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Missolonghi 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. Missolonghi 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 1822–23 and held out heroically against a second siege from 1825 to 1826, when the Ottoman forces captured
the town. Lord Byron, the famous English poet, who supported the Greek
resistance and 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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