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Messolonghi is a town of about 12,000 people (as of 1991 census) in central Greece. The town is the capital of Aetolia and Acarnania. The town contains a port on the Gulf of Patrai (or Patras). It trades in fish, wine, and tobacco.
Messolonghi was a major stronghold of the Greek insurgents in the Greek War of Independence. Its inhabitants successfully resisted a siege by Turkish forces of the Ottoman Empire in 182223 and held out heroically against a second siege from 1825 to 1826, when the Ottoman forces captured the town. The famous English poet Lord Byron, who supported the Greek struggle for independence, died there in 1824. His memory is commemorated by a cenotaph and a statue located in the town.
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