Flampouro, Florina

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Albanian school of Negovan in 1909. Petro Nini Luarasi (teacher) in the center

Flampouro (Greek: Φλάμπουρο; Albanian: Negovan;[1] Aromanian: Niguvanlji[2]) is a village in the central part of Florina regional unit, northern Greece, part of the Perasma municipal unit. The original indigenous name for the village of Flambouro is Negovani and means "cold water" (known for its pure mineral water source) The village's year round population is estimated at 500 people, but in the summer it grows to nearly 700. In the surrounding area many other villages can be found, including Aetos, , , and .

History[]

The original village was established in the 1840s by Aromanians, Albanians (Arvanites) and local Greek villagers,[3] (mostly masons and other tradesmen). The Albanians came from Plikati and from other villages of Mastorochoria (a region around Mount Gramos) in Epirus.[4] There were three villages in the area partly populated by Albanians: Drosopigi, Flambouro, and Lechovo.[1] In 1842, leading families from Plikati, Epirus purchased the land and forest after negotiating with Osman Ismael Pasha, the Bey from Florina. The village was inhabited many families. The total population at 1900 had reached 1,880. In 1909, the Orthodox Albanians of Negovan took over the function a local church.[5]

The villages of Flambouro and Drosopigi were some of the very first villages in its area to have tunnels for the Greek Revolutionaries during the Greek Struggle for Macedonia. Many great revolutionaries stopped at Flambouro as place to heal, rest, or hide. The Hellenic Army leader who most symbolized the Macedonian Struggle, Pavlos Melas, other army leaders, and their troops, used these tunnels for a quick escape from their enemies. In addition, many Flambouro's locals[6] joined the Greek Struggle as fighters or agents. Moreover Flambouro's men captured a Bulgarian general at the time. Legend has it that the head of this general was cut off and brought back to the village so that Pavlos Melas could see it. This is when the village was also known proudly as Flambouro (also meaning bright Greek flag).

Papa Kristo Negovani a native of the village was a representative of the Albanian National Awakening and came in sharp conflict with the Greek-Orthodox hierarchy being against his initiative.[7] During the Balkan Wars (1912-1913) the area came under the control of the Greek forces. The Treaty of London would cease the area to Greece, and the borders were confirmed by the Paris Peace Conference, 1919.

When the World War II hit Europe, Greece suffered a lot, as did Flambouro. In the Battle of Greece (6–30 April 1941), the country faced three Axis powers: Nazi Germany, the Kingdom of Italy and the Kingdom of Bulgaria. Their alliance won the conflict and established an Axis occupation of Greece. The men of Flambouro went on to fight Nazi occupation as the women took control of the village and defended it also. Following the German devastation of Flambouro, the people of the village set out to rebuild it to its original glory. From April 1944 till April 1947 the villagers was rebuilt. The end of World War II was followed in Greece by the Greek Civil War between the Democratic Army of Greece and the Hellenic Army. In the first stages of the civil war many communist-led guerrillas stopped at the village as a hiding place. On April 7, 1947, the Greek government under Dimitrios Maximos adopted a policy of forced relocation for certain villages that were strategic for the guerrillas. Luckily, the village of Flambouro was already loyal and occupied by the Hellenic Army, however, many children were sent to communist countries such as Poland, Romania, Czechoslovakia, and the USSR as refugees. These children were known as . Other village natives fled with the aid of the Truman Doctrine to the United States in hope to find job to send money to the rest of their families.

In the 1950s and 1960s a new era was coming about in Greece, it was the time of moving. Many families, because of economic conditions, from all around Greece started to emigrate, becoming part of the Greek diaspora. Individuals and families who emigrated from Flambouro mostly went to the United States, Canada, West Germany, and Australia in search of a new life. Some went with the intention to make money and return, but many did not return to Greece and left their villages in their past.

At present, the cities of Rochester (New York) and Adelaide (South Australia) have the largest concentration of immigrants and families that trace their roots from Flambouro. Many people still visit Flambouro to this day and always keep it their hearts as many Flambouryiotes (people from Flambouro) say. The village today also has a hotel where many Greeks from other regions of Greece come to the Florina region for camping, relaxation and an appreciation for the wonderful nature of Macedonia. There are still people who live there but not as many as there were in 1900s.

The guerilla leader Georgios Seridis

Notable people[]

References[]

  1. ^ a b Nathalie Clayer (1 January 2007). Aux origines du nationalisme albanais: la naissance d'une nation majoritairement musulmane en Europe. KARTHALA Editions. p. 141. ISBN 978-2-84586-816-8. Dans la région de Florina se trouvaient trois villages en partie peuplés d'albanophones : Negovan, Bellkamen et Rehovë.
  2. ^ The War of Numbers and its First Victim: The Aromanians in Macedonia (End of 19th – Beginning of 20th century)
  3. ^ Koukoudis, Asterios (2003). The Vlachs: Metropolis and Diaspora. Zitros. pp. 300-301. "The Arvanitovlachs cohabited not only with other Vlachs [Aromanians] but also with Arvanites. In 1841, some Arvanitovlachs, together with some numerous Arvanites and a few Greki, established the village of Drossopiyi (formally Belkameni), and in 1861 the village if Flambouro (formally Negovani, Niguváńl’i). The first settlers in those two villages near Florina had come from Plikati in the Konitsa area, on the southern slopes of Grammos. In the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century, a period when various settlements were being destroyed and numerous Christian population groups both Vlach and non-Vlach, were on the move, Arvanites and Arvanitovlachs from Dangëlli and Kolonjë sought refugee there. They may also have included Vlachs from the ruined Vlach villages on Grammos, Grammousta and Nikolicë. However, most of the population of Plikati was Arvanite. In 1839, pressure from the Arnauts of Kolonjë drove much of the population of Plikati were enduring then must have been similar to those which resulted in the destruction and depopulation of Bitskopoulo at that time. The Arvanitovlach families who ended up in Drossopiyi and Flambouro must have come from, or had some earlier connection with, various parts of Epiros, not just Plikati, such as Parakalamos and Fourka in Ioannina prefecture, as also various villages in southern Albania, mainly in the Kolonjë area, such as Frashër, Radimisht, Barmash, Qafzez, Shtikë, Qytezë, and Dardhë. In about the same period, or a little earlier, some Arvanitovlachs went to Lehovo, another Arvanite village near Florina. Liakos reports that the Vlachs who helped to establish Flabouro and Drossopiyi had sought refuge in Plikati, and also in the neighbouring villages of Playa and Hionades, after their previous homes in Valiani had been destroyed. Valiani was an Arvanitovlach settlement on the western (now Albanian) side of Mount Grammos, east of Ersekë. Though Plikati is said to be the only Arvanite village in Konitsa province today.
  4. ^ Johannes Faensen (1980). Die albanische Nationalbewegung. in Komm. bei O. Harrassowitz. p. 133. ISBN 9783447021203. Negovan und das benachbarte Bellkamen, damals je 300 Häuser groß, hatten albanische Einwohner, die um die Mitte des 19. Jahrhunderts aus Plikat, Kreis Kolonja,...
  5. ^ Aarbakke, Vemund (2003). Ethnic Rivalry and the Quest for Macedonia, 1870-1913. East European Monographs. p. 154. ISBN 978-0-88033-527-0.
  6. ^ I.S. Koliopoulos, I.D. Michailidis, K. S. Papanikolaou, Αφανείς Γηγενείς Μακεδονομάχοι (1903-1913), Thessaloniki, Society For Macedonian Studies – University Studio Press, 2008, p. 176-177. Some of these men were the guerilla leaders Georgios Seridis and Ilias Pinopoulos, Konstantinos Vassos who was executed by the komitandjis in 1905, Ilias Kolepina who was member of Ioannis Poulakas group, Georgios Nikolaidis who also fought as a minor guerilla leader during the Balkan Wars etc
  7. ^ Schwandner-Sievers, Stephanie; Fischer, Bernd Jürgen (2002). Albanian identities: myth and history. Indiana University Press. p. 55. ISBN 0-253-21570-6.

Notes[]

  • Most of the article is edited and translated from the Florina Prefecture Historical Society

External links[]

Coordinates: 40°43′N 21°31′E / 40.71°N 21.52°E / 40.71; 21.52

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