Aetolia-Acarnania

Aetolia-Acarnania (, Aitoloakarnanía, ) is the largest by area regional unit of Greece. It is part of the geographic region of Central Greece and the administrative region of West Greece. It is roughly a combination of the ancient regions of Aetolia and Acarnania. Its capital is Missolonghi for its historical role in the Greek Revolution, while its biggest city and economic centre is Agrinio. The area is now connected with the Peloponnese peninsula via the Rio-Antirio Bridge. The surrounding regional units take in Arta in Epirus, a narrow length bordering Karditsa of Thessaly, Evrytania to the northeast, and Phocis to the east.

Geography

Mountains dominate the north, northeast, west and southeast, especially the Acarnanian Mountains. The longest and main river is the Acheloos, which ends as a delta in wetlands to the southwest on a rich fertile valley. The second longest is Evinos; others include the Ermitsa, the Inachos, and the Mornos (on the border with Phocis). The regional unit excludes the islands lying to its west, since they belong to the Kefalonia and Ithaca regional units. There is one reservoir and a lake in its central part. The many mountains of the area span the Panaitoliko toward the northeast and the Acarnanian Mountains, the Valtos and the Makrynoros mountains in the north, the Nafpaktia Mountains in the southeast, the Arakynthos and Kravara in the south.

Lakes include the Amvrakia, the Lysimachia, Ozeros, and Trichonida, the largest lake in Greece, and artificial lakes and reservoirs include Kastraki, Kremasta, the largest lake in Greece since its creation in 1970, and Stratos. Two lagoons are found in the southern part of the regional unit: the Messolongi and the Aitoliko. The lowest altitude in Greece is found in west Aetolia-Acarnania at about -10 meters from the sea level.

Climate Its climate ranges from hot and humid summers, with temperatures often surpassing 40 °C, to mild and short winters in the low-lying areas, with cool winters dominating in the mountain areas. At the highest elevations, summers are cool, and snow and cold weather dominate the winter months in the Panaitoliko.

History

Ancient era

Byzantine era

Ottoman era

During the Ottoman period, between the 16th century until the Greek War of Independence, the region was called Karleli and formed a province (sanjak) in the Rumelia Eyalet.

Modern Aetolia-Acarnania

Aetolia and Acarnania became a prefecture and merged to form Aetolia-Acarnania after the Greek War of Independence in the late-1820s; the prefecture included Evrytania at the time, and it ranked second largest in Greece. Evrytania separated from the prefecture in 1948. In the 20th century, ferry services between Rio and the Peloponnese began. and in the 1950s and the 1960s ferry services began to incorporate vehicles. Following World War II and the Greek Civil War a number of buildings needed to be repaired.

A drawbridge linking the island of Lefkada was built in the 1960s. The prefecture's first reservoir, created by the Acheloos Dam over the Acheloos, was under construction in 1967 and completed in the early 1970s, delivering water and hydropower to western part of Greece. Villages were relocated at the time. Two more dams were added, the Stratos Hydroelectric Dam in the 1980s and another in the late 1980s.

Transportation

The following years, the EO5 road bypassed Messolonghi and Agrinion and the EO38 became connected with paved road with Eurytania and Phthiotida. In the late-1980s, the by-pass of Naupaktos began construction but after paving the road, the signs did not appear and until 1998, it was left unopened. In 1999, the road was re-repaired and finally opened to traffic. In 2000, the construction of the Rio-Antirio or the Charilaos Trikoupis Bridge connecting the Peloponnese began construction and was opened to traffic in August 2004. The superhighway, the Ionia Odos (Ionian Motorway) which will run centrally bypassing communities began construction in 2001 at a part between Messolonghi and the curve, this section remains to be unpaved, the rest of the highway is in plan but the opening date is not yet set.

Today, there are two motorways in Aetolia-Acarnania: the A5, towards Ioannina and Patras; and the A52, towards Preveza. There are also eight national roads: the EO5, EO38, EO40 (a short airport road in Agrinio), EO42 and EO48; as well as the Agios Nikolaos–Actium, Igoumenitsa–Actium and Thermopylae–Antirrio national roads.

A railway formerly served the places from Kryoneri and Agrinio and served with the ferry with Rio. In the 1980s, the service came to an end.

Population history

Administration

The regional unit Aetolia-Acarnania is subdivided into 7 municipalities. These are (number in parentheses corresponds to number in the infobox's map): Agrinio (2) Aktio-Vonitsa (3) Amfilochia (4) Messolonghi (1) Nafpaktia (6) Thermo (5) Xiromero (7)

Prefecture

As a part of the 2011 Kallikratis government reform, the regional unit Aetolia-Acarnania was created out of the former prefecture Aetolia-Acarnania (). The prefecture had the same territory as the present regional unit. At the same time, the municipalities were reorganised, according to the table below.

New municipality Old municipalities Seat Agrinio Agrinio AgrinioAngelokastroArakynthos ThestieisMakryneia Neapoli Panaitoliko ParavolaParakampylia Stratos Aktio-Vonitsa Anaktorio VonitsaMedeon Palairos Amfilochia Amfilochia AmfilochiaInachosMenidiMessolonghi (Mesolongi) Messolonghi MessolonghiAitolikoOiniades Nafpaktia Nafpaktos NafpaktosAntirrioApodotia Platanos Pyllini Chalkeia Thermo ThermoThermoXiromero Astakos AstakosAlyzia Fyteies

Provinces Province of Messolonghi - Messolonghi/Messolongi Province of Nafpaktia - Nafpaktos Province of Trichonida - Agrinio Province of Valtos - Amfilochia Province of Vonitsa & Xiromero - Vonitsa Note: Provinces no longer hold any legal status in Greece.

Notable people

Cosmas of Aetolia, (1714–1779) monk Dimitrios Makris, fighter of the Greek War of Independence (1821) Aristovoulos Kois, Greek army officer from Agrinio, Greece. Maria Dimadi, member of EAM during Greek resistance Stratos Apostolakis - footballer Georgios Athanasiadis-Novas - a former Greek prime minister Filipos Darlas, footballer Ioannis Kalogeras Christos Kapralos, writer Pantelis Karasevdas Aristidis Moschos, musician Thodoros Papadimitriou, sculptor Pythagoras Papastamatiou, director, songwrite Evangelos Papastratos Charilaos Trikoupis - a former Greek Prime Minister Spyridon Trikoupis - a former Greek Prime Minister Dimitrios Valvis - a former Greek Prime Minister Zinovios Valvis - a former Greek Prime Minister Yannis Yfantis - poet

Communications Radio Agrinio 93.7 FM Dytika FM Stereo Channel Akarnania Radio

Television Acheloos TV - Agrinion Lychnos, UHF channel 32 (religious), broadcasting from Nafpaktos Lepanto Tv - Nafpaktos Ν TV - Agrinion

Newspapers 29Dytika Akarnania En Bambini - Bambini Nea Epohi Vela

Sporting teams Panetolikos - Agrinio, Super League Greece Panagriniakos - Agrinio, Gamma Ethniki Nafpaktiakos Asteras - Nafpaktos, Local Championship A.E. Messolonghi - Messolonghi, Local Championship Aris Aitoliko - Aitoliko, Local Championship Thyella Paravolas - Paravola, Local Championship Amfilochos - Amfilochia, Fourth Division Doxa Kainourgiou - Kainourgio, Local Championship

Aetolia-Acarnania

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