Zarko (Greek: Ζάρκο, also: ''Zarkos'') is a village in the

Farkadona Farkadona ( el, Φαρκαδόνα, ; before 1955: Τσιότι, , ) is a municipality in the southeastern Trikala regional unit, part of Thessaly in Greece. In 2011 its population was 2,652 for the town and 13,396 for the municipality. It is loc ...

municipality, Trikala regional unit,

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders with ...

. Zarko had a population of 1,247 in 2011. Zarko is located on the edge of the Thessalian Plain, 5 km east of Farkadona proper, and 25 km west of

Larissa Larissa (; el, Λάρισα, , ) is the capital and largest city of the Thessaly region in Greece. It is the fifth-most populous city in Greece with a population of 144,651 according to the 2011 census. It is also capital of the Larissa regiona ...

Population

History

Zarko's initial name was ''Fayttos'' (Φαϋττός), however still it is not clear at which exactly point the name changed to ''Zarko''. The name Fayttos reflects the ancient town of Phayttos that was located within the bounds of the town. There is also much speculation regarding the source of the name Zarko. Some people say that many

roe deer The roe deer (''Capreolus capreolus''), also known as the roe, western roe deer, or European roe, is a species of deer. The male of the species is sometimes referred to as a roebuck. The roe is a small deer, reddish and grey-brown, and well-adapt ...

(zarkadia, Greek: ζαρκάδια) used to live around the area, while others believe that this is actually the name (Zarko) of a

Serbia Serbia (, ; Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia (Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe, Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Bas ...

n leader who ruled the area in the 14th century. The fact is that it all started thousands of years ago as

archaeological Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landscap ...

excavations in the wider area brought up buildings of a prehistoric settlement, probably of around 6500-5800 BC. During the Turkish occupation years Zarko was one of the main centres of the wider

Thessaly Thessaly ( el, Θεσσαλία, translit=Thessalía, ; ancient Thessalian: , ) is a traditional geographic and modern administrative region of Greece, comprising most of the ancient region of the same name. Before the Greek Dark Ages, Thes ...

area. It had more than 5000 inhabitants and there was a Greek, a

Turkish Turkish may refer to: *a Turkic language spoken by the Turks * of or about Turkey ** Turkish language *** Turkish alphabet ** Turkish people, a Turkic ethnic group and nation *** Turkish citizen, a citizen of Turkey *** Turkish communities and mi ...

and a

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

area. Zarko's people were mainly working in the fields producing cotton and they were quite capable of producing fabrics of the highest quality; in the late 19th century the 'Zarkina pania' (cotton fabrics of Zarko) were well known in the area. Along with most of

, Zarko joined Greece in 1881. Nowadays you can still see the Turkish and the Greek forts that were built in the 19th century in order to define the borders between the two countries. In the mid 1950s Zarko was the very first village in the area to start modernising the traditional way of

agriculture Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled people to ...

. It introduced the first ‘fabric made water-pipes’ that were used in order to water the cotton fields, as well as bringing in the area the first tractors. A special note needs to be done regarding the 12th century St. John’s

monastery A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in communities or alone (hermits). A monastery generally includes a place reserved for prayer which ...

which is located around 2 kilometres north of Zarkos. Deserted for many years it is now reconstructed and occupied with nuns.

External links

Zarko or Zarkos on GTP Travel Pages

References

{{Farkadona Populated places in Trikala (regional unit)

Population

History

External links

See also

References