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Former prefecture in Thessaly, Greece

Magnesia Prefecture

Magnesia Prefecture

Key facts

area2,636km²
inception1899
instance ofprefecture of Greece
countryGreece
capitalVolos
located in the administrative territorial entityThessaly
All data from the card 10
Country
Greece
Periphery
Thessaly
Established
1899
Disestablished
2011
Capital
Volos
• Total
2,367 km2 (914 sq mi)
• Rank
List of the prefectures of Greece by area
• Total
193,439
• Rank
List of the prefectures of Greece by population
• Density
81.72/km2 (211.7/sq mi)

Magnesia Prefecture (Greek: Νομός Μαγνησίας) was one of the prefectures of Greece. Its capital was Volos. It was established in 1899 from the Larissa Prefecture. The prefecture was disbanded on 1 January 2011 by the Kallikratis programme, and split into the regional units of Magnesia and the Sporades.

The toponym is ancient to the region. Ore that attracts iron is common in Magnesia, which is the origin of words such as magnet and magnetism as well as the chemical elements magnesium, derived from the mineral magnesia alba, and manganese, derived from the mineral magnesia nigra via Latin.

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Text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Source article