Ampelakia, Larissa
Encyclopedia
Ampelakia is a former community
in the Larissa regional unit, Thessaly
, Greece
. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Tempi
, of which it is a municipal unit and honored as the historic seat of the municipality. Ampelakia is a small historic village, having a population of 510 according to the 2001 census.
(the old Baba). After just 5 kilometers is Ampelakia. As we get closer to the town the mansion of George Mavros (Schwartz) stands out. There is an unsure knowledge to exactly when and who established Ampelakia because there are no clear documents that attest to this subject. The inscriptions of churches and the recollections of their liturgical elements are the most reliable records about its foundation.
The historian Elias Georgiou ("History and the Cooperative of Ambelakia", Athens
1951, p. 9) published the recollection of the Bishop of Platamon Gregorios, in the ritual which Nikos Gameos bought in 1580 and donated to the old church of Saint Paraskevi
. Also, at the First Convention of Studies on Ambelakia, on the 13–15 August 1994, Kostas Spanos, the history researcher, stated that Ampelakia has existed as a settlement at least since the 14th century AD, which means that it is one of the Thessalian settlements of the last Byzantine
era.
As far as concerns the name of the village, Ampelakia, some historians claim that it comes from the corruption of the word "Amfilakia" which means a village between two streams. But this is not right because the town is crossed by four streams and not two. The most possible version is that the name of the town comes from the fact that in the village and in the area around it there were a lot of vineyards ("Ambelia" in the Greek language). According to a rescued register of the vineyards in the year 1899, we know that there were 700 owners of vineyards who cultivated 1100 acres (4.5 km²).
, Psara
, Symi
, Santorini
and the maritime towns of Messimvria, Galaxidi
and Kranidi
.
But the most important cooperative organization in Greece is found in Ampelakia, Thessaly. The cooperative of merchants, craftsmen, farmers and laborers of production of the red yarns of Ampelakia flourished in the end of 18th and the beginning of 19th century. It is the first and most complete cooperative organization which was formed in Turkish-dominated Greece and developed like that: During the times of Homer and in the existence of the picturesque valley of Tempe there was the capital of the county of Magnetes, Meliboa, which was famous for dyeing purple (purpura Meliboea), whereas Ampelakia was famous for dyeing with the famous plant, erythrodamon (rizari), class: DICOTYLEDONES, category: RUBIALES, family: RUBIACEAE, gender: RUBIA, whose roots gave that scarlet red color, which held the virtue of not fading because of the sun and time. So, following the example of their neighbors from Meliboea, the people of Ampelakia developed the art of dyeing and spinning in a great degree. They were provided the cotton they used mainly from the valley of Tempe where it was grown systematically in large quantities. When there was insufficiency and a lot of orders, they were provided from Macedonia, Thessaly, and Asia Minor. The people of Ampelakia spun the cotton in distaff, spindle and then they dyed it scarlet red by means of rizari.
The people of Ampelakia were daring. They had visited and inhabited a lot of great European cities where they created close relationships with European merchants. This way they acquired useful information about trading and the industry of other countries where they thought to export their own scarlet red yarns. Also, with the help of merchants from Epirus
they exported to Austria
and Germany
. Europeans got very surprised by the brightness and gloss of color that yarns had—that made them be unique!--and their fine elaboration. From the very beginning, the people of Ampelakia met with great success and secured a large disposal of their products. Thus, around 1750–1760 the first company, on a family basis, was formed. Within just a few years five companies functioned and employed about a thousand craftsmen.
These were the companies of N. Pessios Arsenis Chatziprassas, Drossinos Chatzievos, G.Papaefthymios and George Schwartz. In 1778 the leaders of the companies took the initiative and decided the union of the whole companies in one Common Company under the name of " Common Company and Brotherhood of Ampelakia". That was because there had begun a harmful competition among the companies and because the orders had continually been increasing. During the existence of this cooperative, George Mavros(Schwartz) was the only and one chairman. He was the son of a significant merchant. He was born at Ampelakia in 1738 and died in Vienna
in 1818 at the age of 80.
All the people of Ampelakia, men, women and children were shareholders of that great cooperative business. The landowners share in with their fields, the fund holders with their money, the craftsmen and workers with their work. The minimum sum they could deposit (in order to have a cooperative share) was 5,000 piasters 9that is 1,700 francs) whereas the maximum one was 20,000 piastres (that is 6,800 francs). This limit was decided on so that no fund holder should dominate over the cooperative. The big fund holders and anyone who held more than 20,000 piasters deposited in the common saving bank with the annual interest of 12%. In 1780 the Co-operative had 6,000 members. The Cooperative had totally 24 workshops: laundries, dyer's shops, places where they elaborated the scarlet red yarns, which were exported abroad.
When the producers gave the cotton, a special committee evaluated it and took half its value in advance, whereas the rest of it at the end of the year after balancing the annual account and adding the profit which fell to their share. Each worker had an open credit account by virtue of his/her wages. He/She could withdrawn from it a certain sum in order to maintain the family, etc. In the end of the year there has been a pay-off for them after adding the profit, which fell to their share. The general meeting of the shareholders, which was the sovereign board, decided on the modification of the articles, or, generally, on any other matter of the cooperative.
Every third year, a five-member board of directors was elected by the general meeting, as well as an auditing committee of twelve member the board of directors was responsible for the management of all the works of the co-operative, keeping all account books and the appointment of the employees abroad. They also found and organized the various agencies and branches in the interior and abroad. The auditing committee checked the whole financial management of the co-operative, which was submitted by the board of directors, as well as the annual balance and report. As a highest force, the auditing committee had great rights: in the annual general meeting they submitted a detailed report for the whole activity of the co-operative. In the end of every financial year, the general meeting distributed the profits like this:
They deducted the taxes, which the town owned to Turks
. They also deducted the various expenses of the co-operative and then shared a great sum of money on behalf of the poor, the sick and the various suffering fellow-villagers, so that they can buy wheat and any other needed for their families. Then they put aside a great sum of money for the various briberies to the pashas and the high-ranked guests from Europe they had at Ampelakia, so that they gained their favor for the good of he co-operative. They also deduct the expenses of the schools, churches, construction of the roads, hospitals and whatever else the town needed. Finally, they shared the profits to the landowners, fund holders, craftsmen, workers, employees, etc. (Eastern room of second floor of mansion Solomos).
The most important trading agencies and branches of the co-operative were in Vienna
(the central one), Trieste
(Austria
), Leipzig
, Anbach, Dresden
, Hamburg
(Germany
), London
(England
), Amsterdam
(Netherlands
), Budapest
(Hungary
), Odessa
(Russia
), Lyon
and Rouen
(France
), Constantinople
, Smyrna
and Thessaloniki
where there were big Greek colonies. All the agents, representatives and employees were all from Ampelakia and members of the co-operative. Many of them worked and at the same time studied at the Universities. The representatives often changed so that as many people from Ampelakia as possible could go abroad in order to learn and convey the culture to Ampelakia. In 1797 they ordered their own ship, the Calypso in order to carry their yarns to Europe.
So the abundant money, education and constant contact with Europe made Ambelakia look a modern beautiful European town and a lot of foreign travelers refer to it as a Dutch
town. At the same period and because of the prosperity wonderful building - Mansions- were constructed like the ones of George Schwartz (1787–1798), his brother, Dimitrios Schwartz, Efthymiadis Solomos, Tsilikis Krassoulis, Lioulias and many others. The people of Ampelakia spoke fluently German
, French
, English
and Italian
. There was a theater and a school of the kind of a college, the famous "Ellinomousion" where since 1749 the most famous Greek scholars and men of letters taught like : Eugenious Voulgaris, K.Koumas, Greg.Konstantas, G.Triantafylloy, Sp.Assanis, Polyzonis G. Trikalinos and others. After a written promise composed at Ambelakia on the 2-2-1804 and which is in the possession of the Cultural Association of Ambelakia, the people of Ampelakia assisted financially Anthemos Gazis for the printing of the "Dictionary of the Greek Language".
The Turks may have not raided Ampelakia but the people of it contributed greatly to the Greek Revolution with a lot of sacrifices and offers of money and blood. All the emigrated merchants and representatives of Ampelakia were members of the Society of Friends (= Filiki Heteria) and afforded great sums of money for the Revolution since the co-operative enjoyed enormous prosperity. In 1810 its capitals had become excessively thousandfold, just to mention that the surplus of that year amounted to 20,000,000 francs. But, unfortunately, for Ampelakia, the Modern Greek civilization and, generally, the universally financial, common life this famous co-operative did not last long it dissolved in 1812. The causes of this decline and fall are various but the main ones are the following:
After the dissolution of the co-operative, some of the people who remained at Ampelakia cultivated vineyards, some others occupied themselves with cattle breeding or various temporary jobs. Despite the tragic trading decline, kindness, nobleness, culture and education remained deep in the hearts of the people of Ampelakia. Even today they are characterized by nobleness, neatness, hospitality and kindness. They also like enjoying themselves in feasts.
They keep up a lot of manners and customs, which give evidence of the culture, which flourished in the past. Actually, until today Ampelakia is one of the enviable towns in Thessaly. After the census of 2001 the Municipality of Ampelakia numbers 511 permanent residents. Its bibliography is rich and numbers about 360 editions till today.
Communities and Municipalities of Greece
For the new municipalities of Greece see the Kallikratis ProgrammeThe municipalities and communities of Greece are one of several levels of government within the organizational structure of that country. Thirteen regions called peripheries form the largest unit of government beneath the State. ...
in the Larissa regional unit, Thessaly
Thessaly
Thessaly is a traditional geographical region and an administrative region of Greece, comprising most of the ancient region of the same name. Before the Greek Dark Ages, Thessaly was known as Aeolia, and appears thus in Homer's Odyssey....
, Greece
Greece
Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....
. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Tempi
Tempi (municipality)
Tempi is a municipality in the Larissa peripheral unit, Thessaly, Greece. The seat of the municipality is the town Makrychori. The municipality was named after the Vale of Tempe.-Municipality:...
, of which it is a municipal unit and honored as the historic seat of the municipality. Ampelakia is a small historic village, having a population of 510 according to the 2001 census.
History of Ampelakia
The traveler who will feel the need to visit the historical town of Ampelakia (named "The Jewel of Thessaly"), has to go up the well made road that starts from the Tempe ValleyVale of Tempe
The Vale of Tempe is a gorge in northern Thessaly, Greece, located between Olympus to the north and Ossa to the south. The valley is 10 kilometers long and as narrow as 25 meters in places, with cliffs nearly 500 meters high, and through it flows the Pineios River on its way to the Aegean Sea...
(the old Baba). After just 5 kilometers is Ampelakia. As we get closer to the town the mansion of George Mavros (Schwartz) stands out. There is an unsure knowledge to exactly when and who established Ampelakia because there are no clear documents that attest to this subject. The inscriptions of churches and the recollections of their liturgical elements are the most reliable records about its foundation.
The historian Elias Georgiou ("History and the Cooperative of Ambelakia", Athens
Athens
Athens , is the capital and largest city of Greece. Athens dominates the Attica region and is one of the world's oldest cities, as its recorded history spans around 3,400 years. Classical Athens was a powerful city-state...
1951, p. 9) published the recollection of the Bishop of Platamon Gregorios, in the ritual which Nikos Gameos bought in 1580 and donated to the old church of Saint Paraskevi
Saint Paraskevi
Saint Paraskevi , literally "Preparation" as the day of preparation for Sabbath, "Friday") can refer to several saints ....
. Also, at the First Convention of Studies on Ambelakia, on the 13–15 August 1994, Kostas Spanos, the history researcher, stated that Ampelakia has existed as a settlement at least since the 14th century AD, which means that it is one of the Thessalian settlements of the last Byzantine
Byzantine
Byzantine usually refers to the Roman Empire during the Middle Ages.Byzantine may also refer to:* A citizen of the Byzantine Empire, or native Greek during the Middle Ages...
era.
As far as concerns the name of the village, Ampelakia, some historians claim that it comes from the corruption of the word "Amfilakia" which means a village between two streams. But this is not right because the town is crossed by four streams and not two. The most possible version is that the name of the town comes from the fact that in the village and in the area around it there were a lot of vineyards ("Ambelia" in the Greek language). According to a rescued register of the vineyards in the year 1899, we know that there were 700 owners of vineyards who cultivated 1100 acres (4.5 km²).
The creation of the cooperative
Ampelakia, an originally poor village without any navigable rivers and trade routes, had no neighboring towns of industrial significance. Well, how did it manage to present such an important and wondrous achievement which, at the same time, is an epoch-making event. Of course, we mean the foundation, organization and function of the first cooperative in all the world. A cooperative, in which the interests of work wedded to the capital in a marvelous way. The cooperative spirit spread in Greece much earlier than in other European countries. It is a part of the national folk tradition, based on a deep humanitarian spirit and the fair contribution of profits between the people. The first forms of cooperative appear around the 18th century. The most important examples are those of Thrace, sponge-divers of Aegina, the Thessalian Companies of Ampelakia of Tyrnavos, Agia, Zagora, etc. as well as the maritime cooperatives of the islands of Hydra, SpetsesSpetses
Spetses is an island and a municipality in the Islands regional unit, Attica, Greece. It is sometimes included as one of the Saronic Islands. Until 1948, it was part of the old prefecture of Argolidocorinthia, which is now split into Argolis and Corinthia...
, Psara
Psara
Psara is a Greek island in the Aegean Sea. Together with the small uninhabited island of Antipsara it forms the municipality of Psara. It is part of the Chios peripheral unit, which is part of the North Aegean Periphery. The only town of the island and seat of the municipality is also called...
, Symi
Symi
Symi also transliterated Syme or Simi is a Greek island and municipality. It is mountainous and includes the harbor town of Symi and its adjacent upper town Ano Symi, as well as several smaller localities, beaches, and areas of significance in history and mythology...
, Santorini
Santorini
Santorini , officially Thira , is an island located in the southern Aegean Sea, about southeast from Greece's mainland. It is the largest island of a small, circular archipelago which bears the same name and is the remnant of a volcanic caldera...
and the maritime towns of Messimvria, Galaxidi
Galaxidi
Galaxidi , is a town and a former municipality in the southern part of Phocis, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Delphi, of which it is a municipal unit. It has a small harbor on the Gulf of Corinth. The Greek National Road 48/E65 connects Galaxidi with...
and Kranidi
Kranidi
Kranidi is a town and a former municipality in Argolis, Peloponnese, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Ermionida, of which it is the seat and a municipal unit. Some say the name is derived from the word Koronida, while others claim it is from the word...
.
But the most important cooperative organization in Greece is found in Ampelakia, Thessaly. The cooperative of merchants, craftsmen, farmers and laborers of production of the red yarns of Ampelakia flourished in the end of 18th and the beginning of 19th century. It is the first and most complete cooperative organization which was formed in Turkish-dominated Greece and developed like that: During the times of Homer and in the existence of the picturesque valley of Tempe there was the capital of the county of Magnetes, Meliboa, which was famous for dyeing purple (purpura Meliboea), whereas Ampelakia was famous for dyeing with the famous plant, erythrodamon (rizari), class: DICOTYLEDONES, category: RUBIALES, family: RUBIACEAE, gender: RUBIA, whose roots gave that scarlet red color, which held the virtue of not fading because of the sun and time. So, following the example of their neighbors from Meliboea, the people of Ampelakia developed the art of dyeing and spinning in a great degree. They were provided the cotton they used mainly from the valley of Tempe where it was grown systematically in large quantities. When there was insufficiency and a lot of orders, they were provided from Macedonia, Thessaly, and Asia Minor. The people of Ampelakia spun the cotton in distaff, spindle and then they dyed it scarlet red by means of rizari.
The people of Ampelakia were daring. They had visited and inhabited a lot of great European cities where they created close relationships with European merchants. This way they acquired useful information about trading and the industry of other countries where they thought to export their own scarlet red yarns. Also, with the help of merchants from Epirus
Epirus
The name Epirus, from the Greek "Ήπειρος" meaning continent may refer to:-Geographical:* Epirus - a historical and geographical region of the southwestern Balkans, straddling modern Greece and Albania...
they exported to Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
and Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
. Europeans got very surprised by the brightness and gloss of color that yarns had—that made them be unique!--and their fine elaboration. From the very beginning, the people of Ampelakia met with great success and secured a large disposal of their products. Thus, around 1750–1760 the first company, on a family basis, was formed. Within just a few years five companies functioned and employed about a thousand craftsmen.
These were the companies of N. Pessios Arsenis Chatziprassas, Drossinos Chatzievos, G.Papaefthymios and George Schwartz. In 1778 the leaders of the companies took the initiative and decided the union of the whole companies in one Common Company under the name of " Common Company and Brotherhood of Ampelakia". That was because there had begun a harmful competition among the companies and because the orders had continually been increasing. During the existence of this cooperative, George Mavros(Schwartz) was the only and one chairman. He was the son of a significant merchant. He was born at Ampelakia in 1738 and died in Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
in 1818 at the age of 80.
All the people of Ampelakia, men, women and children were shareholders of that great cooperative business. The landowners share in with their fields, the fund holders with their money, the craftsmen and workers with their work. The minimum sum they could deposit (in order to have a cooperative share) was 5,000 piasters 9that is 1,700 francs) whereas the maximum one was 20,000 piastres (that is 6,800 francs). This limit was decided on so that no fund holder should dominate over the cooperative. The big fund holders and anyone who held more than 20,000 piasters deposited in the common saving bank with the annual interest of 12%. In 1780 the Co-operative had 6,000 members. The Cooperative had totally 24 workshops: laundries, dyer's shops, places where they elaborated the scarlet red yarns, which were exported abroad.
When the producers gave the cotton, a special committee evaluated it and took half its value in advance, whereas the rest of it at the end of the year after balancing the annual account and adding the profit which fell to their share. Each worker had an open credit account by virtue of his/her wages. He/She could withdrawn from it a certain sum in order to maintain the family, etc. In the end of the year there has been a pay-off for them after adding the profit, which fell to their share. The general meeting of the shareholders, which was the sovereign board, decided on the modification of the articles, or, generally, on any other matter of the cooperative.
Every third year, a five-member board of directors was elected by the general meeting, as well as an auditing committee of twelve member the board of directors was responsible for the management of all the works of the co-operative, keeping all account books and the appointment of the employees abroad. They also found and organized the various agencies and branches in the interior and abroad. The auditing committee checked the whole financial management of the co-operative, which was submitted by the board of directors, as well as the annual balance and report. As a highest force, the auditing committee had great rights: in the annual general meeting they submitted a detailed report for the whole activity of the co-operative. In the end of every financial year, the general meeting distributed the profits like this:
They deducted the taxes, which the town owned to Turks
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
. They also deducted the various expenses of the co-operative and then shared a great sum of money on behalf of the poor, the sick and the various suffering fellow-villagers, so that they can buy wheat and any other needed for their families. Then they put aside a great sum of money for the various briberies to the pashas and the high-ranked guests from Europe they had at Ampelakia, so that they gained their favor for the good of he co-operative. They also deduct the expenses of the schools, churches, construction of the roads, hospitals and whatever else the town needed. Finally, they shared the profits to the landowners, fund holders, craftsmen, workers, employees, etc. (Eastern room of second floor of mansion Solomos).
The most important trading agencies and branches of the co-operative were in Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
(the central one), Trieste
Trieste
Trieste is a city and seaport in northeastern Italy. It is situated towards the end of a narrow strip of land lying between the Adriatic Sea and Italy's border with Slovenia, which lies almost immediately south and east of the city...
(Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
), Leipzig
Leipzig
Leipzig Leipzig has always been a trade city, situated during the time of the Holy Roman Empire at the intersection of the Via Regia and Via Imperii, two important trade routes. At one time, Leipzig was one of the major European centres of learning and culture in fields such as music and publishing...
, Anbach, Dresden
Dresden
Dresden is the capital city of the Free State of Saxony in Germany. It is situated in a valley on the River Elbe, near the Czech border. The Dresden conurbation is part of the Saxon Triangle metropolitan area....
, Hamburg
Hamburg
-History:The first historic name for the city was, according to Claudius Ptolemy's reports, Treva.But the city takes its modern name, Hamburg, from the first permanent building on the site, a castle whose construction was ordered by the Emperor Charlemagne in AD 808...
(Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
), London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
(England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
), Amsterdam
Amsterdam
Amsterdam is the largest city and the capital of the Netherlands. The current position of Amsterdam as capital city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is governed by the constitution of August 24, 1815 and its successors. Amsterdam has a population of 783,364 within city limits, an urban population...
(Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
), Budapest
Budapest
Budapest is the capital of Hungary. As the largest city of Hungary, it is the country's principal political, cultural, commercial, industrial, and transportation centre. In 2011, Budapest had 1,733,685 inhabitants, down from its 1989 peak of 2,113,645 due to suburbanization. The Budapest Commuter...
(Hungary
Hungary
Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...
), Odessa
Odessa
Odessa or Odesa is the administrative center of the Odessa Oblast located in southern Ukraine. The city is a major seaport located on the northwest shore of the Black Sea and the fourth largest city in Ukraine with a population of 1,029,000 .The predecessor of Odessa, a small Tatar settlement,...
(Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
), Lyon
Lyon
Lyon , is a city in east-central France in the Rhône-Alpes region, situated between Paris and Marseille. Lyon is located at from Paris, from Marseille, from Geneva, from Turin, and from Barcelona. The residents of the city are called Lyonnais....
and Rouen
Rouen
Rouen , in northern France on the River Seine, is the capital of the Haute-Normandie region and the historic capital city of Normandy. Once one of the largest and most prosperous cities of medieval Europe , it was the seat of the Exchequer of Normandy in the Middle Ages...
(France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
), Constantinople
Constantinople
Constantinople was the capital of the Roman, Eastern Roman, Byzantine, Latin, and Ottoman Empires. Throughout most of the Middle Ages, Constantinople was Europe's largest and wealthiest city.-Names:...
, Smyrna
Smyrna
Smyrna was an ancient city located at a central and strategic point on the Aegean coast of Anatolia. Thanks to its advantageous port conditions, its ease of defence and its good inland connections, Smyrna rose to prominence. The ancient city is located at two sites within modern İzmir, Turkey...
and Thessaloniki
Thessaloniki
Thessaloniki , historically also known as Thessalonica, Salonika or Salonica, is the second-largest city in Greece and the capital of the region of Central Macedonia as well as the capital of the Decentralized Administration of Macedonia and Thrace...
where there were big Greek colonies. All the agents, representatives and employees were all from Ampelakia and members of the co-operative. Many of them worked and at the same time studied at the Universities. The representatives often changed so that as many people from Ampelakia as possible could go abroad in order to learn and convey the culture to Ampelakia. In 1797 they ordered their own ship, the Calypso in order to carry their yarns to Europe.
So the abundant money, education and constant contact with Europe made Ambelakia look a modern beautiful European town and a lot of foreign travelers refer to it as a Dutch
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
town. At the same period and because of the prosperity wonderful building - Mansions- were constructed like the ones of George Schwartz (1787–1798), his brother, Dimitrios Schwartz, Efthymiadis Solomos, Tsilikis Krassoulis, Lioulias and many others. The people of Ampelakia spoke fluently German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
, French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
, English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
and Italian
Italian language
Italian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...
. There was a theater and a school of the kind of a college, the famous "Ellinomousion" where since 1749 the most famous Greek scholars and men of letters taught like : Eugenious Voulgaris, K.Koumas, Greg.Konstantas, G.Triantafylloy, Sp.Assanis, Polyzonis G. Trikalinos and others. After a written promise composed at Ambelakia on the 2-2-1804 and which is in the possession of the Cultural Association of Ambelakia, the people of Ampelakia assisted financially Anthemos Gazis for the printing of the "Dictionary of the Greek Language".
The Turks may have not raided Ampelakia but the people of it contributed greatly to the Greek Revolution with a lot of sacrifices and offers of money and blood. All the emigrated merchants and representatives of Ampelakia were members of the Society of Friends (= Filiki Heteria) and afforded great sums of money for the Revolution since the co-operative enjoyed enormous prosperity. In 1810 its capitals had become excessively thousandfold, just to mention that the surplus of that year amounted to 20,000,000 francs. But, unfortunately, for Ampelakia, the Modern Greek civilization and, generally, the universally financial, common life this famous co-operative did not last long it dissolved in 1812. The causes of this decline and fall are various but the main ones are the following:
- Tottering of the European economy because of the Napoleonic wars and especially the bankruptcy of Austrian state and the failure of Austrian banks where the people of Ampelakia had deposited most of their money.
- The invention of aniline dyes, which had a better, cheaper effect on dyeing unfadingly and in various colors so that it was preferred in Europe.
- The envy of Ali PashaAli PashaAli Pasha of Tepelena or of Yannina, surnamed Aslan, "the Lion", or the "Lion of Yannina", Ali Pashë Tepelena was an Ottoman Albanian ruler of the western part of Rumelia, the Ottoman Empire's European territory which was also called Pashalik of Yanina. His court was in Ioannina...
from IoanninaIoanninaIoannina , often called Jannena within Greece, is the largest city of Epirus, north-western Greece, with a population of 70,203 . It lies at an elevation of approximately 500 meters above sea level, on the western shore of lake Pamvotis . It is located within the Ioannina municipality, and is the...
, who imposed unbearable taxation on Ampelakia and, also, forbid his obedients to buy their fezzes from there 'he himself brought his fezzes from Tynis. - The cursed plague that appeared in 1812 and decimated the residents of Ampelakia "members of the co-operative" who left to settle in other places.
- The main fault of the Greeks, the grumbling and mutual fighting among the leaders of the community, which poured as poison and dissolved that labor beehive.
After the dissolution of the co-operative, some of the people who remained at Ampelakia cultivated vineyards, some others occupied themselves with cattle breeding or various temporary jobs. Despite the tragic trading decline, kindness, nobleness, culture and education remained deep in the hearts of the people of Ampelakia. Even today they are characterized by nobleness, neatness, hospitality and kindness. They also like enjoying themselves in feasts.
They keep up a lot of manners and customs, which give evidence of the culture, which flourished in the past. Actually, until today Ampelakia is one of the enviable towns in Thessaly. After the census of 2001 the Municipality of Ampelakia numbers 511 permanent residents. Its bibliography is rich and numbers about 360 editions till today.