Skopia, Florina Explained
Skopia (Greek, Modern (1453-);: Σκοπιά, before 1928: Άνω Νεβόλιανη – Ano Nevoliani[1]) is a village in Florina Regional Unit, Macedonia, Greece.
Philologist André Mazon was in Ano Nevolani. In 1917, the village had 1300 people and composed of 230 Christian houses and 60 Turkish houses. Mazon wrote that the Christian population due to Bulgarian efforts were Exarchists until the village came under Greek governance, thereafter the children began learning Greek at school, but did not use the language among themselves. The Turks of Ano Nevolani were Turkicized Albanians, the adults knew Albanian and the young only Turkish.[2]
The Greek census (1920) recorded 1520 people in the village and in 1923 there were 350 inhabitants (or 59 families) who were Muslim. Following the Greek–Turkish population exchange, in Ano Nevoliani there were 3 refugee families from East Thrace and 22 refugee families from Asia Minor in 1926. The Greek census (1928) recorded 1478 village inhabitants. In 1928 there were 20 refugee families (121 people).[3] The village mosque was demolished in 1929.[4]
Notes and References
- Web site: Institute for Neohellenic Research. Name Changes of Settlements in Greece: Ano Nevoliani – Skopia. Pandektis. 30 March 2022.
- Book: Mazon, Andre. Contes Slaves de la Macedoine sud-occidentale. Mirchev. Kiril. Чуждестранни учени за югозападните български говори. Foreign Scholars on the Southwestern Bulgarian Dialects. 1979. Bŭlgarska akademii͡a na naukite (BAN). 80. "Le village de Gôrno Nevôlani (en grec Άνω Νεβόλιανη).... Il comprenait en mai 1917, d'après la déclaration du muktar (Πρόεδρος), 230 maisons chrétiennes et 60 maisons turques ; sa population était d'environ 1.300 habitants. Les chrétiens avaient passé en masse à l'exarchisme à l'époque de l'action bulgare dans cette région ; ils ont cessé d'être exarchistes, comme il va de soi, sous le régime hellénique; les jeunes qui ont été à l'école commencent à savoir le grec, mais ne le parlent jamais entre eux. Les Turcs sont en réalité des Albanais turquisés : les adultes savent encore l'albanais ; les jeunes ne savent plus que le turc."
- Pelagidis. Efstathios. 1992. Η αποκατάσταση των προσφύγων στη Δυτική Μακεδονία (1923–1930). The rehabilitation of refugees in Western Macedonia: 1923–1930. Ph.D.. el. Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. 30 March 2022. 75.
- Stavridopoulos. Ioannis. 2015. Μνημεία του άλλου: η διαχείριση της οθωμανικής πολιτιστική κληρονομιάς της Μακεδονίας από το 1912 έως σήμερα. Monuments of the other: The management of the Ottoman cultural heritage of Macedonia from 1912 until present. Ph.D.. University of Ioannina. 28 March 2022. 281.
