Kato Kleines (Greek: Κάτω Κλεινές, before 1926: Κάτω Κλέστινα - Kato Klestina;[2] Bulgarian and Macedonian: Долно Клештино, Dolno Kleštino) is a village and a former municipality in Florina regional unit, West Macedonia, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Florina, of which it is a municipal unit.[3] The municipal unit has an area of 188.564 km2.[4] It is 7 km north of the city of Florina. The population was 2,132 in 2021.
Kato Kleines
Κάτω Κλεινές | |
---|---|
Kato Kleines Location within the regional unit | |
Coordinates: 40°51′N 21°25′E / 40.850°N 21.417°E | |
Country | Greece |
Administrative region | West Macedonia |
Regional unit | Florina |
Municipality | Florina |
Area | |
• Municipal unit | 188.6 km2 (72.8 sq mi) |
Elevation | 620 m (2,030 ft) |
Population (2021)[1] | |
• Municipal unit | 2,132 |
• Municipal unit density | 11/km2 (29/sq mi) |
• Community | 297 |
Time zone | UTC+2 (EET) |
• Summer (DST) | UTC+3 (EEST) |
Vehicle registration | ΡΑ |
The village was first mentioned in an Ottoman defter of 1468, where it is listed under the name of Kleshtino and described as having ninety-seven households. In 1481, the village possessed two hundred and thirteen households, a church, mills, and a kiln. The Turkish documents suggest a prosperous place, noting the production of vines, walnuts, onions, garlic, cabbage, peas, flax, honey, pigs, and silkworms.[5]
In 1845 the Russian slavist Victor Grigorovich recorded Kleshtina (Клештина) as mainly Bulgarian village.[6] Johann Georg von Hahn in his map from 1861 marked the village as Bulgarian, too.[7] Besides Slav-speaking population there were 150 Albanians in Kato Kleines in the end of 19th century.[8] According to the statistics of Geographers Dimitri Mishev and D. M. Brancoff, the village had a total Christian population of 504 in 1905, all Patriarchist Bulgarians.[9] It also had 1 Greek school.[9]
Muslims of Kato Klestina were Albanian speakers.[10] The Greek census (1920) recorded 792 people in the village and in 1923 there were 320 inhabitants (or 49 families) who were Muslim.[11] Following the Greek-Turkish population exchange, in 1926 within Kato Klestina there were refugee families from East Thrace (2), Asia Minor (1) and the Caucasus (74).[11] The Greek census (1928) recorded 817 village inhabitants.[11] In 1928, there were 77 refugee families (288 people).[11]
Kato Kleines had 523 inhabitants in 1981.[12] In fieldwork done by Riki Van Boeschoten in late 1993, Kato Kleines was populated by a Greek population descended from Anatolian Greek refugees who arrived during the Greek-Turkish population exchange, and Slavophones.[12] The Macedonian language was spoken in the village by people over 30 in public and private settings.[12] Children understood the language, but mostly did not use it.[12] Pontic Greek was spoken by people over 60, mainly in private.[12]