Salonika

Salonika
Clockwise from the top: The skyline of the city from Karpophoros Bay, the Salonika Canal Bridge, the ancient sea-facing port facilities of Salonika, residences along hills in the Nótiapýli periochí, cityscape near the waterfront in the Fulbertus periochí Clockwise from the top: The skyline of the city from Karpophoros Bay, the Salonika Canal Bridge, the ancient sea-facing port facilities of Salonika, residences along hills in the Nótiapýli periochí, cityscape near the waterfront in the Fulbertus periochí
Country	Willink
Episkopi	Patriarchate of Salonika
Settled	c.640 BC
Government
• Type	Association of municipal corporations
• Body	Estates of Salonika
• Hypatos	Emilios Frangopoulos
Population  (2020)
• Urban	42,320,500
• Metro	162,520,000
Demonym	Salonikan
Time zone	+1 (Kingston Mean Time)

Salonika (Willinkian: Σαλονίκα) (Mariac: 𐡎𐡀𐡋𐡅𐡍𐡉𐡊𐡀) is the de facto and historical capital, as well as most populous city of Willink. Salonika is a port situated on the Karpophoros Peninsula, a 200 kilometer long landmass extending outward from the southern extension of Vóreios mountain range toward the Fospontis Sea. With a population of over 42 million persons, Salonika is the largest and most important city in the central Fospontia region of Willink, as well as the traditional seat of the Willinkian Basileus and the Willinkian Orthodox Church.

Salonika is believed to have been founded around 640 BC, and had attained prominence as a significant Norian polis of some 50,000 people by 300 BC; it was later incorporated into the Kingdom of Fospontia and Kingdom of Fillinkis, alternating as the capital with the cities of Epidaurum and Botrys from 200 BC to 1400 AD; in the 1400s in assumed position as the permanent seat of government. As the principle internal seaport of the Fospontis Sea, the city thereafter experienced massive population growth, swelling to over two million residents and becoming one of Haven's largest cities by the 16th century. For over six hundred years, Salonika has constituted one of Haven's most important centers of finance, trade, art, architecture and science, and is considered an alpha world city by the Pacitalian affairs publication The Economist.

History

Evidence of neolithic occupation of the current site of the city points to settlement in the year 1200 BC, but there is no mention of any large settlements in the Kanis record reflective of the site. The current city is believed to have been founded by colonists sailing east from Myrina in 640 BC; the coast where the ancient city was established was sheltered from the Fospontis Sea and possessive of a convenient, shallow harbor which permitted the construction of expansive quays to unload goods. Eventually, the ancient city was further linked with Norian city-states to the west via the construction of the Grand Coastal Road. Located roughly midpoint the Fospontis, Salonika developed into an early important port and emporium, providing the link to the isolated eastern city-state of Ismaros and seclusion from Vatae tribal polities in the north given the vast mountain ranges inland the coast.

The ancient core of the city lies on the northern coast of the Karapophoros peninsula; the original city walls, dating from the 5th century BC exist in several small segments, but were mostly built over by the turn of the millennium. The extant city walls cover a much larger footprint, and date from the fifteenth century by which the city had expanded tremendously in every direction. Several important pre-Christian sites remain within the confines of the ancient walls, including the city's public baths, asklepieion, and partial elements of the basilica.

The extant city walls of Salonika date from the fifteenth century