Syvota (, , before 1927: Βώλια - ''Volia'', 1927-1940: Μούρτος - ''Mourtos'') is a village and a former municipality in

Thesprotia Thesprotia (; , ) is one of the regional units of Greece. It is part of the Epirus region. Its capital and largest town is Igoumenitsa. Thesprotia is named after the Thesprotians, an ancient Greek tribe that inhabited the region in antiquity. His ...

Epirus Epirus () is a Region#Geographical regions, geographical and historical region, historical region in southeastern Europe, now shared between Greece and Albania. It lies between the Pindus Mountains and the Ionian Sea, stretching from the Bay ...

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 ...

. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality

Igoumenitsa Igoumenitsa () is a coastal city in northwestern Greece. It is the capital of the regional unit of Thesprotia. Igoumenitsa is the chief port of Thesprotia and Epirus, and one of the largest passenger ports of Greece, connecting northwestern Main ...

, of which it is a municipal unit. The municipal unit has an area of 72.439 km². The population in 2021 was 1,089 for the village, and 2,693 for the municipal unit. The municipal unit has four main settlements: Syvota, Argyrotopos, Faskomilia, and Plataria. The seat of the municipality was in

Plataria Plataria (, ) is a coastal village and resort in Thesprotia, Epirus (region), Epirus region, Greece. It is part of the Syvota municipal unit. Plataria was part of the former province of Thyamida. It is located south of Igoumenitsa in the homonymo ...

History

The earliest recorded inhabitants of the region are the

Thesprotians The Thesprotians () were an ancient Greek tribe, akin to the Molossians, inhabiting the kingdom of Thesprotis in Epirus. Together with the Molossians and the Chaonians, they formed the main tribes of the northwestern Greek group. On their north ...

, a

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

tribe of

. In antiquity, the location was called Sybota and was the site of the

Battle of Sybota The Battle of Sybota () took place in 433 BC between Corcyra (modern Corfu) and Corinth. It was one of the immediate catalysts for the Peloponnesian War. History Corinth had been in dispute with Corcyra, an old Corinthian colony which no longer ...

. During the Middle Ages, Syvota, like the rest of Epirus, was part of the

Byzantine Empire The Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire centred on Constantinople during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Having survived History of the Roman Empire, the events that caused the ...

and the

Despotate of Epirus The Despotate of Epirus () was one of the Greek Rump state, successor states of the Byzantine Empire established in the aftermath of the Fourth Crusade in 1204 by a branch of the Angelos dynasty. It claimed to be the legitimate successor of the ...

, the

Republic of Venice The Republic of Venice, officially the Most Serene Republic of Venice and traditionally known as La Serenissima, was a sovereign state and Maritime republics, maritime republic with its capital in Venice. Founded, according to tradition, in 697 ...

and in the 15th century it became part 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 ...

. The first local Muslims of Syvota are recorded in Arvenitsa and Nista as early as 1613. It became part of

in 1913, following the

Balkan Wars The Balkan Wars were two conflicts that took place in the Balkans, Balkan states in 1912 and 1913. In the First Balkan War, the four Balkan states of Kingdom of Greece (Glücksburg), Greece, Kingdom of Serbia, Serbia, Kingdom of Montenegro, M ...

, and was previously used as an Ottoman naval base during the

Greek War of Independence The Greek War of Independence, also known as the Greek Revolution or the Greek Revolution of 1821, was a successful war of independence by Greek revolutionaries against the Ottoman Empire between 1821 and 1829. In 1826, the Greeks were assisted ...

. Like all other Muslim Cham Albanian communities, the population was affected by the annexation of the region by Greece and many left the area. In 1913, the population of Arvenitsa () dropped from 439 to 389, Mourtos ( or ''Vola'') from 970 to 659 and Nista () from 511 to 358. The Chams of Plataria () were designated by Greece for expulsion to Turkey in 1925. Albania protested against the plan in the

League of Nations The League of Nations (LN or LoN; , SdN) was the first worldwide intergovernmental organisation whose principal mission was to maintain world peace. It was founded on 10 January 1920 by the Paris Peace Conference (1919–1920), Paris Peace ...

. A further wave of emigration towards Turkey is documented in Mourtos in 1932 and Arvenitsa (renamed to ''Argyrotopos'' in 1928) in 1934. Greece settled Greek Orthodox refugees from Turkey in Mourtos after 1922, following the

Population exchange between Greece and Turkey The 1923 population exchange between Greece and Turkey stemmed from the "Convention Concerning the Exchange of Greek and Turkish Populations" signed at Lausanne, Switzerland, on 30 January 1923, by the governments of Greece and Turkey. It involv ...

. By 1926, there were 30 refugee families from Turkey in Arvenitsa, 90 in Nista, 5 in Plataria, 150 in Mourtos. Albanian was taught again for Albanian children in the region in Nista (renamed to ''Faskomilia'' in 1928) as of 1936. The Chams of Syvota lived in the village until 1944, when they were expelled for collaborating with the Axis Powers. During the short term Italian occupation in Syvota (early November 1940) the village was burnt by Cham Albanian bands and Italian troops. In Polyneri (, renamed to ''Polyneri'' in 1955), a tiny Muslim Cham community resides, and until recently, the last imam in Epirus lived in this village. The mosque was blown up by a Christian villager during the Regime of the Colonels.Baltsiotis.
The Muslim Chams of Northwestern Greece
'. 2011. "One of the last acts of the“cleansing of history” is the blowing up of the mosque at the village of Polyneri (ex-Koutsi,) by a (Christian) villager, during the time of the Colonels’ Dictatorship.147 A tiny Muslim community and, until recently, the last imam of Epirus still survive in this village." Today, Syvota town is a well-developed resort, owing largely to the numerous pristine beaches with clear waters located on several islets immediately offshore.

Population

References

Sources

* * * {{Igoumenitsa div Populated places in Thesprotia Igoumenitsa Former Cham settlements

History

Population

See also

References

Sources