Kontias ( el, Κοντιάς) is a village on the

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece 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 ...

island of

Lemnos Lemnos or Limnos ( el, Λήμνος; grc, Λῆμνος) is a Greek island in the northern Aegean Sea. Administratively the island forms a separate municipality within the Lemnos regional unit, which is part of the North Aegean region. The p ...

North Aegean The North Aegean Region ( el, Περιφέρεια Βορείου Αιγαίου, translit=Periféria Voríou Eyéou, ) is one of the thirteen administrative regions of Greece, and the smallest of the thirteen by population. It comprises the isla ...

. It is the seat of the municipal unit

Nea Koutali Nea Koutali ( el, Νέα Κούταλη) is a municipal unit on the island of Lemnos, North Aegean, Greece. Located in the south central portion of the island with a land area of , it accounts for about 15.9% of the island's area, making it the sma ...

. In 2011 its population was 572. Kontias is situated in the southwestern part of the island, 2 km west of Tsimandria, 3 km southwest of Portianou and 8 km east of the island capital Myrina

Population

History

Byzantine period

The village was first mentioned as "the old castle of Konteas" in a census document of the

Great Lavra The Monastery of Great Lavra ( el, Μονή Μεγίστης Λαύρας) is the first monastery built on Mount Athos. It is located on the southeastern foot of the Mount at an elevation of . The founding of the monastery in AD 963 by Athanasi ...

monastery, of which it was a dependency. This castle had probably been built during the Venetian rule of the island (1207–76). According to local legends, the village was originally located near the sea, and it was resettled to the present inland location due to pirate raids. The original location was probably the small port of Agios Giannis, where ruins of a castle still remain.

Ottoman period

The bay of Kontias was mentioned by the Turkish naval sailor

Piri Reis Ahmet Muhiddin Piri ( 1465 – 1553), better known as Piri Reis ( tr, Pîrî Reis or ''Hacı Ahmet Muhittin Pîrî Bey''), was a navigator, geographer and cartographer. He is primarily known today for his maps and charts collected in his ''Kita ...

in 1521 as "Qondia Körfezi". Ships awaited favourable conditions to enter the Hellespont straits there. Piri Reis mentioned a castle at the bay, but no village. In the following ages, the port was mentioned by several travellers in the area. In 1770, during the Orlov Revolt, part of the Russian Navy fleet anchored in the port of Kontias, when they besieged Myrina. The first mention of the village in the present location was in 1785, by Choiseul-Gouffier. Kontias was an organized settlement and one of the largest villages on the island. In 1856 it had 290 men who paid 9,280 piatres to avoid conscription. It had 176 families in 1863, and 187 in 1874. In the same year the municipality of Kontias was mentioned, consisting of the villages Kontias, Tsimandria, Portianou, Agkariones, Pesperago (now Pedino), Sarpi (now Kallithea) and Livadochori. This corresponds with the present municipal unit

. It was a rich village, because besides the agricultural activities there were many sailors and shipowners, including Papagiannis with 60 boats. The village school was first mentioned in 1873. A new school building was built in 1880. In 1910 two fountains were built: Tsikoulas and Kali Vrysi.

Modern period

Kontias joined the rest of Greece after the Balkan Wars in 1913. It became an independent community in 1918 named ''Kondias'', which was changed into ''Kontias'' in 1940. During the years between the world wars, it had a remarkable growth in economy and population. In 1920 it had 1,272 inhabitants, making it the third largest village in Lemnos. In 1940 it had 1,500 inhabitants, making it the second village in population, after Myrina. A refugee settlement was built in 1926. Cotton production on Lemnos began from Kontias. After World War II, the population decreased due to internal and external migration. The population was 551 in 1991.

Sources

*Tourptsoglou-Stefanidou Vassiliki, ''Voyages and Geographical Sources From Lemnos Island (15th-20th Centuries)'' (Ταξιδιωτικά και γεωγραφικά κείμενα για τη νήσο Λήμνο (15ος-20ος αιώνας)) * Belitsos, Theodoros, ''Lemnos and its villages'', 1994. *''Lemnos Province CD Rom'' (''Cdrom Επαρχείου Λήμνου''): ''Lovable Lemnos'' *Belitsos, Theodoros, ''Historic Route in Lemnos Kontias'', ''

Limnos Lemnos or Limnos ( el, Λήμνος; grc, Λῆμνος) is a Greek island in the northern Aegean Sea. Administratively the island forms a separate municipality within the Lemnos regional unit, which is part of the North Aegean region. The p ...

'' p 452 (21-3-2007)

External links

Kontias at the GTP Travel Pages

References

{{Nea Koutali Populated places in Lemnos