsani ( el, Σαρακατσάνοι, also written Karakachani, bg, каракачани) are an ethnic Greek population subgroup who were traditionally transhumant shepherds, native to Greece, with a smaller presence in neighbourin ...
( el, Σαρακατσάνοι) and Aromanian, or ''Vlach'' ( el, Βλάχοι - Vlahi), element.
Culture and education
The Public Market of Karditsa is one of
UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...
's protected cultural monuments.
The city is also an important knowledge centre, supporting the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, the Public and Community Health, Forestry and Wood Sciences, and Science of Foods and Nutrition, departments of the
University of Thessaly
The University of Thessaly (UTH; Greek: ) is a public university in Thessaly, Greece, founded in 1984. The university includes the main campus in the city of Volos and regional campuses located in Karditsa, Larissa, Trikala, and the city of Lamia. ...
Damaskinos of Athens
Archbishop Damaskinos Papandreou ( el, Αρχιεπίσκοπος Δαμασκηνός Παπανδρέου), born Dimitrios Papandreou ( el, Δημήτριος Παπανδρέου; 3 March 1891 – 20 May 1949) was the archbishop of Athen ...
Ioannis Bourousis
Giannis Bourousis (Greek: Γιάννης Μπουρούσης; born November 17, 1983) is a former Greek professional basketball player who last played for ASK Karditsa of the Greek A2 Basket League. He is a 7 ft 0.75 in (2.15 m) 270 lb ...
*
Ekaterini Koffa
Ekaterini "Katerina" Koffa ( el, Αικατερίνη (Κατερίνα) Κόφφα, born April 10, 1969) is a retired Greek sprinter who won the 200 metres at the 1997 IAAF World Indoor Championships. Koffa still holds the indoor and outdoor G ...
Dimosthenis Tampakos
Dimosthenis Tampakos ( el, Δημοσθένης Ταμπάκος, born 12 November 1976 in Thessaloniki) is a Greek gymnast and Olympic gold medalist.
He won gold in the men's rings at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens with a score of 9.862. He ...
Dimitrios Tsiamis
Dimitrios Tsiamis ( el, Δημήτριος Τσιάμης; born 12 January 1982 in Karditsa) is a Greece, Greek triple jumper.Georgios Karaiskakis
Georgios Karaiskakis ( el, Γεώργιος Καραϊσκάκης), born Georgios Karaiskos ( el, Γεώργιος Καραΐσκος; 1782 – 1827), was a famous Greece, Greek military commander and a leader of the Greek War of Independence.
...
Elena Paparizou
Helena Paparizou (; , ; born 31 January 1962) is a Swedish-born Greek singer, songwriter and television personality. Born and raised in Sweden to Greek parents, she enrolled in various arts schools before launching a career in Sweden in 1999 a ...
George Mitsikostas
Giorgos Mitsikostas ( el, Γιώργος Μητσικώστας) (born 12 October 1968) is a famous Greek comedic impressionist in Greece.
Biography
He started his professional career by impersonating Greek public figures, mainly sports people (e ...
There are a number of highways E75 and the main railway from
Volos
Volos ( el, Βόλος ) is a coastal port city in Thessaly situated midway on the Greek mainland, about north of Athens and south of Thessaloniki. It is the sixth most populous city of Greece, and the capital of the Magnesia regional unit ...
to
Meteora
The Meteora (; el, Μετέωρα, ) is a rock formation in central Greece hosting one of the largest and most precipitously built complexes of Eastern Orthodox monasteries, second in importance only to Mount Athos.Sofianos, D.Z.: "Metéora" ...
crosses
Thessaly
Thessaly ( el, Θεσσαλία, translit=Thessalía, ; ancient Thessalian: , ) is a traditional geographic and modern administrative region of Greece, comprising most of the ancient region of the same name. Before the Greek Dark Ages, The ...
. The region is directly linked to the rest of
Europe
Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...
through
International Airport of Central Greece
Nea Anchialos National Airport ( gr, Κρατικός Αερολιμένας Νέας Αγχιάλου) is an airport located near the town of Nea Anchialos in Greece. It serves the department of Magnesia and is also known as ''Central Greece A ...
located in
Nea Anchialos
Nea Anchialos ( el, Νέα Αγχίαλος) is a town and a former municipality in Magnesia, Thessaly, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Volos, of which it is a municipal unit. It is situated southwest ...
in a small distance from
Karditsa
Karditsa ( el, Καρδίτσα ) is a city in western Thessaly in mainland Greece. The city of Karditsa is the capital of Karditsa regional unit of region of Thessaly.
Inhabitation is attested from 9000 BC. Karditsa ls linked with GR-30, the ...
.
See also
*
List of settlements in the Karditsa regional unit
This is a list of settlements in the Karditsa regional unit, Greece:
* Achladia
* Agia Paraskevi
* Agia Triada
* Agiopigi
* Agios Akakios
* Agios Dimitrios
* Agios Georgios
* Agios Theodoros
* Agios Vissarios
* Agnantero
* Aidonochori
...