Vegora, Florina
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Vegora
Βέγορα | |
|---|---|
  Vegora | |
| Coordinates: 40°40′49″N 21°42′53″E / 40.68028°N 21.71472°E | |
| Country | Greece |
| Geographic region | Macedonia |
| Administrative region | Western Macedonia |
| Regional unit | Florina |
| Municipality | Amyntaio |
| Municipal unit | Filotas |
| Population (2021)[1] | |
• Community | 392 |
| Time zone | UTC+2 (EET) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC+3 (EEST) |
Vegora (Greek: Βέγορα, before 1926: Νέογραδ – Neograd)[2] is a village in Florina Regional Unit, Macedonia, Greece.
The 1920 Greek census recorded 800 people in the village, and 800 inhabitants (170 families) were Muslim in 1923.[3] Following the Greek–Turkish population exchange, Greek refugee families in Neograd were from Asia Minor (24) and Pontus (58) in 1926.[3] The 1928 Greek census recorded 315 village inhabitants.[3] In 1928, the refugee families numbered 89 (308 people).[3]
Vegora had 469 inhabitants in 1981.[4] In fieldwork done by anthropologist Riki Van Boeschoten in late 1993, Vegora was populated by a Greek population descended from Anatolian Greek refugees who arrived during the population exchange.[4] Pontic Greek was spoken in the village by people over 30 in public and private settings.[4] Children understood the language, but mostly did not use it.[4]
In the late 1990s, the water levels of Lake Vegoritida decreased and new land became exposed for cultivation.[5] The land became the centre of an ownership dispute, involving sometimes violent incidents with the neighbouring village of Agios Panteleimonas.[5] Tensions between Greece and the Republic of Macedonia affected the situation as Vegora, populated by Pontic Greeks and other Greeks, was supported by government authorities in Florina over Agios Panteleimonas, a Slavophone village.[5]