Magnesia Prefecture ( el, Νομός Μαγνησίας) was one of the
prefectures of Greece. Its capital was
Volos
Volos ( el, Βόλος ) is a coastal port city in Thessaly situated midway on the Greek mainland, about north of Athens and south of Thessaloniki. It is the sixth most populous city of Greece, and the capital of the Magnesia regional unit ...
. It was established in 1899 from the
Larissa Prefecture
Larissa ( el, Περιφερειακή ενότητα Λάρισας) is one of the regional units of Greece. It is part of the region of Thessaly. Its capital is the city of Larissa. Total population 269,151 (2021).
Geography
Larissa is the seco ...
. The prefecture was disbanded on 1 January 2011 by the
Kallikratis programme, and split into the
regional units of
Magnesia and the
Sporades
The (Northern) Sporades (; el, Βόρειες Σποράδες, ) are an archipelago along the east coast of Greece, northeast of the island of Euboea,"Skyros - Britannica Concise" (description), Britannica Concise, 2006, webpageEB-Skyrosnotes ...
.
The toponym is ancient to the region. Ore that attracts iron is common in Magnesia, which is the origin of words such as ''
magnet
A magnet is a material or object that produces a magnetic field. This magnetic field is invisible but is responsible for the most notable property of a magnet: a force that pulls on other ferromagnetic materials, such as iron, steel, nic ...
'' and ''
magnetism
Magnetism is the class of physical attributes that are mediated by a magnetic field, which refers to the capacity to induce attractive and repulsive phenomena in other entities. Electric currents and the magnetic moments of elementary particle ...
''
[Online Etymology Dictionary, http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=magnet] as well as the chemical element ''
magnesium
Magnesium is a chemical element with the symbol Mg and atomic number 12. It is a shiny gray metal having a low density, low melting point and high chemical reactivity. Like the other alkaline earth metals (group 2 of the periodic ...
''.
Sources
Prefectures of Greece
Magnesia (regional unit)
Sporades
Geography of Thessaly
1899 establishments in Greece
Magnesia Prefecture
2010 disestablishments in Greece
States and territories disestablished in 2010
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