Pella Prefecture

Infobox Pref GR
name = Pella
name_local = Νομός Πέλλης
flag_reg = Flag of Greek Macedonia.svg


periph = Central Macedonia
capital = Edessa
population = 148,190
population_as_of = 2005
pop_rank = 22nd
pop_dens = 59.1
popdens_rank = 21st
area = 2,506
area_rank = 26th
postal_code = 58x xx
area_code = 238x0
licence = ΕΕ
provinces = 3
municip = 11
commun = | ISO = GR-59
website = [http://www.pella.gr/ www.pella.gr]
munic_

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Pella ( _el. Πέλλα) is one of the prefectures of Greece. Its capital town is Edessa. The prefecture was created out of the then gigantic Thessaloniki Prefecture in 1947 and is named after the ancient city Pella. The prefecture is in the periphery (an administrative area), of Central Macedonia, in the region of Macedonia.

Municipalities

See also:
*List of settlements in the Pella prefecture
*Former toponyms of places in Pella Prefecture

Province

Geography

The mountains lie to the north and the southwest especially the Vermio mountains, the Voras mountains to the northwest and the Paiko mountains to the northeast. The southernmost portion is flat and in the ancient times, it was a gulf connected with the Aegean Sea, the elevation does not succeed about 5 to 10 m above sea level. Pella is bounded by the prefectures of Kilkis to the northeast, Thessaloniki to the east, Imathia to the south, Kozani to the southwest, by Lake Vegoritida to the southwest, and by Florina Prefecture to the west. On the north, it is bounded by the national border between Greece and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. On the other side of the frontier, the district of Brod lies to the northwest and Gevgelija to the northeast. Its famous attraction are the ancient Pella and Edessa including its small waterfall.

History

The area around the modern Pella Prefecture was part of the Kingdom of Macedon. It later joined the Roman Empire and later the Byzantine and the Ottoman Empires. During 500 years of Turkish rule, there was a revolution and it was the Greek War of Independence and all of its battles were lost and crushed, it did not finally join Greece until 1913 after the end of the Balkan Wars. Pella's economy and agriculture improved and more farmlands were created since the road system is more modernized than the south. Pella saw World War I , the then population was mostly Aromanians also known as Vlachs , until the Greek government in Athens transferred a large Muslim and Greek-speaking Christian refugees from Asia Minor in modern Turkey in 1924. After World War II and the Greek Civil War. Radio and automobiles were introduced to the countryside in the 1950s as well as its more roads being paved, television were introduced in the 1970s and 1980s outside the major communities. In 2007, the crops were severely damaged and several farmlands were flooded as a system that arrived from Southern and Central Europe received heavy torrential rain to the prefecture.

Agriculture

The southern part of the prefecture has many orchards. Agriculture once represented its main industry, today, manufacturing, services and other businesses dominates about 70% of its industry.

Transport

*GR-1 (old highway), SE
*GR-2/E90, W, SW, Cen., E, SE
*Edessa - Verroia road, S

External links

* [http://www.napella.gr/ Official website of the prefecture of Pella]
* [http://www.gtp.gr/LocPage.asp?id=7289 Map & info of Pella Prefecture]