Katarrakti
Encyclopedia
Katarraktis 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....

 village built over two mountains in the southern Achaea
Achaea
Achaea is one of the regional units of Greece. It is part of the region of West Greece. It is situated in the northwestern part of the Peloponnese peninsula. The capital is Patras. The population exceeds 300,000 since 2001.-Geography:...

 prefecture. The village was known as Lopesi (Λόπεσι). Katarrakti is located 25 km south-southeast of Patras
Patras
Patras , ) is Greece's third largest urban area and the regional capital of West Greece, located in northern Peloponnese, 215 kilometers west of Athens...

, 5 km from Chalandritsa and about 60 km west of Kalavryta
Kalavryta
Kalavryta is a town and a municipality in the eastcentral part of the peripheral unit of Achaea, Greece. It is the southern terminus of the Kalavryta - Diakopto Road and the eastern terminus of the Patras - Kalavryta Road. It is located approx...

. Katarrakti had a 2001 population of was 221 for the village. The village is built by the foot of the Panachaiko
Panachaiko
The Panachaikon or Panachaiko , also known as Vodias in medieval times and until the early 20th century, is a mountain range that spans about 20 km in length from north to south , and 15 to 20 km from east to west...

. Katarrakti is north of the road linking with the GR-33
Greek National Road 33
Greek National Road 33 is a highway that runs from Patras, originally at Dimitris Gounaris Street, now begins at the beltway, and had a branch ending at Olympia, and ends near Vytina, and Levídi, and some think it still ends at Ellinikon near Andritsaina and Megalopolis...

 (Patras - 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...

) and Kalavryta. The village is situated by a large catarract that is 110 meters long and hence owes its name to the village. They are also filled with caves in which are beautiful and pristine.

Population

Year Population
1981 144
1991 193
2001 101

Geography

Its geography is made up of farmland that dominates the valley areas and mainly consists of groves in the western part and mountains in the northern and the eastern parts. It offers a view of the nearby mountains.

History

Katarraktis was ruled by the Ottoman
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...

 Turks
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...

 until the Greek War of Independence
Greek War of Independence
The Greek War of Independence, also known as the Greek Revolution was a successful war of independence waged by the Greek revolutionaries between...

 of 1821.

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...

, much of the population left for larger towns and cities especially the nearby Patras
Patras
Patras , ) is Greece's third largest urban area and the regional capital of West Greece, located in northern Peloponnese, 215 kilometers west of Athens...

. The population declined until 1991, but it slowly recovered by 20% between 1991 and 2001.

Houses were stone-built until the 1950s and did not surpass modern-style homes until the 1980s. It was linked with pavement in the 1980s. Most of the homes are abandoned today.

Around Katarrakti, archeologists found an ancient city between Drakotrypa and Drakotrypa along with Aridrako. The settlement was founded during the Mycenean period in the area of Drakotrypa and the settlement in the Mid-Hellenic and Mycenean periods in the area of Rodia.

Economy

Its main productions 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, fruits including watermelon, melon, figs, and vegetables including corn, tomatoes, potatoes, onions, cucumbers and others as well as dairy, livestock and others in small numbers, much of the farlmands are mainly groves and vines. The majority of the population are based in agriculture as well as some other businesses.
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