View source for Andravida

{{Infobox Greek Dimos
  |name = Andravida
  |name_local = Ανδραβίδα 
|type = municipal unit
|image_map = DE Andravidas.svg
|map_caption = Location within the regional unit
|periph = [[West Greece]]
|periphunit         = [[Elis (regional unit)|Elis]]
|municipality = [[Andravida-Kyllini]]
  |pop_community = 3172
  |pop_municunit = 3753
  |population_as_of = 2021
  |area_municunit  = 40.73 
  |elevation = 6
  |coordinates = {{coord|37|54|N|21|16|E|format=dms|display=inline,title}}
  |postal_code = 270 51
  |area_code = 26230
  |licence = ΗΑ
  |website = [http://www.andravida-killini.gr/ www.andravida-killini.gr]
 |image_skyline      = Andravida 2022 (2).jpg
 |caption_skyline    = Central Square with the ruin of the Church of Hagia Sophia
 |city_flag          = 
 |city_seal          = 
 |districts          =  
}}

'''Andravida''' ({{langx|el|Ανδραβίδα}}, {{IPA|el|anðraˈviða|}}) is a town and a former [[Communities and Municipalities of Greece|municipality]] in [[Elis (regional unit)|Elis]], in the northwest of the [[Peloponnese]] peninsula of [[Greece]]. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality [[Andravida-Kyllini]], of which it is a municipal unit.<ref name=Kallikratis>{{Cite web|url=http://www.et.gr/idocs-nph/search/pdfViewerForm.html?args=5C7QrtC22wGYK2xFpSwMnXdtvSoClrL81-32jgAMSfbnMRVjyfnPUeJInJ48_97uHrMts-zFzeyCiBSQOpYnT00MHhcXFRTsb2fGphpq4MKX2ZkaHobySNnvZCNHXvYVvlf80XevW0Q.|title=ΦΕΚ B 1292/2010, Kallikratis reform municipalities|language=el|publisher=[[Government Gazette (Greece)|Government Gazette]]}}</ref> The municipal unit has an area of 40.728&nbsp;km<sup>2</sup>.<ref name=stat01>{{cite web|url=http://dlib.statistics.gr/Book/GRESYE_02_0101_00098%20.pdf |publisher=National Statistical Service of Greece |title=Population & housing census 2001 (incl. area and average elevation) |language=el |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150921212047/http://dlib.statistics.gr/Book/GRESYE_02_0101_00098%20.pdf |archive-date=2015-09-21 }}</ref> Its population is about 3,700. The town was the capital of the [[Frankokratia|Frankish]] [[Principality of Achaea]] in the late [[Middle Ages]].

== Location ==
Andravida is located in the plains of northwestern Elis, at about 7&nbsp;km from the [[Ionian Sea]] coast. It is 3&nbsp;km south of [[Lechaina]], 6&nbsp;km north of [[Gastouni]], 30&nbsp;km northwest of [[Pyrgos, Elis|Pyrgos]] and 55&nbsp;km southwest of [[Patras]].

The [[Greek National Road 9]] (also [[European route E55|E55]]) Patras-Pyrgos-[[Pylos]] passes east of the town. The [[Andravida Air Base]] is 2.5&nbsp;km to the east of the city center.

==Population==
{| class=wikitable
! Year !! Town population !! Municipal unit population 
|-----
| 1981 || 3,460 || - 
|-----
| 1991 || 3,167 || 3,915 
|-----
| 2001 || 3,579 || 4,309 
|-----
| 2011 || 3,981 || 4,716
|-----
| 2021 || 3,172 || 3,753
|}

==History==
[[File:Coat of arms of the Principality of Achaea.svg|thumb|100px|Coat of arms of the [[Principality of Achaea]].]]
Andravida's early history is obscure: the name is of unknown provenance—several proposals have been made, the most probable of which is that it derives from a Slavic name for "place of the otters"—and the site is not mentioned before the conquest by the [[Fourth Crusade|Crusaders]] in 1205, even though it certainly existed before that.{{sfn|Bon|1969|p=318}} According to the ''[[Chronicle of the Morea]]'', Andravida, like most of the towns and regions of the northern and western Peloponnese, was captured without a fight in 1205 by the Crusader leader [[William of Champlitte]], and it was there that the local Greek magnates and lords of Elis and of the mountains of [[Skorta]] and [[Mesarea]] paid him homage and recognized him as their lord.{{sfn|Bon|1969|p=60}}

Soon after the Frankish conquest, Andravida (known as ''Andreville'' in French, ''Andrevilla'' in Aragonese and ''Andravilla'' in Italian) became the residence of the princes of the newly established [[Principality of Achaea]]. As the medievalist Antoine Bon points out, Andravida's choice as the ''de facto'' capital of the principality rested on its favourable location: situated in the midst of the fertile plain of Elis, it was well provisioned and could sustain horses, it was located near the major port town of [[Glarentza]], but not on the coast and hence not vulnerable to seaborne raids, and was equally far from the mountains of the central Peloponnese with their rebellious inhabitants. Consequently, despite its importance, it was never fortified.{{sfn|Bon|1969|pp=318–319}} The town also became the seat of a [[Roman Catholic]] bishopric, attested since 1212, which assimilated the pre-existing Greek [[bishopric of Olena]] and retained the latter's name.{{sfn|Bon|1969|pp=93, 319}}

[[File:Andravida Ayia Sophia from W.jpg|thumb|Church of Saint Sophia, Andravida]]

Only a few traces survive of the Frankish town, and most of the testimony about its buildings comes from literary sources: a palace for the Princes; the Church of Saint Stephen, possibly belonging to the [[Franciscans]]; the Church and hospice of Saint James, given to the [[Teutonic Order]] in 1241 and serving as the burial place for the princely [[House of Villehardouin]]; the convent of Saint Nicholas of Carmel; and the Church of Saint Sophia, serviced by the [[Dominican Order|Dominicans]] and the largest of them all, by virtue of which it often served as the site of assemblies and parliaments of the principality's nobility. Early 19th-century travellers like [[François Pouqueville]] and [[Jean Alexandre Buchon]] reported that the three churches were still largely extant, but today only Saint Sophia survives to a substantial extent.{{sfn|Bon|1969|pp=319–320}}

Like the rest of the Principality's remnants in Elis and Achaea, Andravida was conquered by the [[Despotate of the Morea]] in the late 1420s.{{sfn|Bon|1969|pp=290ff.}} In 1460 it was conquered by the [[Ottoman Empire]] and remained under Ottoman rule, with the exception of a [[Kingdom of the Morea|brief Venetian period]] in 1686–1715, until [[Greek independence]].

==People==
*[[Konstantinos Andravidiotis]], chieftain of the [[Greek War of Independence]].

==Subdivisions==
[[File:Dimos Andravidas.png|thumb|Municipality of Andravida within the regional unit of [[Elis (regional unit)|Elis]].]]
The municipal unit Andravida is subdivided into the following communities (constituent villages in brackets):
*Andravida (Andravida, Agios Georgios), pop. 3,172 in 2021
*[[Stafidokampos]], pop. 290
*[[Strousi]], pop. 291

The small village Agios Georgios (pop. 62) lies 6&nbsp;km east of Andravida town centre, on the east side of the air base.

==References==
{{Reflist|2}}

==Sources==
* {{cite book | last = Bon | first = Antoine | title = La Morée franque. Recherches historiques, topographiques et archéologiques sur la principauté d'Achaïe | year = 1969 | language = French | publisher = De Boccard | location = Paris | url = http://cefael.efa.gr/detail.php?site_id=1&actionID=page&serie_id=BefarA&volume_number=213&issue_number=1 }}

==External links==
{{commons category}}
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20180810155202/http://www.andravida.gr/ Andravida Website]

{{Geographic location
|Centre    = Andravida 
|North     = [[Lechaina]]
|Northeast = Lechaina
|East      = [[Tragano]]
|Southeast = 
|South     = [[Gastouni]]
|Southwest = [[Vartholomio]]
|West      = [[Kastro-Kyllini]] 
|Northwest =  
}}

{{Andravida-Kyllini div}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Populated places in Elis]]
[[Category:Andravida-Kyllini]]
[[Category:Principality of Achaea]]
[[Category:Burial sites of the Komnenodoukas dynasty]]