Aisymi

Aisymi (Greek: Αισύμη, Bulgarian: Доган Хисар, Dogan hisar, Doğanhisar) is a village in the Evros Prefecture located 22.5 km north of the city of Alexandroupoli. Its 2001 population was 289 for the village and 367 for the municipal district. Aisymi is also located west of the Turkish border, about 10 to 12 km north-northeast of Ávantas and east of Komotini. The area is approximately 100 to 150 km².

Subdivision

 * Leptokarya

Nearest places

 * Pestana, north-northeast
 * Nipsa, southeast
 * Ávantas, south-southwest
 * Strofi, west-northwest

Geography
Its geography consists of farmlands around the villages. It is one of the largest municipal districts in the country, the area is mainly underpopulated. The mountain ranges lies to the west and are heavily forested to the west, more forests are to the north and south.

History
Aissymi dates back to the ancient times as an ancient settlement. It was later ruled by the Kingdom of Macedonia and later the Seleucid Dynasty which lasted until 90 BC when it was to be ruled by the Roman Empire. After the split into the West and the East in 395, Aissymi was ruled by the East, which later became the Byzantine Empire. Like the rest of the southern area of present-day Evros prefecture, it oscillated for centuries between periods of Byzantine, Bulgarian and Latin Empire of Constantinople domination. In the 14th century the Turks invaded the region and joined the village to the Ottoman Empire. It remained under Turkish rule until the Balkan Wars of 1913. At that time, Aissymi (then known as Doğanhisar, Dugan Hisar in Bulgarian) was a Bulgarian speaking village like many parts of today's Evros prefecture. The population in 1912 consisted of 400 Bulgarians.

During the Balkan Wars it was occupied by Bulgaria and administered by this country until the cession of Western Thrace to Greece by the Treaty of Neuilly in 1919. Subsequently, Bulgarians left for places north of the modern border. Its Greek inhabitants arrived from former Greek speaking areas of the Ottoman Empire. After World War II and the Greek Civil War, many of its buildings were rebuilt. Some of its residents moved to other parts of Greece and North America. The population dramatically lost between 1981 and 2001.

Electricity and automobiles arrived in the 1960s, it was linked with pavement in the late-20th century, television arrived in the 1980s. Internet and computers arrived in the late-1990s.

The area around Aissymi was struck by a fire in late-July 2007, its forests were quickly burnt and left several houses and other properties including cars burnt and destroyed. Fire trucks along with firefighters, helicopters and airplanes battled the fire and quickly stopped spreading outside the area of Metalliko and in the village. It lasted for several days.

People that were born in Aissymi

 * Kiro Chelekov, Bulgarian revolutionary
 * Petko Voyvoda or Captain Petko Voyvoda (1844 - 1900), Bulgarian hajduk leader and revolutionary
 * Kosta Mitev Admirala, Bulgarian revolutionary and leader


 * Mara Mihailova (1900-1989), Bulgaian folklorist and journalist