Chranoi ( - ) is a village in the municipality of

Megalopoli Megalopoli () is a town in the southwestern part of the regional unit of Arcadia, southern Greece. It is located in the same site as ancient Megalopolis ( literally ''large/great city''). When it was founded in 371 BCE, it was the first large urba ...

, southwest Arcadia,

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

. It is located in the mountains on the border with

Messenia Messenia or Messinia ( ; ) is a regional unit (''perifereiaki enotita'') in the southwestern part of the Peloponnese region, in Greece. Until the implementation of the Kallikratis plan on 1 January 2011, Messenia was a prefecture (''nomos' ...

, at about 500 m elevation. It is 4 km west Paradeisia, 5 km southeast of

Isaris Isaris () is a village and a community in the municipality of Megalopoli, Arcadia (regional unit), Arcadia, Greece. It is situated in the mountains west of the Alfeios valley, at about 750 m elevation. It is considered a List of traditional settl ...

, and 13 km southwest of Megalopoli. The railway from

Corinth Corinth ( ; , ) is a municipality in Corinthia in Greece. The successor to the ancient Corinth, ancient city of Corinth, it is a former municipality in Corinthia, Peloponnese (region), Peloponnese, which is located in south-central Greece. Sin ...

Kalamata Kalamata ( ) is the second most populous city of the Peloponnese peninsula in southern Greece after Patras, and the largest city of the Peloponnese (region), homonymous administrative region. As the capital and chief port of the Messenia regiona ...

passes through the village.

Population

Name and history

The name Chranoi (Χράνοι) probably derives from the Slavic word Hrana (Хpaнa) which literally means 'crop', probably in relation to the village's agricultural nature. This name, along with other Slavic village names, like

Andravida Andravida (, ) is a town and a former Communities and Municipalities of Greece, municipality in Elis (regional unit), Elis, in the northwest of the Peloponnese peninsula of Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipal ...

, is proof of Slavic presence in the Peloponnese during the Middle Ages, though the extent of said presence is unknown. Chranoi and the area around it has been inhabited since at least the 15th century. Chranoi was originally several smaller villages which grew together and eventually joined into one, according to local accounts. As part of

Charilaos Trikoupis Charilaos Trikoupis (; 11 July 1832 – 30 March 1896) was a Greek politician who served as a Prime Minister of Greece seven times from 1875 until 1895. He is best remembered for introducing the vote of confidence in the Greek constitution, p ...

' construction projects a bridge and railroad station with trucks running through the village were built. It cut the village into Upper Chranoi and Lower Chranoi, area terms still used today by the locals. During World War II it was occupied by the Italians and many villagers joined the resistance with the

National Liberation Front (Greece) The National Liberation Front (, ''Ethnikó Apeleftherotikó Métopo'', EAM) was an alliance of various political parties and organizations which fought to liberate Greece from Axis Occupation. It was the main movement of the Greek Resistance ...

. The villagers managed to convince the local Italian garrison, which was guarding its strategic bridge, to join them in the guerilla warfare against the Nazi occupation, telling them that the Germans would otherwise kill them because of Italy's surrender. During the Civil War many joined the

Democratic Army of Greece The Democratic Army of Greece (DAG; , ΔΣΕ; ''Dimokratikós Stratós Elládas'', DSE) was the army founded by the Communist Party of Greece during the Greek Civil War (1946–1949). At its height, it had a strength of around 50,000 men and w ...

as well as the Royal

Hellenic Army The Hellenic Army (, sometimes abbreviated as ΕΣ), formed in 1828, is the army, land force of Greece. The term Names of the Greeks, '' Hellenic'' is the endogenous synonym for ''Greek''. The Hellenic Army is the largest of the three branches ...

. The village had a relatively large and growing population compared to smaller villages up until the 1960s. Like most of Arcadia, its population starting falling due to the large waves of migration of Arcadian Greeks to major Greek cities, like Athens, and to foreign countries, particularly North American ones.

References

External links

- The village's website * Χράνοι στις επάλξεις του αγώνα - book by Giannis Palavos https://web.archive.org/web/20150402152611/http://vopac.nlg.gr/Record/303789 {{Megalopoli Megalopolis, Greece Populated places in Arcadia, Peloponnese

Population

Name and history

See also

References

External links