Vlachokerasia () is a village in Arcadia,

Peloponnese The Peloponnese ( ), Peloponnesus ( ; , ) or Morea (; ) is a peninsula and geographic region in Southern Greece, and the southernmost region of the Balkans. It is connected to the central part of the country by the Isthmus of Corinth land bridg ...

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 ...

. According to the 2021 census, it had a population of 385 inhabitants. It is located 22 km from

Tripoli Tripoli or Tripolis (from , meaning "three cities") may refer to: Places Greece *Tripolis (region of Arcadia), a district in ancient Arcadia, Greece * Tripolis (Larisaia), an ancient Greek city in the Pelasgiotis district, Thessaly, near Larissa ...

and at an altitude of roughly 950 meters, in a region with cherry trees, chestnuts and apple trees, walnuts and plane trees. The numerous water mills serve not only Vlachokerasia but also towns as far as

Tegea Tegea (; ) was a settlement in ancient Arcadia, and it is also a former municipality in Arcadia, Peloponnese, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the Tripoli municipality, of which it is a municipal unit with an area o ...

Toponymy

The name Vlachokerasia is a combination of the words

Vlach Vlach ( ), also Wallachian and many other variants, is a term and exonym used from the Middle Ages until the Modern Era to designate speakers of Eastern Romance languages living in Southeast Europe—south of the Danube (the Balkan peninsula) ...

and 'kerasia' (Greek for 'cherry tree'). It is comparable to the nearby village of Kerasia, formerly called Arvanitokerasia (), a combination of the words

Arvanite Arvanites (; Arvanitika: , or , ; Greek: , ) are a population group in Greece of Albanian origin. They are bilingual, traditionally speaking Arvanitika, an Albanian language variety, along with Greek. Their ancestors were first recorded ...

and 'kerasia'. Natives refer to Vlachokerasia and Arvanitokerasia as 'western' and 'eastern Kerasia' respectively and some have suggested that the latter part of the name refers to the large amounts of cherry trees found in the area. The name Vlachokerasia is recorded as early as 1583 as ''Ivlahikerasya''.

History

Ancient history

A town which dates from antiquity, Vlachokerasia was inhabited by the ancient

Skiritai The Sciritae or Skiritai or Skioreitai or Skioritai (Greek: ) were a people subject to Sparta, whose status is comparable to that of the Perioeci. Deriving their name from the town of Skiritis, a mountainous region located in northern Laconia on th ...

, a people dependent on

Sparta Sparta was a prominent city-state in Laconia in ancient Greece. In antiquity, the city-state was known as Lacedaemon (), while the name Sparta referred to its main settlement in the Evrotas Valley, valley of Evrotas (river), Evrotas rive ...

and somewhat similar in class to the

Perioikoi The Perioeci or Perioikoi (, ) were the second-tier citizens of the ''polis'' of Sparta until 200 BC. They lived in several dozen cities within Spartan territories (mostly Laconia and Messenia), which were dependent on Sparta. The ''perioeci'' ...

. Historical testimonials attest that the ancient name of the village was

Oeum Oeum or Oion (), also known as Ium or Ion (Ἰόν), was the chief town of the district Sciritis in ancient Laconia. It commanded the pass through which was the road from Tegea to ancient Sparta, Sparta. When the Thebes, Greece, Theban army under ...

, also known as Oion, Ion, or Ium, (

Ancient Greek Ancient Greek (, ; ) includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the classical antiquity, ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Greek ...

: Οἰόν, Οἶον, Ἰόν). In war, the Skiritai formed a battalion which fought on the left wing of the Spartan army and, according to the 10th-century ''

Souda Souda () is a town and former municipality in the Chania regional unit, Crete, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Chania, of which it is a municipal unit. The municipal unit has an area of . It is an imp ...

'' consisted of six hundred men, which in wars engaged first and withdrew last. According to

Xenophon Xenophon of Athens (; ; 355/354 BC) was a Greek military leader, philosopher, and historian. At the age of 30, he was elected as one of the leaders of the retreating Ancient Greek mercenaries, Greek mercenaries, the Ten Thousand, who had been ...

, the Skiritai had been dependent on Sparta since before the time of

Lycurgus Lycurgus (; ) was the legendary lawgiver of Sparta, credited with the formation of its (), involving political, economic, and social reforms to produce a military-oriented Spartan society in accordance with the Delphic oracle. The Spartans i ...

(modern-day Vlachokerasia), being the primary town of the rugged and mountainous

Sciritis Sciritis or Skiritis () was a rugged and barren mountainous district in the north of ancient Laconia, between the upper Eurotas on the west and the Oenus on the east, and extending north of the highest ridge of the mountains, which were the natura ...

district, was located on the road between Sparta and Tegea, and thus was strategically important to the Spartans. The findings of archaeological excavations from the area are housed in the nearby Tegea Museum.

Early modern history

Through the early modern period the region of Arcadia and Peloponnesus in general was not well documented. As a part of Arcadia, Vlachokerasia had been in the possession 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 ...

since the 1460s. In 1661 the peninsula became a province within the empire known as the Eyalet of the Morea. Following the victory of

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 ...

over the Ottomans in the

Morean War The Morean war (), also known as the Sixth Ottoman–Venetian War, was fought between 1684–1699 as part of the wider conflict known as the "Great Turkish War", between the Republic of Venice and the Ottoman Empire. Military operations ranged ...

in 1688, the peninsula fell into the hands of the Venetians who appointed an Italian governor-general to administer the new '' Regno di Morea'' (English: Realm of the Morea'). Morea was divided into four provinces; at this time, Vlachokerasia was under the authority of the district of ''Tripolizza'' in the northeastern province of ''Romania''. The Venetians attempted to revitalize the Morean economy and produced a wealth of records which are preserved in the Venetian State Archives. For example, population records such as the census of 1700, undertaken under the direction of governor-general Francesco Grimani, shed light on local demography: in Grimani's 1700 census the village of 'Vlaco Chierasia' was recorded with a population of 200 people in 48 families.Panagiotopoulos, Vasilis (1985). ''Πληθυσμός και οικισμοί της Πελοποννήσου, 13ος-18ος αι'' (in Italian). Athens: Commercial Bank of Greece. p
244

Archived
19/04/2023.) However, an ineffective tithe-collection system alienated the local population and forced large numbers of indebted villagers to flee – within the province of ''Romania'', hundreds of families were recorded fleeing per year. The unpopularity of the Venetians among the local population meant that when the Ottomans recaputred Morea in 1715, the local population did not resist.

Administrative history

* In 1835, with 289 inhabitants (123 families), Vlachokerasia was designated the seat of the municipality of Manthyrea in the province of Mantineia.Βλαχοκερασιά (Αρκαδίας)
EETAAΦΕΚ Α16/1835
(Greek), pp. 104 and 107 (pp. 4 and 7 of the pdf). Published 05/24/1835
Archived
08/30/2018. Retrieved 08/30/2018. * In 1841, the 18 municipalities of the province of Mantineia were reduced to 9 and the municipality of Manthyreas was abolished. The settlement of Vlachokerasia was merged into the municipality of Kaltezon. * In 1869, the settlement was split from the municipality of Kaltezon, and was designated as the seat of the reconstituted municipality of Manthyrea.ΦΕΚ 25Α 25/08/1869
(Greek), p. 232 (p. 2 of the pdf)
Archived
08/30/2018. Retrieved 08/30/2018. * In 1912, it was decided that settlements with more than 300 inhabitants and an elementary school should become independent communities. Therefore, Vlachokerasia detached from the abolished municipality of Manthyreas and became an independent community. * In 1997, with the implementation of the ''Kapodistrias program'' (law 2539/97), Vlachokerasia was designated as the seat of the newly established municipality of Skyritida. * In 2010, with the implementation of the ''Kallikratis program'' (law 3852/2010), the municipality of Skyritida was abolished and the settlement was annexed to the municipality of Tripoli.

Population history

References

{{Tripoli div Populated places in Arcadia, Peloponnese Tripoli, Greece