Kythira
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Kythira, also known as Kythera, Cythera, Cerigo or Tsirigo, is an island, one of the Ionian Islands. It lies opposite the eastern tip of the Peloponnesos peninsula in Greece. It has an area of 284 square kilometers. The rugged terrain is a result of prevailing winds from the surrounding seas which have shaped its shores into steep rocky cliffs with deep bays. The island's architecture is a blend of traditional, Aegean and Venetian elements.
At the start of the second millennium B.C. it was a Minoan colony and in 424 BC it came under the sway of Athens. Over the centuries it knew a succession of conquerors from the Romans to the Byzantines, Venetians and Turks, and it was frequently looted by Barbary pirates. In 1864, the island was reunited with the Greek state.
Like many of the smaller Aegean islands, Kythira is depopulated. Its present population hovers around 2,500 people, but the modern Greek diaspora has produced perhaps 100,000 Kythiran descendants in Australia alone.
The capital - Hora - is located on the southern part of the island having no ports connected to the southern Peloponnese or Vatika. Kythera's port for Viatika is in Agia Pelagia Kythira.
Most of the over 60 village names end with "-anika" and a few end with -athika, -iana and -ades.
A November 5, 2004 earthquake shook the areas of the island. The Richter scale is around 5.6/5.8 R.
Ports are Agia Pelagia (Neapolis - Vatika) and Diakofti (Gythion, Antikythira, Piraeus, Crete & Neapolis - Vatika)
Municipalities
Kythera
Communities
- Agia Pelagia Kythira, Port
- Agios Ilias
- Antikythira on Antikythira island, independent commune
- Aroniadika
- Avlemonas
- Charchaliana, on Antikythira
- Diakofti, Port
- Fratsia
- Friligianika
- Galaniana, on Antikythira
- Gerakaria
- Kalamos
- Kapsali
- Karavas
- Karvounades
- Keramoto
- Kontolianika
- Kythira Chora Capital
- Livadi it is becoming the business center of the island
- Katouni
- Logothetianika
- Louriantianika
- Milopotamos
- Pitsinianika
- Potamos
- Stathianika
- Viaradika
- Vouno
External link
- http://www.mykythera.gr Tourist Information in three languages
- http://www.kythera-family.net online cultural archive to which the general public can contribute from their private collection of Kytherian heritage documents
- http://www.kythera.gr Tourist Information in three languages
- http://www.kythira.info Tourist Information in three languages
- http://www.kythira.com Tourist Information in Greek
- A Kythira website: (http://www.Kythera-Family.net) images, data, villages, family names; a cultural archive
- The Kythera Island Project: (http://www.ucl.ac.uk/kip) an archaeological, ecological, and historic research project of the island and its peoples.sv:Kythera