Aetolia-Acarnania

Aetolia-Acarnania (Αιτωλοακαρνανία, Aitoloakarnanía, also Aetoloacarnania and Etoloakarnania) is one of the prefectures of Greece. It is located in the western part of Greece; the prefecture is a combination of the regions Aetolia and Acarnania, and its capital for historical reasons is Mesolongi, with its biggest city and economic centre at Agrinion. The area is now connected with the Peloponnese peninsula via the spectacular Rio-Antirio Bridge, and the surrounding prefectures take in Arta in Epirus, a narrow length bordering Karditsa of Thessaly, Eurytania to the northeast, and Phocis to the east. This is the largest prefecture in Greece.

Geography
Mountains dominate the north, northeast, west and southeast, especially the Acarnanian Mountains. The longest and main river is the Acheloos, which ends as a delta in wetlands to the southwest, an a rich fertile valley, and the second longest is Evinos; others include the Ermitsa, the Inachos, and the Mornos (which is bounded with the Phokida prefecture). The prefecture excludes islands lying in the west, since they belong to the Kefalonia and Ithaca Prefecture. There is one reservoir and a lake in its central part. The many mountains of the area span the Panaitoliko toward the northeast and the Acarnanian Mountains, where a springwater company was founded, the Valtos Mountains also in the northeast, the Makrynoros to the extreme north, the Nafpaktia Mountains to the southeast, the Arakynthos and Kravara to the south, and Mount Lidoriki.

Lakes include the Amvrakia, the Lysimachia, Ozeros, and Trichonida, and artificial lakes and reservoirs include Kastraki, Kremasta, also the nation's largest lake since its creation in 1970, and Stratos. Two lagoons are found in the southern part of the prefecture, the Messolongi and the Aitoliko or Etoliko

Climate
Its climate tends toward hot summers and mild winters in the low lying areas, with cool winters dominating in the mountain areas. At the highest elevations, summers are cool, and snow and cold weather dominate the winter months in the Panaitoliko.

On April 11, 2007 an enormous earthquake rumbled the prefecture and was even felt in southernmost Epirus, Evrytania, Phokida, Achaia, Ilia and Lefkada including its smaller Ionian Islands, its epicenter was at Lake Trichonida and measured 5.3, 5.4, 5.6 and 5.7 on the Richter scale, the first earthquake occurred at 2 AM, the second at 6 AM and three more occurred at 10:13, 10:14 and at 10:15 AM, the last one occurred at around 10:45, about a half-hour later. It caused panic to the streets especially as residents evacuated and worried at their homes and shops at downtown Agrinio. Several houses were damaged; also one school as the wall and ceiling tumbled over desks. Fortunately no students were inside as they were enjoying their holidays.

Rainstorms pelted the area especially in 2004, 2005 and 2006. Hailstorms pummelled the prefecture on May 25, 2007 as the low-pressure system that arrived from southern and central Europe devastated crops including tomatoes, watermelons, and other crops. The hailstones were nearly the size of golfballs and turned the ground to a wintry scene.

Ottoman era
During the Ottoman period, the modern prefecture between the 16th century until the Greek War of Independence was called a sanjak of Karleli.

Modern Aetolia-Acarnania
Aetolia and Acarnania became a prefecture and merged to form Aetolia-Acarnania after the Greek War of Independence in the late-1820s; the prefecture included Evrytania at the time, and it ranked second largest in Greece. Evrytania separated from the prefecture in 1948. In the 20th century, ferry services between Rio and the Peloponnese began. and in the 1950s and the 1960s ferry services began to incorporate vehicles. Following World War II and the Greek Civil War a number of buildings needed to be repaired.

A drawbridge linking the island of Lefkada began in the 1960s. The prefecture's first reservoir, the Acheloos Dam over the Acheloos was under construction in 1967 and completed in the early-1970s delivering water and hydro to western part of Greece, villages were relocated at the time. Two more dams were added, the Stratos Hydroelectric Dam in the 1980s and another in the late-1980s.

Transportation
The following years, GR-5 bypassed Messolonghi and Agrinion and GR-38 became connected with paved road with Eurytania and Phthiotida. In the late-1980s, the by-pass of Naupaktos began construction but after paving the road, the signs did not appear and until 1998, it was left unopened. In 1999, the road was re-repaired and finally opened to traffic. In 2000, the construction of the Rio-Antirio or the Charilaos Trikoupis Bridge connecting the Peloponnese began construction and was opened to traffic in August 2004. The superhighway, the Ioniki Odos (Ionian Motorway) which will run centrally bypassing communities began construction in 2001 at a part between Messolonghi and the curve, this section remains to be unpaved, the rest of the highway is in plan but the opening date is not yet set.

A railway formally served the places from Kryoneri and Agrinio and served with the ferry with Rio. In the 1980s, the service came to an end and was the next on the list of prefectures not connected with rail. It will remain on the list but not high speed rail which will be in plan and connect with other cities including Athens, Patras and Ioannina, the track through this prefecture remains uncertain since there is no tunnel with the Peloponnese.


 * Greek National Road 5/E55, SE, S, Cen., N
 * Greek National Road 38, Cen., NE
 * Greek National Road 42, N, NW
 * Greek National Road 48/E65, SE
 * Road linking Agios Nikolaos, Astakos and Aitolikon, NW, W, SW, S

Population history

 * 1991: 230,688
 * 2001: 228,180

Radio

 * Agrinio 93.7 FM

Television

 * Acheloos TV - Agrinion
 * Lychnos, UHF channel 32 (religious), broadcasting from Nafpaktos
 * Lepanto Tv - Nafpaktos

Newspapers

 * 29Dytika
 * Akarnania
 * En Bambini - Bambini
 * Nea Epohi
 * Vela

Provinces
Note: Provinces no longer hold any legal status in Greece.
 * Province of Messolonghi - Messolonghi/Messolongi
 * Province of Nafpaktia - Nafpaktos
 * Province of Trichonida - Agrinio
 * Province of Valtos - Amfilochia
 * Province of Vonitsa & Xiromeros Province - Vonitsa

People

 * Stratos Apostolakis - footballer
 * Georgios Athanasiadis-Novas - a former Greek prime minister
 * Filipos Darlas, footballer
 * Christos Garoufalis, writer
 * Ioannis Kalogeras
 * Christos Kapralos, writer
 * Pavlos Karakostas
 * Pantelis Karasevdas
 * Michalis Kousis
 * Nikolaos Makris
 * Kostas Mentis
 * Aristidis Moschos, musician
 * Andreas Panagopoulos
 * Thodoros Papadimitriou
 * Pythagoras Papastamatiou, director
 * Evangelos Papastratos
 * Loukia Pistiola, actor
 * Charilaos Trikoupis - a former Greek Prime Minister
 * Spyridon Trikoupis - a former Greek Prime Minister
 * Dimitrios Valvis - a former Greek Prime Minister
 * Zinovios Valvis - a former Greek Prime Minister
 * Yannis Yfantis - poet

Sporting teams

 * Panetolikos - Agrinion, second division
 * Nafpaktiakos Asteras F.C. - Nafpaktos, fourth division
 * AO Messologiou - Mesologgi, fourth division