Soulari, Arcadia
Encyclopedia
Soulari 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 in 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 5 km east of Leontari
Leontari
Leontari is a town, seat of the former municipality of Falaisia, in the southwestern part of Arcadia...

 around 15 km southeast of Megalopoli, 10 km southeast from the nearest interchange with the 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...

/E65
European route E65
European route E 65 is a north-south Class-A European route that begins in Malmö, Sweden and ends in Chaniá, Greece. The road is about in length.-Itinerary:* Sweden** E 65: Malmö – Ystad* Baltic sea, ferry Ystad-Świnoujście* Poland...

 (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...

 - Megalopoli - 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...

), 65 km from 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 50 km southwest of 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 northwest of Sparta
Sparta
Sparta or Lacedaemon, was a prominent city-state in ancient Greece, situated on the banks of the River Eurotas in Laconia, in south-eastern Peloponnese. It emerged as a political entity around the 10th century BC, when the invading Dorians subjugated the local, non-Dorian population. From c...

. Soulari is connected with the road Megalopoli-Sparta Road and has a road to Falaisia
Falaisia
Falaisia is a village and a former municipality in Arcadia, Peloponnese, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Megalopoli, of which it is a municipal unit. The seat is in Leontari, 5 km north of the village Falaisia...

. Soulari had a population of 109 in 2001 for the village.

Nearest places

  • Petrina
    Petrina, Arcadia
    Petrina is a Greek village in Arcadia, located 4 km south of Voutsara around 15 to 18 km southeast of Megalopoli, 12 km east from the nearest interchange with the GR-7/E65 east of Leontari and 60 km from Kalamata, about 40 and 45 km west-southwest of Tripoli and northwest...

    , east
  • Spaneika, southeast
  • Falaisia
    Falaisia
    Falaisia is a village and a former municipality in Arcadia, Peloponnese, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Megalopoli, of which it is a municipal unit. The seat is in Leontari, 5 km north of the village Falaisia...

    , southwest
  • Leontari
    Leontari
    Leontari is a town, seat of the former municipality of Falaisia, in the southwestern part of Arcadia...

    , northwest
  • Voutsara
    Voutsara
    Voutsaras is a Greek village in Arcadia, located around 10 km southeast of Megalopoli, 8 km east from the nearest interchange with the GR-7/E65 east of Leontari and 60 km from Kalamata, about 35 and 40 km west-southwest of Tripoli and northwest of Sparta...

    , northeast

About the name

The origin of the name came from the Turkish
Turkish language
Turkish is a language spoken as a native language by over 83 million people worldwide, making it the most commonly spoken of the Turkic languages. Its speakers are located predominantly in Turkey and Northern Cyprus with smaller groups in Iraq, Greece, Bulgaria, the Republic of Macedonia, Kosovo,...

 word sular meaning waters and was one of some villages in Greece that did not change of translated its name, the last remaining were in the 1950s and the 1960s. The village is located near the Kefalovrysso and Kolokytha springs. It mainly prepared to form an area of village according to the Venetian archives. It was one of the villages of the area that reminded with today's Soulari, along with Petrina
Petrina, Arcadia
Petrina is a Greek village in Arcadia, located 4 km south of Voutsara around 15 to 18 km southeast of Megalopoli, 12 km east from the nearest interchange with the GR-7/E65 east of Leontari and 60 km from Kalamata, about 40 and 45 km west-southwest of Tripoli and northwest...

 located a little downward at an elevation of 640 m along with the settlement of Spaneika
Spaneika
Spaneika , older form: Spanaiika, may refer to several places in Greece:*Spaneika, a settlement in the Achaea prefecture*Spaneika, a settlement in the Arcadia prefecture*Spaneika, a settlement in the Argolis prefecture...

.

Geography

Soulari is situated in the Alfeios Valley, near the springs of the Theiounta river, known today as Koutoufarina (Κουτουφαρίνα), a stream of Alfeios.. Soulari are made up of forests and farmlands as well. The mountains cover the southern portions and are made up of rocks with grasslands and bushes along with a couple of forests and grasses and bushes around the areas. The branch of the Alfeios river lies to the north. 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 panorama includes the mountains around the area including the northern and the eastern parts, it cannot see the Lykaio mountains to the west. The mountaintop elevating 1,197 m is to the south-southeast.

Its residential houses and buildings are within the main road and it is about 500 m long. 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 152
1991 61
2001 109

History

The village was prepared for the first time during the Cretan War
Cretan War
The Cretan War was fought by King Philip V of Macedon, the Aetolian League, several Cretan cities and Spartan pirates against the forces of Rhodes and later Attalus I of Pergamum, Byzantium, Cyzicus, Athens and Knossos.The Macedonians had just concluded the First Macedonian War and Philip, seeing...

 between the Ottoman 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...

 and the Venetians between 1658 and 1669 for the control of the Mediterranean, participated in the Venetian's rebellions in the northern Taygetus. Soulari and other villages that revolted remained under Turkish rule.

During 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...

 in 1821, it appeared in its sources that hold Soulari took part in the revolution, its heroes included: Panagiotis Baroutas, Athanassios Koubaropoulos, Nikolaos Sakoulas, etc.

In the location of Palaio (Old) Soulari features and ancient farming settlement of Palaodrabalas (Παλιοδραμπάλας) which passed through east Falesia which ran from Messenia to Oresthasion. Its neighbouring settlements was Klimater for that it did not had sources after independence, it was united with Soulari.

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 including North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...

. Much of its houses were stone built until the 1960s when the village was first electrified. The population declined between 1981 and 1991 but slowly recovered in 2001.

External links

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