Location

Coordinates 40°38′N 22°57′E / 40.633°N 22.95°E / 40.633; 22.95Coordinates: 40°38′N 22°57′E / 40.633°N 22.95°E / 40.633; 22.95

Government
Country: Greece
Periphery: Central Macedonia
Prefecture: Thessaloniki
Districts: 16
Mayor: Vassilios Papageorgopoulos  (ND)
(since: 1 January 1999)
Population statistics (as of 2001)
City
 - Population: 363,987
 - Area: 17.832 km² (7 sq mi)
 - Density: 20,412 /km² (52,867 /sq mi)
Urban
 - Population: 773,180
 - Area: 96.640 km² (37 sq mi)
 - Density: 8,001 /km² (20,722 /sq mi)
Metropolitan
 - Population: 995,766
 - Area: 1,089.608 km² (421 sq mi)
 - Density: 914 /km² (2,367 /sq mi)
Other
Time zone: EET/EEST (UTC+2/3)
Elevation (min-max): 0 - 20 m (0 - 66 ft)
Postal: 53x xx, 54x xx, 55x xx, 56x xx
Telephone: 231x
Auto: Ν
Website
www.thessalonikicity.gr

Thessaloniki (Greek: Θεσσαλονίκη, IPA: /θesaloˈnici/), Thessalonica, or Salonica is the second-largest city in Greece and the capital of the region of Macedonia. Its honorific title is Συμпρωτεύουσα (Symprotévousa), literally "co-capital", a reference to its historical status as the Συμβασιλεύουσα (Symvasilévousa) or "co-reigning" city of the Byzantine Empire, alongside Constantinople. According to the 2001 census, the municipality of Thessaloniki had a population of 363,987, its Urban Area 800,764 and the Larger Urban Zone (LUZ) of Thessaloniki has an estimated 995,766 residents (2004).

Thessaloniki is Greece's second major economic, industrial, commercial and political centre, and a major transportation hub for the rest of southeastern Europe; its commercial port is also of great importance for Greece and its southeast European hinterland. The city hosts an annual International Trade Fair, the International Thessaloniki Film Festival, and the largest bi-annual meeting of the Greek diaspora.

Thessaloniki is home to numerous notable Byzantine monuments, including the Paleochristian and Byzantine monuments of Thessalonika, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, as well as several Ottoman and Sephardic Jewish structures.

Etymology

All variations for the city's name derive from the original (and current) appellation in Greek: Θεσσαλονίκη, literally translating to "Thessaly-victory" and in origin the name of a princess, Thessalonike of Macedon, who was so named because she was born on the day of the Macedonian victory at the Battle of Crocus Field. The alternative name Salonica, formerly the common name used in some western European languages, is derived from a variant form Σαλονίκη (Saloníki) in popular Greek speech. The city's name is also rendered Thessaloníki or Saloníki with a dark l typical of Macedonian Greek. Names in other languages prominent in the city's history include سلانيك in Ottoman Turkish and Selânik in modern Turkish, Solun (Cyrillic: Солун) in the South Slavic languages, Sãrunã in Aromanian, Selanik/Salonika in Ladino and "Selanik" in Albanian. It is also known as 'Thess' by Anglophonic diaspora Greeks who returned to Greece and by the troops of the international forces stationed in the various ex-Yugoslav territories who visit the city for their breaks from duty.

History

The city was founded around 315 BC by the King Cassander of Macedon, on or near the site of the ancient town of Therma and 26 other local villages. He named it after his wife Thessalonike, a half-sister of Alexander the Great (Thessalo-nikē means the "Thessalian victory") (See Battle of Crocus field). It was an autonomous part of the Kingdom of Macedon. After the fall of the kingdom of Macedon in 168 BC, Thessalonica became a city of the Roman Republic. It grew to be an important trade-hub located on the Via Egnatia and facilitated trade between Europe and Asia. The city became the capital of one of the four Roman districts of Macedonia.

When in 379 the Roman Prefecture of Illyricum was divided between East and West Roman Empires, Thessaloníki became the capital of the new Prefecture of Illyricum.^{[citation needed]} The economic expansion of the city continued through the twelfth century as the rule of the Komnenoi emperors expanded Byzantine control to the north. Thessaloniki passed out of Byzantine hands in 1204, when Constantinople was captured by the Fourth Crusade. Thessaloníki and its surrounding territory—the Kingdom of Thessalonica—became the largest fief of the Latin Empire. It also was ruled by the Despotate of Epirus between 1224 and 1246, and was a vassal state of the Second Bulgarian Empire between 1230 and 1246.

The city was recovered by the Byzantine Empire in 1246. In the 1340s, it was the scene of the anti-aristocratic Commune of the Zealots. In 1423, the Despot Andronicus who was in charge of the city handed it over to the Republic of Venice in the hope that it could be protected from the Ottomans (there is no evidence to support the oft-repeated story that he sold the city to them). The Venetians held Thessaloniki until it was captured by the Ottoman Sultan Murad II on 29 March 1430. Murad II took Thessaloniki with a brutal massacre and enslavement of roughly one-fifth of the native inhabitants. Upon the capture and plunder of Thessaloniki, many of its inhabitants escaped, including intellectuals Theodorus Gaza “Thessalonicensis” and Andronicus Callistus.

During the Ottoman period, the city's Muslim and Jewish population grew. By 1478 Selânik (سلانیك) – as the city came to be known in Ottoman Turkish – had a population of 4,320 Muslims and 6,094 Greek Orthodox, as well as some Catholics, but no Jews. By ca. 1500, the numbers had grown to 7,986 Greeks, 8,575 Muslims, and 3,770 Jews, but by 1519, the latter numbered 15,715, 54% of the city's population. The invitation to Sephardic Jews expelled from Spain by Ferdinand and Isabella, was an Ottoman demographic strategy to prevent the Greek element from dominating the city.

By the 1680s, about 300 families of Sephardic Jews, followers of Sabbatai Zevi, had converted to Islam, becoming a sect known as the Dönmeh (convert), and migrated to majority-Jewish Salonika. There they established an active community that thrived for about 250 years. Many of their descendants later became prominent in trade.

Selanik was a sanjak capital in Rumeli Eyaleti (Balkans) until 1826, and subsequently the capital of Selanik Vilayeti (between 1826 and 1864 Selanik Eyaleti). This consisted of the sanjaks of Selanik, Serez and Drama between 1826 and 1912.^{[citation needed]} Thessaloniki was also a Janissary stronghold where novice Janissaries were trained. In June 1826, regular Turkish soldiers attacked and destroyed the Janissary bases, an event known as The Auspicious Incident in Turkish history.

From 1870, driven by economic growth, the city's population expanded by 70%, reaching 135,000 in 1917.^{[citation needed]}

During the First Balkan War, on 26 October 1912 (Old Style), the feast day of the city's patron saint, Saint Demetrius, the Greek Army accepted the surrender of the Ottoman garrison at Thessalonika.

In 1915, during World War I, a large Allied expeditionary force landed at Thessaloniki as the base for operations against pro-German Bulgaria. This culminated in the establishment of the Macedonian or Salonika Front.^{[citation needed]} In 1916, pro-Venizelist Greek army officers, with the support of the Allies, launched the Movement of National Defence, which resulted in the establishment of a pro-Allied temporary government that controlled northern Greece and the Aegean, against the official government of the King in Athens.^{[citation needed]} This led the city to be dubbed as symprotévousa ("co-capital").^{[citation needed]} Most of the old town was destroyed by a single fire on 18 August [O.S. 5 August] 1917,^{[citation needed]} which was accidentally sparked by French soldiers in encampments at the city. The fire left some 72,000 homeless, many of them Turkish, of a population of approximately 271,157 at the time.^{[citation needed]}