Cyclades
Islands
: Amorgos, Andros,
Folegandros, Ios,
Kea, Kythnos,
Milos, Mykonos,
Naxos, Paros
and Antiparos, Santorini,
Sifnos, Serifos,
Sikinos, Syros,
Tinos
Northern
Aegean Islands:
Chios, Ikaria,
Limnos, Lesvos,
Samos, Samothraki,
Thassos
Ionian
Islands:
Corfu (Kerkyra), Ithaki,
Kefalonia, Kythera,
Lefkada, Paxos,
Zakynthos
Saronic
Islands:
Aegina, Angistri,
Poros, Hydra,
Salamina, Spetsis
Sporades
Islands:
Alonissos, Skiathos,
Skopelos, Skyros
Dodecanese
Islands:
Astypalia, Halki,
Kalymnos, Karpathos,
Kassos, Kastellorizo,
Kos, Leros,
Nisyros, Patmos,
Rhodes, Symi,
Tilos
Other
Islands:
Crete, Evia,
Cyprus
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Ionian Islands - Kythera
Kythera is actually a continuation of the Taiyetos Range
of mountains, and it has a very mountainous interior,
rising to over sixteen hundred feet. Its capitol, Kithira
or Khora, is on the southern
coast. Kythera was known for murex, the purple dye
sought after by kings and forbidden to others; it is derived
from a species of mollusk. Its ancient name, Porphyrusa,
actually was derived from the Greek porphyria, meaning
purple. Despite its lucrative export, its lack of natural
harbors prevented the island from gaining political importance.
It was also noted in ancient times as a center for the
cult of
Aphrodite. It was a Spartan outpost, but subdued by Athens
during the Peloponnesian War.
Henceforth, its history slowly developed into one of
invasions by different people, and in the seventeenth
century its once-proud inhabitants were sold into slavery.
In 1717 Venice took over the island, renaming it Cerigo.
It passed back and forth between Venice and Turkey a few
times, and at last was taken by France in 1797. During
the Napoleonic Wars, it was taken from France by Britain.
Like the other Ionian Islands, Kythera proved too difficult
to administrate to be worth the trouble, and Britain ceded
it to Greece in the mid-1800s, concentrating its efforts
on imperial possessions like India instead.
Following annexation to Greece, the prosperity of the
Ionian Islands fell,
largely because they lost special tax and trading privileges
they had once held as protectorates of Britain. The islands
were held by Italy and Germany during World War II; even
today, the older inhabitants will share hair-raising tales
of freedom fighters and atrocities committed by the Nazis.
Like all of Greece, Kythera is proud of its long history
of independence, freedom fighters, and nautical importance.
Today Kythera primarily produces wheat, barley, grapes,
olives, and olive oil, and is linked to the rest of Greece
by daily flights to Athens. Its land is subject to frequent
shakings of earthquakes, which the islanders sometimes
explain away as the wrath of Poseidon. It’s easy
to believe in Poseidon here.
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