page_title: Alexandreia, Greece
section_title: 19th century – 1912
hierarchical_section_title: Alexandreia, Greece / History / 19th century – 1912
caption_attribution_description: Ελληνικά: Φωτογραφία παντρεμένης γυναίκας με φορεσιά από τον Γιδά Ημαθίας.Μακεδονία. Αρχές 20ού αιώνα. Φωτογραφικό Αρχείο Πελοποννησιακού Λαογραφικού Ιδρύματος, Ναύπλιο
context_page_description: Alexandreia or Alexandria is a city in the Imathia regional unit of Macedonia, Greece. Its population was 14,821 at the 2011 census. Alexandreia is a rapidly developing city focusing to boost its economy through agriculture, merchandising, alternative tourism and other alternative actions.
context_section_description: Regarding the historical context in Greece during this period, in 1821, the Greek War of Independence broke out in Peloponnese, and by 1832, Greece, was an independent state and nation, after almost 400 years. However, Macedonia was not liberated until the First Balkan War in 1912–1913. During the 19th century, the economic ascent of Thessaloniki and of the other urban centers of Macedonia coincided with the cultural and political renaissance of the Greeks. The ideals and patriotic songs of liberated Greece had made a profound impression upon the Macedonians. However, it was not until the end of the century that the revolutionary fervor of the southern Greeks started spreading to these parts.
  Meanwhile, the Ottomans had resorted to military rule, which provoked further resistance, and also led to economic dislocation and accelerated population decline. Ottoman landholdings, previously fiefs held directly from the Sultan, became hereditary estates (Chifliks), which could be sold or bequeathed to heirs. The new class of Ottoman landlords reduced the Greek farmers to serfdom, leading to depopulation of the plains, to the escape of many people to the mountains, and to usury, in order to escape poverty.
  Despite the general agitations in Greece and Macedonia as well as the redeployment of Slavic and Albanian forces and populations in the area, the Greeks living in Roumlouki were isolated and secured from the outer conflicts, and as thus they preserved their folksy lifestyle, their morals and customs and their costumes. As far as Gidas is concerned, in the first half of the 19th century, reports of Gidas are rare. In his work Travels in Northern Greece (1835), Topographer William Martin Leake mentioned travelling from Thessaloniki, through Jedha (Gidas), on his way to Veroia in 1806, setting Gidas as a location within the route Thessaloniki-Veroia. In 1812, physician Sir Henry Holland confirmed the existence of Gidas as a settlement, while travelling over the same route.
  Reports of Gidas are richer at the end of the century. The 1875's Ottoman cadastre refers to the Chiflik of Gidahor (Gidas) with an area of 19.328 acres (7.822 ha). The owner of the chiflik from 1875 to 1898 was Pasha Mehmed Şefik, who was also a distant descendant of Gazi Evrenos. From that cadastre, it is known that at least 150 families, of mostly farmers and shepherds, resided in Gidas, and there were also a few shops and an inn, meeting the needs of the dwellers and travelers.
  In the years that followed, especially after the foundation of the Supreme Macedonian Committee in 1895, the Bulgarian committees, located in Macedonia, were in turmoil with the Greek freedom fighters over the dominance of Macedonia, when it was realized that this part would be the next territorial loss of the Ottoman empire. These conflicts led to the events of the Macedonian Struggle that lasted for four years (1904-1908), in which the area of the Roumlouki played an important role at the outcome of the Struggle. More particularly, many guerrillas born or living in Gidas, called Macedonomachoi, participated actively in those conflicts, most notably including Koungas Theocharis (chieftain), Koukouloudis Thomas (second-class spy), Matopoulos Apostolos (chieftain), Moschopoulos Antonios (priest-teacher) and Perifanos Georgios (soldier).
  The Young Turk revolution ended the Macedonian Struggle, however skirmishes among the Greeks, the Bulgarians and the Young Turks continued in following years. On 9 October 1912, the first Balkan War was officially declared and very soon after, the Greek Army released the town of Gidas from the Ottoman domination on 18 October. More particularly, in the previous morning, on 17 October, the 3rd infantry half-company marched from Veroia to Gidas with the aid of the local Makedonomachos Koungas Theocharis and camped outside Gidas, intimidating that way the Turk soldiers, who fled the town. The next day, on October 18, the VII Cavalry Division of the Greek Army entered the town freeing the people of Gidas. Because of these two-day events, there has been con
caption: Married woman from Alexandreia, early 20th century (Collection of the Peloponnesian Folklore Foundation, Nafplio).
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