Náoussa (Imathie)

Naousa (Νάουσα, historically Νάουσσα - Naoussa; Naustã), officially The Heroic City of Naousa is a city in the Imathia regional unit of Central Macedonia, Greece with a population of 21,139 (2016). It is located at the foot of the Vermio Mountains. According to the 2011 census its population was 20,176 inhabitants. The wider municipality, after the administrative reform of the Kallikratis plan, had a population of 32,470 inhabitants. Since 1955, by royal decree, it has been designated as a heroic city for the struggle and sacrifices of the inhabitants in 1822, during the Greek War of Independence. An industrial center since the 19th century, for most of the 20th century the history of Naousa was closely intertwined with that of the Lanaras family, local industrialists who, at the height of their influence, employed almost half of Naousa's population in their textile factories. The Lanaras family built hospitals, social centers etc. while streets of Naousa were named after family members. In the 1990s and 2000s however, most of the local factories closed, leaving Naousa with a serious (and still unresolved) unemployment problem. The Arapitsa of Naoussa is one of the few rivers in Greece that has a feminine name; the river that has gone down in history for the great sacrifice of the city's women in April 1822, who preferred that they and their children fall into its water rather than into the hands of the Turks. At the site of the women's sacrifice, in the Stoubanoi area next to the Arapitsa river, there is a monument. Naousa was formerly also known as Niausta. A more likely possibility is its establishment as "Nea Augusta" by the Romans, with "Niausta" and finally "Naousa" being a corruption of it[10]. Another folk etymology considers the name "Naousa" to be a transformation of the verb "nao", i.e. to flow or float (hence also nautical), to a noun. In the Middle Ages, when the city was under the rule of Serbian rulers, it had the name Njeguš(Serb. Његуш, Njeguš).