Echinos (; , ''Shahin'') is a village and a community in the municipality Myki. Before the 2011 local government reform it was part of the municipality of Myki, of which it was a municipal district. The 2021 census recorded 2,780 inhabitants in the community. The community of Echinos covers an area of 85.691 km².

History

20091128 Ehinos Mosque Xanthi Thrace Greece

According to the legend Echinos was founded during the 1360s by

Lala Shahin Pasha Lala Shahin Pasha (; 1330 – after 1388), was an Ottoman military commander and first Beylerbey of Rumelia. He was instrumental in the early Ottoman expansion into the Balkans, serving as a key commander under Sultan Murad I. He played a lead ...

, hence its old name ''Shahin''. The village is first mentioned in an Ottoman document from the middle of the 16th century. The document lists those who voluntarily took part in Ottoman military operations. According to that document 23

Muslim Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...

families and 18 single Muslims from Shahin were involved in those operations. Their incomes are also included in the document for proper taxation. In the end of the 19th century the renowned explorer of the

Rhodope Mountains The Rhodopes (; , ; , ''Rodopi''; ) are a mountain range in Southeastern Europe, and the largest by area in Bulgaria, with over 83% of its area in the southern part of the country and the remainder in Greece. Golyam Perelik is its highest peak ...

St. Shishkov traveled through Shahin and wrote about the village that the people were very passionate Muslims and when one meets a woman, she turns her face aside. If you try to talk with her or ask her something, she would call her husband. He also wrote that the village was very rich and even the children used to dress in expensive clothes. The houses were two or three stories all painted in white. Shishkov describes the village more like a little town with some 200 houses. According to Lyubomir Miletich as of 1912 Shahin was a Pomak village in the Darıdere

kaza A kaza (, "judgment" or "jurisdiction") was an administrative divisions of the Ottoman Empire, administrative division of the Ottoman Empire. It is also discussed in English under the names district, subdistrict, and juridical district. Kazas co ...

of 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 ...

. According to Patriarch Cyril as of 1943 there were 417 households and 1975 inhabitants in Shahin - all

Pomaks Pomaks (; Macedonian: Помаци ; ) are Bulgarian-speaking Muslims inhabiting Bulgaria, northwestern Turkey, and northeastern Greece. The strong ethno-confessional minority in Bulgaria is recognized officially as Bulgarian Muslims by th ...

Administrative division

The community of Echinos consists of two separate settlements: * Melivoia (population 570) *Echinos (population 2,210)

Geography

Echinos lies on a valley of the

. It is 761 kilometers northeast of

Athens Athens ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. A significant coastal urban area in the Mediterranean, Athens is also the capital of the Attica (region), Attica region and is the southe ...

, 254 kilometers northeast of

Thessaloniki Thessaloniki (; ), also known as Thessalonica (), Saloniki, Salonika, or Salonica (), is the second-largest city in Greece (with slightly over one million inhabitants in its Thessaloniki metropolitan area, metropolitan area) and the capital cit ...

, and 27 kilometers north northeast of

Xanthi Xanthi is a city in the region of Western Thrace, northeastern Greece. It is the capital of the Xanthi regional unit of the region of East Macedonia and Thrace. Amphitheatrically built on the foot of Rhodope mountain chain, the city is divided ...

Population

The majority of the population of Echinos are

Notable people

* Chafiz Sophologiotatos Tzemali (born 1937-03-10) - a graduate of the

Islamic University of Madinah The Islamic University of Madinah () is a public Islamic university in Medina, Saudi Arabia. Established by King Saud bin Abdulaziz in 1961, Sayy’id Abul Ala Maududi had played a significant role of establishing and running of Islamic Univers ...

and

mufti A mufti (; , ) is an Islamic jurist qualified to issue a nonbinding opinion ('' fatwa'') on a point of Islamic law (''sharia''). The act of issuing fatwas is called ''iftāʾ''. Muftis and their ''fatāwa'' have played an important role thro ...

Komotini Komotini (, , ), is a city in the Modern regions of Greece, region of East Macedonia and Thrace, northeastern Greece and its capital. It is also the capital of the Rhodope (regional unit), Rhodope. It was the administrative centre of the Rhodope- ...

References

External links

Website
{{Myki div Populated places in Xanthi (regional unit) Myki, Greece