Florina
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For other uses, see Florina (disambiguation).
Flórina (Greek: Φλώρινα), is a town in mountainous northwestern Macedonia, Greece and its motto is, 'Where Greece begins' [1]. It lies in the central part of Florina Prefecture, of which it is the capital. Florina belongs to the periphery of West Macedonia. The town's population is estimated as some 12,622 people (1991 census). It is in a wooded valley about 13 km south of the border with the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.
GeographyImage:Florina1.jpg
Florina town hall.
It is located east of Korçë, Albania and Lake Prespa, south of Bitola, former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, west of Edessa, northwest of Kozani, and northeast of Ioannina and Kastoria. The nearest airport is situated to the east. The mountains of Verno is to the southwest and Varnous to the northwest. Florina is passed by GR-2 (Lake Prespa - Edessa) and GR-3/E65 (Kozani - Florina - Niki - Bitola). The historic Via Egnatia is situated to the east. The new GR-3 superhighway will run east of Florina. NameThe city's original Byzantine name, Chlerinon (Χλέρινον - 'full of green vegetation'), derives from the Greek word chlorós (χλωρός - fresh or green vegetation). The name was sometimes latinicized as Florinon (from latin Flora - vegetation), and this form became the Turkish standard after the 17th century. The Slavic name for the city (Lerin - Лерин) also derives from Chlerinon with loss of inintial /h/ in the local dialect (compare with Macedonian Slavic leb "bread" vs. Serbian hleb). HistoryImage:Sakoulevas.jpg
Sakoulevas river in the town of Florina.
Founded during the Byzantine period, Florina fell to the Ottoman Empire in the late 14th century. The demographic composition of the area the 19th and early 20th centuries is unclear as many factors contributed to the ethnic orientation of the people; out of these religion was particularly important thus giving rise to a proselytism struggle between the Greek Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople and the Bulgarian Exarchate (established in 1870). In 1886, 78.4% of the Christian population of the Florina kaza (province) was aligned with the Ecumenical Patriarchate and 21.6% with the Bulgarian Exarchate, however by 1900 the Patriarchatists had dropped to 50.9% and Exarchatists had risen to 49.1%.[3] The actual Greek-speaking element in this area was concentrated in urban centres where it participated in the religious, administrative, social, and educational sectors of life, this presenting to the outside world a "Greek-like" picture of the area.[3] In the late 19th century, it became a major centre of Slavic agitation for independence from the Ottoman Empire, but in 1912 it became part of Greece following the First Balkan War. Before Greek administration, it was part of Manastır vilayet in Ottoman Empire. The town was contested again during the Second Balkan War, World War I, and World War II, during each of which it was occupied by Bulgaria. EconomyFlorina is a market town with an economy dominated by cross-border trading and the sale of local produce (especially grain, grapes, and vegetables). It also has textile mills and is known for locally manufactured leather handicrafts. It also has a University that has recently changed from being a branch of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, to a part of the University of Western Macedonia. LandmarksCommunicationsRadio
Villages and Subdivisions
Notable persons
Historical population
References
External links
bg:Лерин de:Florina el:Φλώρινα es:Florina fr:Flórina it:Florina la:Florina lmo:Florina mk:Лерин nl:Florina (stad) nn:Florina ro:Florina sq:Follorina simple:Florina sr:Лерин fi:Florina sv:Florina tr:Florina | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
