The town of Moudania in the Sea of Marmara is built on the site of ancient Myrleia (or Myrlea), a colony of Colophon (7th century BC), which was one of the most significant and oldest Greek cities in Ionia. In the early 3rd century BC, Myrleia was captured and destroyed by Prusias, king of Bithynia, and by Philip II during the war against the king of Pergamon. Philip then granted the region to his son-in-law Pnisa, who founded a new city on the site of Myrlea and named it Apameia, after Philip’s daughter Apame. Apameia became the first Roman colony in Anatolia during the Roman period and was later transformed into a military base by Emperor Augustus, eventually becoming a Roman colony under the name Colonia Julia Concordia Augusta Apameia, although it was briefly also called Iulia.
During the Fourth Crusade and the conquest of Constantinople in 1204, the Crusaders took control of the Marmara coast and the surrounding area of Moudania. They called the city Montanea or Montaniak, likely deriving from the Latin word mons, meaning “mountain,” which is the origin of its modern name.
After the division of the Roman Empire in 395, Apameia became part of the Eastern Roman (Byzantine) Empire until its conquest by the Ottomans in 1321. From the 19th century, Moudania became the port for exporting raw silk from Bursa and the surrounding region, serving as Bursa’s main harbor, which was connected by railway between 1873–1874. This activity brought wealth and fame to the town.
During World War I, the Moudania–Bursa area came under British control and subsequently, for two years, under Greek control, which was lost after the Asia Minor Catastrophe. On September 28/October 11, 1922, the Armistice of Moudania was signed in the town by representatives of the Great Powers and Turkey. According to the terms, Greeks were to evacuate Eastern Thrace and withdraw west of the Evros River.
The Asia Minor Catastrophe scattered the residents of Moudania across the globe. Fleeing under tragic circumstances, they disembarked from the port of Constantinople in various directions, settling primarily in Athens, Thessaloniki, Volos, and Kavala.
New Moudania was founded by refugees from Asia Minor following the Treaty of Lausanne, on the site of the old settlement of Agios Mamas, which had been destroyed during the 1821 revolution. In 1924, around 200 families from Moudania, Kouri, Eligmos, Peladari, Sygi, Kalolimnos, and Balia became the first residents of New Moudania, which was initially called Kargi Limani (“sheltered port”). The refugees established a purely refugee settlement, which until 1925 belonged administratively to the Community of Portaria. A few years later, it became a separate community named Nea Moudania in memory of their birthplace.
The refugees chose the location due to its vast olive groves and fishing opportunities, which lay outside the urban center and were visible as they sailed along the Halkidiki coast. Despite immense difficulties—including poverty, disease (mainly malaria from local marshes), and emotional hardship—the new settlers transformed their suffering into creation. They rooted themselves in the new land while preserving their customs and traditions, under the watchful protection of Panagia Koryfini from Kalolimnos.
Today, New Moudania is one of the most thriving communities in southern Halkidiki.