Mandres (, ) is a village South of the City of

Kilkis Kilkis () is a city in Central Macedonia, Greece. As of 2021 there were 24,130 people living in the city proper, 27,493 people living in the municipal unit, and 45,308 in the municipality of Kilkis. It is also the capital city of the regional un ...

in the Kilkis regional unit, Greece. It is part of the municipal unit

Gallikos Gallikos () is a village and a former municipality in the Kilkis (regional unit), Kilkis regional unit, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Kilkis, of which it is a municipal unit. The municipal unit has ...

and has a population of 385 people (2021). Until 1926, Mandres was known as Ampar Kioi (). ''Pandektis: Name Changes of Settlements in Greece'', compiled by th
Institute for Neohellenic Research
/ref> The name was also written as Ambar Köy.

History

Ambar Koy was mainly a Slavic speaking settlement and its population intermarried with other Slavic speaking villages in the area. In the early 1900s,

Vasil Kanchov Vasil Kanchov (26 July 1862 – 6 February 1902) was a geographer, ethnographer and teacher who served as Minister of Education of Bulgaria. Early life and education Vasil Kanchov was born in Vratsa. Upon graduating from High school i ...

stated that the local population was composed of 300

Bulgarians Bulgarians (, ) are a nation and South Slavs, South Slavic ethnic group native to Bulgaria and its neighbouring region, who share a common Bulgarian ancestry, culture, history and language. They form the majority of the population in Bulgaria, ...

and 66 Turks, whereas Hilmi Pasha described the village as inhabited only by 195 Bulgarians. During the period of 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 ...

, the

Greek army The Hellenic Army (, sometimes abbreviated as ΕΣ), formed in 1828, is the land force of Greece. The term '' Hellenic'' is the endogenous synonym for ''Greek''. The Hellenic Army is the largest of the three branches of the Hellenic Armed F ...

destroyed the settlement and it was repopulated by people from the village of

Mandritsa Mandritsa (, "Small dairy"; ) is a village in southernmost Bulgaria, part of Ivaylovgrad municipality, Haskovo Province. It is known as the only Albanians, Albanian village in Bulgaria. As of 14 December 2006, Mandritsa has a population of 75. It ...

Bulgaria Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern portion of the Balkans directly south of the Danube river and west of the Black Sea. Bulgaria is bordered by Greece and Turkey t ...

. Until

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, relatives from both villages would visit each other. In the 1980s only middle aged and elderly generations within the village had knowledge of an Albanian dialect. The Mandres Albanian dialect is similar to that of Mandritsa and sharply differs from other varieties of the

Albanian language Albanian (Endonym and exonym, endonym: , , or ) is an Indo-European languages, Indo-European language and the only surviving representative of the Albanoid, Albanoid branch, which belongs to the Paleo-Balkan languages, Paleo-Balkan group. It ...

. For example the

gender system Gender systems are the social structures that establish the number of genders and their associated gender roles in every society. A ''gender role'' is "everything that a person says and does to indicate to others or to the self the degree that o ...

(masculine and feminine) present in all varieties of Albanian has disappeared from the Mandres Albanian dialect due to influence from the

Turkish language Turkish ( , , also known as 'Turkish of Turkey') is the most widely spoken of the Turkic languages, a member of Oghuz languages, Oghuz branch with around 90 million speakers. It is the national language of Turkey and one of two official languag ...

when the population in the past lived near

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

References

Populated places in Kilkis (regional unit) Kilkis Albanian communities in Greece {{Kilkis div