
The Aspropotamos–Spercheios line or Achelöos–Spercheios line () was Greece's first land border with the
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empire, was an empire, imperial realm that controlled much of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th to early 20th centuries; it also controlled parts of southeastern Centr ...
, established by the
London Protocol (1830)
The London Protocol of 1830, also known as the Protocol of Independence () in Greek historiography, was a treaty signed between France, Russia, and Great Britain on 3 February 1830. It was the first official international diplomatic act that reco ...
.
The border was decided upon by the three
Great Powers
A great power is a sovereign state that is recognized as having the ability and expertise to exert its influence on a global scale. Great powers characteristically possess military and economic strength, as well as diplomatic and soft power ...
(
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland was the union of the Kingdom of Great Britain and the Kingdom of Ireland into one sovereign state, established by the Acts of Union 1800, Acts of Union in 1801. It continued in this form until ...
,
Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...
and the
Kingdom of France
The Kingdom of France is the historiographical name or umbrella term given to various political entities of France in the Middle Ages, medieval and Early modern France, early modern period. It was one of the most powerful states in Europe from th ...
). It would start at the mouth of the
Achelous River
The Achelous (, ''Akhelôios''), also Acheloos, is a river in Epirus, western Greece. It is long. It formed the boundary between Acarnania and Aetolia of antiquity. It empties into the Ionian Sea. In ancient times its spirit was venerated as ...
(then known as "Aspropotamos"), pass through
Artotina
Artotina () is a mountain village in the municipal unit of Vardousia, northwestern Phocis, Greece. It is situated on the western slope of the Vardousia mountains, near the source of the river Evinos, at about 1200 m elevation. Artotina is located 1 ...
along the ridge of
Mount Oeta
Mount Oeta (; , polytonic , ''Oiti'', also transcribed as ''Oite'') is a mountain in Central Greece. A southeastern offshoot of the Pindus range, it is high. Since 1966, the core area of the mountain is a national park, and much of the rest has ...
and reach the
Malian Gulf
The Malian or Maliac Gulf () is a gulf in the western Aegean Sea. It forms part of the coastline of Greece's region of Phthiotis. The gulf stretches east to west to a distance of , depending on the definition, and is very shallow, with a maximum ...
at the mouth of the
Spercheios River
The Spercheios (, ''Sperkheiós''), also known as the Spercheus from its Latin name, is a river in Phthiotis in central Greece. It is long, and its drainage area is . It was worshipped as a god in the ancient Greek religion and appears in some ...
, passing south of the city of Zitouni (modern
Lamia
Lamia (; ), in ancient Greek mythology, was a child-eating monster and, in later tradition, was regarded as a type of night-haunting spirit or "daimon".
In the earliest myths, Lamia was a beautiful queen of ancient Libya who had an affair with ...
), which would remain in
Ottoman hands. The island of
Euboea
Euboea ( ; , ), also known by its modern spelling Evia ( ; , ), is the second-largest Greek island in area and population, after Crete, and the sixth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. It is separated from Boeotia in mainland Greece by ...
(Negroponte), the
Northern Sporades
The (Northern) Sporades are an archipelago along the east coast of Greece, northeast of the island of Euboea,"Skyros - Britannica Concise" (description), Britannica Concise, 2006, webpageEB-Skyrosnotes "including Skiathos, Skopelos, Skyros, and Al ...
,
Skyros
Skyros (, ), in some historical contexts Romanization of Greek, Latinized Scyros (, ), is an island in Greece. It is the southernmost island of the Sporades, an archipelago in the Aegean Sea. Around the 2nd millennium BC, the island was known as ...
, and the
Cyclades
The CYCLADES computer network () was a French research network created in the early 1970s. It was one of the pioneering networks experimenting with the concept of packet switching and, unlike the ARPANET, was explicitly designed to facilitate i ...
including the island of
Amorgos
Amorgos (, ; ) is the easternmost island of the Cyclades island group and the nearest island to the neighboring Dodecanese island group in Greece. Along with 16 neighbouring islets, the largest of which (by land area) is Nikouria Island, it compr ...
would become part of Greece.
Πρωτόκολλο Της Ανεξαρτησίας Του Ελληνικού Κράτους - ...
/ref>
It was replaced in the Treaty of Constantinople (1832)
The Great Powers ratified the terms of the Constantinople Arrangement in connection with the border between Greece and the Ottoman Empire in the London Protocol of 30 August 1832, which marked the end of the Greek War of Independence and establi ...
by the Ambracian Gulf
The Ambracian Gulf, also known as the Gulf of Arta or the Gulf of Actium, and in some official documents as the Amvrakikos Gulf (), is a gulf of the Ionian Sea in northwestern Greece. About long and wide, it is one of the largest enclosed gulfs ...
– Pagasetic Gulf line (or Arta–Volos line
The Arta–Volos line () or Ambracian–Pagasetic line () was the land border of the Kingdom of Greece and the Ottoman Empire between 1832 and the Annexation of Thessaly in 1881. It was named after the two principal cities in proximity of the bor ...
), which had already been envisaged in the London Protocol (1829)
The London Protocol of 22 March 1829 was an agreement between the three Great Powers ( Britain, France and Russia), which amended the first London Protocol on the creation of an internally autonomous, but tributary Greek state under Ottoman su ...
as the northern boundary of an autonomous Greek state under Ottoman suzerainty.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Aspropotamos-Spercheios line
1830 establishments in Greece
1830 establishments in the Ottoman Empire
1830 in international relations
1832 disestablishments in Greece
1832 disestablishments in the Ottoman Empire
1832 in international relations
Achelous River
Borders of Greece
Borders of the Ottoman Empire
Greek War of Independence
Greece–Ottoman Empire relations
Spercheios Valley