Cappadocian Greeks
Cappadocian Greeks in traditional clothing, Greece
|
|
| Total population | |
|---|---|
| (unknown) | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
| Greece (especially northern Greece) | |
 Greece
|
44,432 (More than 40,000 including descendants) - around 50,000 (1920s estimate) |
| Languages | |
| Greek language, Cappadocian Greek, Karamanli Turkish | |
| Religion | |
| Greek Orthodoxy | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| other Greeks | |
Cappadocian Greeks also known as Greek Cappadocians (Greek: Έλληνες-Καππαδόκες, Ελληνοκαππαδόκες, Καππαδόκες; Turkish: Kapadokyalı Rumlar) or simply Cappadocians are a Greek community native to the geographical region of Cappadocia in central-eastern Anatolia, roughly the Nevşehir Province and surrounding provinces of modern Turkey. There had been a continuous Greek presence in Cappadocia since antiquity. Following the terms of the Greek–Turkish population exchange of 1923 the remaining Cappadocian Greek natives were forced to leave and resettle in modern Greece. Today their descendants can be found throughout Greece and the Greek diaspora worldwide.
The area known as Cappadocia today was known to the Ancient Persians as Katpatuka, a name which the Greeks altered into Kappadokia (Cappadocia).
Before Greeks arrived in Asia Minor, the area was controlled by another Indo-European people, the Hittites. Mycenaean Greeks set up trading posts along the west coast around 1300 B.C. and soon started colonizing the coasts, spreading Hellenic culture and language. In the Hellenistic era, following the conquest of Anatolia by Alexander the Great, Greek settlers began arriving in the mountainous regions of Cappadocia at this time. This Greek population movement of the 3rd and 2nd centuries BC solidified a Greek presence in Cappadocia. As a result Greek became the lingua franca of the region's natives. It would become the sole spoken language of the region's inhabitants within three centuries and would remain so for the next one thousand years.
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Wikipedia