Nea Smyrni - Néa Smírni 6.62

Nea Smyrni is a municipality and a southern suburb of Athens, Greece. At the 2011 census, it had 73,076 inhabitants. It was named after the city Smyrna, from where a large number of refugees arrived and settled in the Nea Smyrni area following the 1922 population exchange between Greece and Turkey.HistoryAlthough there aren't many details about the ancient history of the area, in 2012, during works, ancient graves were unearthed on the side of Agias Sofias Street. The specific manner of burial is known as 'burial by the roadside'. These ancient findings have already been unveiled by public authorities and are able to be visited.Nea Smyrni began to be inhabited at the beginning of the twentieth century. Up until that point, it had not been inhabited in a systematic manner. At the time, it was intersected by an avenue which connected Athens and Phalerum, the ancient port of the city.After the Asia Minor Disaster, the government decided to construct a settlement in the area for the refugees from Smyrni. Construction of this settlement began in 1926. In 1928, the population was just 210. By 1933, the area had become a true town with a population of 6,500. By 1940, there were 15,000 inhabitants. In 1944, with the end of the war, Nea Smyrni became a municipality.