Chirades
Encyclopedia
Chirades is a Greek
Greece
Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....

 settlement in the southwest of Arcadia
Arcadia
Arcadia is one of the regional units of Greece. It is part of the administrative region of Peloponnese. It is situated in the central and eastern part of the Peloponnese peninsula. It takes its name from the mythological character Arcas. In Greek mythology, it was the home of the god Pan...

 located about 3 km southeast of the old GR-7
Greek National Road 7
The Moreas Motorway is a motorway in Peloponnese, Greece. Locally it is known as the Moréas , which was the medieval name of the Peloponnese. The A7 begins just west of the Isthmus of Corinth, branching off from Greek National Road 8A...

 (Corinth
Corinth
Corinth is a city and former municipality in Corinthia, Peloponnese, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Corinth, of which it is the seat and a municipal unit...

 - Tripoli
Tripoli, Greece
Tripoli is a city of about 25,000 inhabitants in the central part of the Peloponnese, in Greece. It is the capital of the prefecture of Arcadia and the centre of the municipality of Tripolis, pop...

 - Kalamata
Kalamata
Kalamata is the second-largest city of the Peloponnese in southern Greece. The capital and chief port of the Messenia prefecture, it lies along the Nedon River at the head of the Messenian Gulf...

) 21 km (old: 19 km) southeast of Megalopoli, about 37 km northeast of Kalamata
Kalamata
Kalamata is the second-largest city of the Peloponnese in southern Greece. The capital and chief port of the Messenia prefecture, it lies along the Nedon River at the head of the Messenian Gulf...

, about 59 km (old: 57 km) southwest of Tripoli
Tripoli
Tripoli is the capital and largest city in Libya. It is also known as Western Tripoli , to distinguish it from Tripoli, Lebanon. It is affectionately called The Mermaid of the Mediterranean , describing its turquoise waters and its whitewashed buildings. Tripoli is a Greek name that means "Three...

 and about 59 km (old 57 km) southeast of Andritsaina
Andritsaina
Andritsaina is a town and a former municipality in Elis, West Greece, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Andritsaina-Krestena, of which it is a municipal unit...

. Chirades is connected with the road connecting the old GR-7 and Souli. Chirades had a 2001 population of 301 for the settlement. Messinia is 2 km to the south.

Nearest places

  • Paradeisia
    Paradeisia
    Paradeisia is a Greek village in Arcadia, Greece, and a part of the municipality of Megalopoli. Until the early to mid-20th century, the village was known as Ano Kourtaga.-Nearest places:*Veligosti, east*Ellinitsa, southeast*Derveni, southwest...

    , north-northeast
  • Ellinitsa
    Ellinitsa
    Ellinitsa is a village in Arcadia, Greece. It is located around 15 km south of Megalopoli, 6 km south from the nearest interchange with the GR-7/E65 , about 45 km northeast of Kalamata, about 4 to 5 km west of Leontari and about 43 km west-southwest of Tripoli. Ellinitsa...

    , northeast
  • Tourkoleka
    Tourkoleka
    Tourkolekas is a Greek settlement in the southwest of Arcadia, located 15 km south of Leontari around 26 km southeast of Megalopoli, about 30 km from Kalamata, about 55 km southwest of Tripoli and northwest of Sparta. Tourkolekas is in the municipal unit of Falaisia...

    , southeast
  • Souli, west
  • Derveni, northwest

Geography

Chirades is situated in a mountainous area along with a valley and are made up of forests and grasslands. The mountains cover the area and are made up of rocks with grasslands and bushes along with a couple of forests and grasses and bushes around the areas. Farmlands are within the village area. The mountaintop elevating 1,296 m lies 3 km southwest. It offers panoramic views of the Tetrazio mountains to the northwest and a nearby one to the east. Its main production are olive
Olive
The olive , Olea europaea), is a species of a small tree in the family Oleaceae, native to the coastal areas of the eastern Mediterranean Basin as well as northern Iran at the south end of the Caspian Sea.Its fruit, also called the olive, is of major agricultural importance in the...

s, citrus
Citrus
Citrus is a common term and genus of flowering plants in the rue family, Rutaceae. Citrus is believed to have originated in the part of Southeast Asia bordered by Northeastern India, Myanmar and the Yunnan province of China...

, fruits, vegetables and other crops, several common crops are rarely common.

Its residential houses and buildings are within the main road and it is about 400 to 500 m long and 100 to 150 m wide. Much of the houses were stone built until the 1960s. Electricity arrived in the same year. Vehicles arrived in the 1970s, the pavement of the main road and television arrived in the 1980s and computer and internet are rarely known in the beginning of the 21st century and up to date technology are not seen.

Population

Year Population
1981 198
1991 167
2001 186

History

The village used to have a large population before the beginning of the 20th century. After World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

 and the Greek Civil War
Greek Civil War
The Greek Civil War was fought from 1946 to 1949 between the Greek governmental army, backed by the United Kingdom and United States, and the Democratic Army of Greece , the military branch of the Greek Communist Party , backed by Bulgaria, Yugoslavia and Albania...

, the population began to decline as residents moved to larger towns and cities and outside of Greece.

On Saturday August 25, 2007, Chirades was struck by an enormous fire that ravaged from Derveni in the morning hours and quickly spread into the village and paralyzed communications including roads, residents along with firefighters, helicopters and planes battled the fire day and night and several around the area were towering as high as from 30 to 50 m. The fire later spread southeast to Tourkoleka
Tourkoleka
Tourkolekas is a Greek settlement in the southwest of Arcadia, located 15 km south of Leontari around 26 km southeast of Megalopoli, about 30 km from Kalamata, about 55 km southwest of Tripoli and northwest of Sparta. Tourkolekas is in the municipal unit of Falaisia...

on Sunday August 26, 2007 and continued to spread to that area. Almost every forests and bushes were burnt and greenspaces had disappeared and it is temporary before it can grow back in years.
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