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Ionian Islands

Ionian Islands

:This article is about the group of islands west of Greece. For the ancient region in western Anatolia, see Ionia. IoniaThe Ionian Islands (Greek: Ionia Nisia, Ιόνια Νησιά; Ancient Greek: Ionioi Nisoi, Ιόνιοι Νήσοι) are a group of islands in Greece. They are traditionally called the Seven Islands (in Greek Heptanisa or Eptanisa, Επτάνησα), but the group includes many smaller islands as well as the seven principal ones. The seven are, from north to south:
- Kerkyra (Κέρκυρα) usually known as Corfu in English
- Paxi (Παξοί) also known as Paxos in English
- Lefkada (Λευκάδα) also known as Lefkas in English
- Ithaki (Ιθάκη) usually known as Ithaca in English
- Kefallonia (Κεφαλλονιά) often known Cephalonia in English
- Zakynthos (Ζάκυνθος) sometimes known as Zante in English
- Kythira (Κύθηρα) sometimes known as Cerigo in English The six northern islands are off the west coast of Greece, in the Ionian Sea. The seventh island, Kythira, is off the southern tip of the Peloponnisos, the southern part of the Greek mainland. Latin transliteration, as well as modern Greek pronunciation, may suggest that the Ionian Sea and Islands are somehow related to Ionia, an eastern Greek region. Note however that the Ionian Sea and Ionian Islands are spelt with an omicron, whereas Ionia (Ιωνία) has an omega. In modern Greek this is purely a spelling distinction, but the different pronunciations in ancient Greek would have eliminated the risk of confusion between the two areas. Furthermore in both ancient and modern Greek, the Ionian is stressed in the antepenultimate (i-O-nia) whereas Ionia in the penultimate (ion-I-a); also the proper adjective for Ionia is Ionic, not Ionian. The islands themselves are known by a rather confusing variety of names. During the centuries of rule by Venice, they acquired Italian names, by which they some of them are still known in English. Ithaki was known as Val di Conspare, Kerkyra as Corfu, Kythera as Cerigo, Lefkada as Santa Maura and Zakynthos as Zante. A variety of spellings is used for the Greek names of the islands, particularly in historical writing. Kefallonia is often spelled as Cephalonia, Ithaki as Ithaca, Kerkyra as Corcyra, Kythera as Cythera, Lefkada as Leucada or Leucas and Zakynthos as Zacinthus or Zacynthus. Older or variant Greek forms are sometimes also used: Kefallinia for Kefallonia and Paxos or Paxoi for Paxi. Throughout this article the islands will be called by their modern Greek names.

History

Paxos The islands were settled by Greeks at an early date, possibly as early as 1000 BC, and certainly by the 9th century BC. The early Eretrian settlement at Kerkyra was diplaced by colonists from Corinth in 734 BC. The islands were mostly a backwater during Ancient Greek times and played little part in Greek politics. The one exception was the conflict between Kerkyra and its mother-city Corinth in 434 BC, which brought intervention from Athens and triggered the Peloponnesian War. Ithaca was the name of the island home of Odysseus in the epic Ancient Greek poem The Odyssey by Homer. Attempts have been made to identify Ithaki with ancient Ithaca, but the geography of the real island cannot be made to fit Homer's description. In the 4th century the islands, like most of Greece, was absorbed into the empire of Macedon. They remained under the control of Macedon and its successor kingdoms until 146 BC, when the Greek peninsula was annexed by Rome. After 400 years of peaceful Roman rule the islands passed to the rule of Constantinople, and remained part of the Byzantine Empire for another 900 years, until the fall of Constantinople to the Fourth Crusade in 1204. When the French rulers of the Latin Empire based in Constantinople parcelled out the Byzantine territories to their followers and allies, the Venetians acquired Kerkyra and Paxi, and also Kythera, which they used as way-stations for their maritime trade with the Levant. Kefallonia and Zakynthos became the "County Palatine of Cephalonia" until 1357, when this entity was merged with Lefkada and Ithaki to become the Duchy of Leucadia under French and Italian dukes. When the Greeks retook Constantinople in 1261, they briefly regained control of some of the islands, but the Venetians gradually increased their grip. In the 15th century the Ottomans occupied most of Greece, and the islands accepted Venetian rule as the lesser of two evils. Zakynthos passed permanently to Venice in 1482, Kefallonia and Ithaki in 1483, Lefkada in 1502. Kythera had been Venetian since 1393. The islands thus became the only part of the Greek-speaking world to escape Ottoman rule, which gave them both a unity and an importance in Greek history they would otherwise not have had. Under Venetian rule, many of the upper classes spoke Italian and converted to Roman Catholicism, but the mass of people remained Greek in language and religion. In the 18th century a Greek national independence movement began to emerge, and the free status of the Ionian islands made them the natural base for exiled Greek intellectuals, freedom fighters and foreign sympathisers. The islands became more self-consciously Greek as the 19th century, the century of romantic nationalism, neared. In 1797, however, Napoléon Bonaparte captured Venice, and by the Treaty of Campo Formio the islanders found themselves under French rule. In 1798 the Russian Admiral Ushakov briefly evicted the French, but two years later the French returned and the islands were turned into the Septinsular Republic under French protection - the first time Greeks had had even limited self-government since the fall of Constantinople in 1453. But in 1807 they were directly annexed to the French Empire. In 1809 the British defeated the French fleet in Zakynthos (October 2, 1809) captured Kefallonia, Kythera and Zakynthos, and took Lefkada in 1810. The French held out in Kerkyra until 1814. The Treaty of Paris in 1815 turned the islands into the "United States of the Ionian Islands" under British protection (November 5, 1815). In January 1817 the British granted the islands a constitution, the first in Greek history since ancient times. The islanders elected an Assembly of 40 members, who advised the British High Commissioner. The British greatly improved the islands' communications, and introduced modern education and justice systems. The islanders welcomed most these reforms, and took up afternoon tea, cricket and other English pastimes. Once Greek independence was established after 1830, however, the islanders began to resent foreign rule and to press for enosis - union with Greece. The British statesman William Gladstone toured the islands and recommended that they be given to Greece. The British government resisted, since like the Venetians they found the islands made useful naval bases. They also regarded the German-born king of Greece, King Otto, as unfriendly to Britain. But in 1862 Otto was deposed and a pro-British king, George I, was installed. In 1862 Britain decided to transfer the islands to Greece. On May 2, 1864 the British departed and the islands became three provinces of the Kingdom of Greece though Britain retained the use of the port of Corfu. In 1941 when German forces occupied Greece, the Ionian Islands (except Kythera) were handed over to the Italians, who in their three years of rule made themselves hugely unpopular by trying to force the islanders to realise that they were "really" Italian. In 1943 the Germans replaced the Italians, and deported the centuries-old Jewish community of Kerkyra to their deaths. By 1944 most of the islands were under the control of the communist guerilla army, ELAS, and they have remained a stronghold of left-wing sentiment ever since. At every election since the restoration of democracy in 1974 they have voted for the social democratic PASOK party.

The islands today

Today all the islands are part of the Greek district of Ionioi Nisoi, except Kythera, which is part of the district of Attiki. Kerkyra has a population of 113,479 (including Paxoi), Zakynthos 38,680, Kefallonia 39,579 (including Ithaca), Lefkada 22,536, Ithaki 3,052, Kythera 3,000 and Paxi 2,438. In recent decades the islands have lost population through emigration and the decline of their traditional industries, fishing and marginal agriculture. Today their major industry is tourism. Kerkyra in particular, with its magnificent harbour, splendid scenery and wealth of picturesque ruins and castles, is a favourite stopping place for cruise liners. British tourists in particular are attracted through having read Gerald Durrell's evocative book My Family and Other Animals (1956), which describes his childhood on Kerkyra in the 1930s. Also, the novel and movie Captain Corelli's Mandolin is located in Kefallonia.

External links

- [http://www.visit-ionianislands.com/pdf/Ionian%20Islands%20Coorporation.pdf Greek government tourist website on the Ionian Islands]
- [http://www.lonelyplanet.com/destinations/europe/ionian_islands/attractions.htm Lonely Planet's Guide to the Ionian Islands]
- [http://www.travelling-greece.com/ionian/ Ionian islands guide]
- [http://www.olympion.de Ionian Impressions] Pictures from the Ionian Islands Category:Islands of Greece Category:Peripheries of Greece Category:Former countries in Europe Category:NUTS 2 Statistical Regions of Europe ja:イオニア諸島

Island group

An archipelago is a landform which consists of a chain or cluster of islands. Archipelagoes usually occur in the open sea; less commonly a large land mass may neighbour them. Archipelagos are often volcanic, forming along ocean ridges or hotspots, but there are many other processes involved in their construction, including erosion and deposition. The word comes from the Aegean Sea (Greek αρχιπέλαγος, Italian Arcipelago), which literally means "chief sea", from Greek arkhi (leader) and pelagos (sea). The Aegean Sea is located between Greece in the west and Turkey in the east. In the Aegean, the Venetian Dukes of the Archipelago ruled from Naxos, 1210–1566. "Archipelago" is also the name of a popular videogame from the early 1990s. The Archipelago Exchange is a fully electronic stock exchange that agreed to merge with the New York Stock Exchange in April 2005 to form the for-profit NYSE Group. "Archipelago" is also the name of an improvisational free-folk group of musicians from New Orleans, and records on the Backporch Revolution label.

List of archipelagoes

- ABC islands
- Aegean islands
- Cyclades
- Dodecanese
- Aleutian Islands
- Alexander Archipelago
- Andaman Islands
- Antilles (West Indies)
- Greater Antilles
- Puerto Rican Islands
- Lesser Antilles
- Leeward Islands
- Windward Islands
- Azores
- Bahama Islands
- Turks and Caicos Islands
- Balearic Islands
- Baltic Sea archipelagoes
- Stockholm archipelago
- Turku archipelago
- Åland Islands
- Bight of Bonny islands
- British Isles
- Channel Islands
- Hebrides
- Isles of Scilly
- Orkney Islands
- Shetland Islands
- Canadian Arctic islands
- Belcher Islands
- Chagos Archipelago
- Channel Islands of California
- Chausey
- Chonos Archipelago
- Comoro Islands
- Diego Ramírez Islands
- Falkland Islands (Malvinas)
- Faroe Islands
- Florida Keys
- Fox Islands
- Frisian Islands (or Wadden Islands)
- East Frisian Islands
- North Frisian Islands
- West Frisian Islands
- Furneaux Group
- Galápagos Islands (Colón
- Gothenburg archipelago
- Guayaneco Archipelago
- Japanese Archipelago
- Juan Fernández Islands
- Kerguelen Islands
- Kermadec Islands
- Kornati
- Lakshadweep (Laccadives)
- Lofoten
- Los Roques
- Macaronesia
- Canary Islands
- Cape Verde Islands
- Barlavento
- Sotavento
- Madeira Islands
- Magdalen Islands
- Malay archipelago (the world's largest)
- Maluku Islands
- Philippine Islands
- Sunda Islands
- Greater Sunda Islands
- Lesser Sunda Islands
- Maldives
- Maltese islands
- Mascarene Islands
- Seychelles Islands
- Aldabra Group
- Amirante Islands
- Farquhar Group
- Melanesia
- Bismarck Archipelago
- Fiji Islands
- New Caledonia (Kanaky)
- Loyalty Islands
- Solomon Islands
- Vanuatu (New Hebrides)
- Micronesia
- Caroline Islands
- Gilbert Islands (Kiribati)
- Line Islands
- Mariana Islands
- Marshall Islands
- Ralik Chain
- Ratak Chain
- Palau
- Phoenix Islands
- New Siberian Islands
- Nicobar Islands
- New England and New York islands (Manhattan, City Island, Long Island, Rikers Island, Roosevelt Island, Staten Island, Block Island, Nantucket, Martha's Vineyard, Liberty Island, Ellis Island, Long Beach Island, Elizabeth Islands)
- Novaya Zemlya islands
- Polynesia
- Cook Islands (Hervey Islands)
- French Polynesia
- Austral Islands
- Gambier Islands
- Marquesas
- Society Islands
- Îles du vent (Windward Islands)
- Îles sous le vent (Leeward Islands)
- Tuamotus
- Hawaiian Islands (Sandwich Islands)
- New Zealand islands (Aotearoa)
- Pitcairn Islands
- Samoan Islands (Navigators' Islands)
- American Samoa (Eastern Samoa)
- Samoa (Western Samoa)
- Tonga Islands (Friendly Islands)
- Tokelau (Union Islands)
- Tuvalu (Ellice Islands)
- Wallis and Futuna Islands
- Horne Islands
- Pontine Islands
- Queen Charlotte Islands (Haida Gwaii)
- Saint Helena islands
- San Juan Islands
- Solentiname Islands
- South China Sea Islands
- Paracel Islands
- Spratly Islands
- South Orkney Islands
- South Sandwich Islands
- South Shetland Islands
- Svalbard
- Thousand Islands
- Tierra del Fuego
- "The World", an archipelago of artificial islands being constructed off Dubai
- Tuscan Archipelago
- Venice islands

Ancient Greek

Ancient Greek refers to the stage in the history of the Greek language corresponding to Classical Antiquity, which normally applies to two periods of Greek history: Archaic and Classical Greece. The Ancient era of Greek history normally includes also the Hellenistic (post-Classic) age; however, that period formally composes its own stage in the Greek Language known as Hellenistic Greek. For information on the Greek language prior to the creation of the Greek alphabet, see articles Mycenaean Greek and Proto-Greek.

Dialects of Ancient Greek

The Greek language had started shaping in local forms even before the settling of the Greek-speaking tribes into Greece, yet the actual dialectic variation took place afterwards. Throughout history the Greek language is presented in a number of dialects that did not apply on fixed geographical borders, and even if it did, those borders would be constantly altered because of the frequent migrations of the Hellenic peoples. According to its linguistic variations, the Ancient Greek language of the Archaic and Classic periods is composed by the following symbolic dialectic branches: The dialects of the pre-classical and classical period appear documented in writing beginning in the 8th century BC, and they certainly developed well before this date. The most standard formulation currently for the pre-classical and classical dialects is four or five major groups: # Northwest Greek (including Doric, and possibly Ancient Macedonian) # Aeolic (including Boeotian, Lesbian, Thessalian, and Aegean/Asiatic Aeolic subdivisions) # Attic-Ionic # Arcado-Cyprian # and possibly Pamphylian As each of the above dialectic branches is broken down to its individual dialects, each dialect can in turn be divided into countless local idioms. The information provided in the dialect-specific articles is a general linguistic description that is confined to the main characteristics of the Common form (Koine) of each dialect, without getting into detail about their numerous idiomatic variations. In that respect, the article on Doric describes the "Common" form of Doric as it is seen, e.g., in Pindar's poetry, which differs from local forms such as Laconian, Cretan, Sicilian or even Theban Doric. The Arcado-Cyprian group appears to be closest to Mycenaean Greek, and is likely its direct descendant. Northwest/Doric is the most distinct from the others. Controversy on the early history of Greek dialects generally focuses on the nature of Aeolic and Attic-Ionic—with various configurations of independent development or relations to Mycenaean or Northwest/Doric proposed. The relations between the dialects are likely obscured by significant amounts of influence on each other. After the conquests of Alexander the Great in the 4th century BC, a new international dialect known as Koine or Common Greek developed, largely based on Attic Greek, but with influence from other dialects. This dialect slowly replaced most of the older dialects, although Doric dialect has survived to the present in the form of the Tsakonian and Southern Italian dialect of Modern Greek. Doric has also passed down its Aorist terminations into most verbs of Demotic Greek. By about the 7th century AD., the Koine had slowly metamorphosized into Medieval Greek.

Sound changes

These sound changes since Proto-Greek affect most or all Ancient Greek dialects:
- Syllabic /r/, /l/ become /ro/ and /lo/ in Mycenean Greek and Aeolic Greek; otherwise /ra/ and /la/, but /ar/ and /al/ before resonants and analogously.
- Loss of /h/ from original /s/ (except initially) and of /j/.
- Loss of /w/ in many dialects (later than loss of /h/ and /j/).
- Loss of labiovelars, which were converted (mostly) into labials, sometimes into dentals or velars.
- Contraction of adjacent vowels resulting from loss of /h/ and /j/ (and, to a lesser extent, from loss of /w/); more in Attic Greek than elsewhere.
- Rise of a distinctive circumflex accent, resulting from contraction and certain other changes.
- Limitation of the accent to the last three syllables, with various further restrictions.
- Loss of /n/ before /s/ (incompletely in Cretan Greek), with compensatory lengthening of the preceding vowel. Note that /w/ and /j/, when following a vowel and not preceding a vowel, combined early on with the vowel to form a diphthong and were thus not lost. The loss of /h/ and /w/ after a consonant were often accompanied by compensatory lengthening of a preceding vowel. The loss of /j/ after a consonant was accompanied by a large number of complex changes, including diphthongization of a preceding vowel or palatalization or other change to a directly preceding consonant. Some examples:
- /pj/, /bj/, /phj/ -> /pt/
- /lj/ -> /ll/
- /tj/, /thj/, /kj/, /khj/ -> /s/ when following a consonant; otherwise /tt/ (Attic), /ss/ (Ionic)
- /gj/, /dj/ -> /zd/
- /mj/, /nj/, /rj/ -> /j/ is transposed before consonant and forms a diphthong with the preceding vowel
- /wj/, /sj/ -> /j/, forming a diphthong with the preceding vowel The results of vowel contraction were complex and differed from dialect to dialect. Such contractions occur in the inflection of a number of different noun and verb classes and are among the most difficult aspects of Ancient Greek grammar. They were particularly important in the large class of contracted verbs, denominative verbs formed from nouns and adjectives ending in a vowel. (In fact, the reflex of contracted verbs in Modern Greek—i.e., the set of verbs derived from Ancient Greek contracted verbs—represents one of the two main classes of verbs in that language.)

Sounds

The pronunciation of Post-Classic Greek changed considerably from Ancient Greek, although the orthography still reflects features of the older language (see W. Sidney Allen, Vox Graeca – a guide to the pronunciation of Classical Greek). For a detailed description on the phonology changes from Ancient to Hellenistic periods of the Greek language, see the article on Koine Greek. The examples below are intended to represent Attic Greek in the 5th century BC. Although ancient pronunciation can never be reconstructed with certainty, Greek in particular is very well documented from this period, and there is little disagreement among linguists as to the general nature of the sounds that the letters represented.

Vowels

Short vowels

The short e (ε in Greek orthography) is shown in the table as mid close vowel , but it may have been nearer to .

	Front	Back
Close unrounded
Close rounded
Close-mid
Open

Long Vowels

The [] (ου in Greek orthography) probably changed to [] by the fourth century.

	Front	Back
Close unrounded
Close rounded
Close-mid
Open-mid
Open

Consonants

Note: [z] was an allophone of [s], used before voiced consonants, and in particular in the combination [zd] written as zeta (ζ). The [] (voiceless r) written as rho with a rough breathing () was probably an allophone of [r].

Consonant classes

There are three main classes of consonants:
- Stops. This include three subclasses: velars (k, g, kh), labials (p, b, ph), and dentals (t, d, th).
- Sonorants are m, n, l, r.
- Fricatives are s and h.

Consonant contractions

In verb conjugation, one consonant often comes up against the other. Various sandhi rules apply. Rules:
- Most basic rule: When two sounds appear next to each other, the first assimilates in voicing and aspiration to the second.
- This applies fully to stops. Fricatives assimilate only in voicing, sonorants do not assimilate.
- Before an s (future, aorist stem), velars become k, labials p, and dentals disappear.
- Before a th (aorist passive stem), velars become kh, labials ph, dentals s.
- Before an m (perfect middle first-singular, first-plural, participle), velars become g, nasal+velar becomes g, labials m, dentals and n become s, other sonants remain.

Compensatory lengthening

There are different schemes for compensatory lengthening, depending on where it happens. The differences are in whether a becomes ā or ē, and whether e and o become the closed values ei /eː/ and ou /oː/ or the open values ē /ɛː/ and ō /ɔː/.

Augment

The indicative of past tenses adds (conceptually, at least) a prefix /e-/. This was probably originally a separate word, meaning something like "then", added because tenses in PIE had primarily aspectual meaning. The augment is added to the indicative of the aorist, imperfect and pluperfect, but not to any of the other forms of the aorist (no other forms of the imperfect and pluperfect exist). There are two kinds of augment in Greek, syllabic and quantitative. The syllabic augment is added to stems beginning with consonants, and simply prefixes e (stems beginning with r, however, add er). The quantitative augment is added to stems beginning with vowels, and involves lengthening the vowel:
- a, ā, e, ē -> ē
- i, ī -> ī
- o, ō -> ō
- u, ū -> ū
- ai -> ēi
- ei -> ēi or ei
- oi -> ōi
- au -> ēu or au
- eu -> ēu or eu
- ou -> ou Some verbs augment irregularly; the most common variation is e -> ei. The irregularity can be explained diachronically by the loss of s between vowels. The augment is sometimes omitted in poetry (Epic Greek). The augment sometimes substitutes for reduplication; see below.

Reduplication

All forms of the perfect, pluperfect and future perfect reduplicate the initial syllable of the verb stem. There are three types of reduplication:
- Syllabic reduplication: Most verbs beginning with a single consonant, or a cluster of a stop with a sonorant, add a syllable consisting of the initial consonant followed by e. An aspirated consonant, however, reduplicates in its unaspirated equivalent: this is often referred to as Grassman's Law.
- Augment: Verbs beginning with a vowel, as well as those beginning with a cluster other than those indicated previously (and occasionally for a few other verbs) reduplicate in the same fashion as the augment. Note that this remains in all forms of the perfect, not just the indicative.
- Attic reduplication: Some verbs beginning with an a, e or o, followed by a sonorant (or occasionally d or g), reduplicate by adding a syllable consisting of the initial vowel and following consonant, and lengthening the following vowel. Hence er -> erēr, an -> anēn, ol -> olōl, ed -> edēd. This is not actually specific to Attic Greek, despite its name. This originally involved reduplicating a cluster consisting of a laryngeal and sonorant; hence h₃l -> h₃leh₃l -> olōl with normal Greek development of laryngeals. (Forms with a stop were analogous.) Irregular duplication can be understood diachronically. For example, lambanō (root lab) has the perfect stem eilēpha (not
- lelēpha) because it was originally slambanō, with perfect seslēpha, becoming eilēpha through (semi-)regular change.

Grammatical forms

Ancient Greek, like all of the older Indo-European languages, is highly inflected. Ancient Greek is highly archaic in its preservation of Proto-Indo-European forms. Nouns (including proper nouns) have five cases (nominative, genitive, dative, accusative and vocative), three genders (masculine, feminine and neuter), and three numbers (singular, dual and plural). Verbs have four moods (indicative, imperative, subjunctive and optative), three voices (active, middle and passive), as well as three persons (first, second and third) and various other forms. Verbs are conjugated in four main tenses (present, aorist, perfect, and future), with a full complement of moods for each main tense, although there is no future subjunctive or imperative. (The distinction of the "tenses" in moods other than the indicative is actually mostly of aspect.) In addition, indicative forms of the imperfect and pluperfect exist. Infinitives and participles for all corresponding finite combinations of tense and voice, excluding the imperfect and pluperfect.

Nouns

Ancient Greek nouns have three numbers (singular, dual, and plural), three genders (masculine, feminine, and neuter) and five cases (nominative, genitive, dative, accusative and vocative). The two major noun declensions are the vowel declension and the consonant declension. The vowel declension is split into the alpha-declension and the omicron-declension. There is also the minor consonant declension.

Alpha Declension

The alpha declension is predominantly, but not exclusively, feminine. Nouns belonging to the alpha declension have stems ending in alpha, short or long. In certain circumstances the alpha may change its length or become eta. In the table below of feminine nouns there are three examples: long-alpha stem (-stems), short-alpha stems (-stems), and a stems which can end in eta (-stems).

Island group

List of archipelagoes

Corfu

Corfu (ancient and modern Greek Κέρκυρα, Kérkyra, Latin Corcyra; see also List of traditional Greek place names) is an island of Greece, in the Ionian Sea, off the coast of Albania, from which it is separated by a strait varying in breadth from less than 2 to about 15 miles (3 to 25 km) including one near Albania near Butrint and a longer one west of Thesprotia. It has ferry services to the rest of Greece with Igoumenitsa and Gaios in the island of Paxoi and as far as Patras. There is also a small port in Lefkimmi. The coastline and its beaches is about 217 km which includes capes and points. The highest point is Pantokrator, the second is Stravoskiadi (849 m). It is linked by two highways, GR-24 in the west and GR-25 in the south. The airport is located some kilometres to the south. The runway is next to the ocean. This makes it harder for pilots to land their planes. The airport offers flights with Olympic Airlines (OA 600, 602 and 606) and Aegean Airlines (A3 402, 404 and 406). Corfu now also has a university named University of Corfu. The city is covered with hills while the west is covered with hills. Capes and points include Agia Aikaterini, and Draptis to the north, Lefkimmi and Asprokavos to the southeast and Megachoro to the south. Another island is in the middle of Gouvia Bay which covers the eastern part of the island; it is called Ptychia. Campgrounds are founded in Palaiokastro, Agrillos, two in the northern part, Pyrgi, Gouvia and Messonghi.

Geography

The name Corfu is an Italian corruption of the Byzantine Κορυφώ (Koryphō), which is derived from the Greek Κορυφαί (Koryphai), meaning "Crests." In shape it is not unlike the sickle (drepanē), to which it was compared by the ancients, the hollow side, with the town and harbour of Corfu in the centre, being turned towards the Albanian coast. Its extreme length is about 40 miles (60 km). and its greatest breadth about 20 miles (30 km). The area is estimated at 227 sq. miles (580 km²). Two high and well-defined ranges divide the island into three districts, of which the northern is mountainous, the central undulating and the southern low-lying. The most important of the two ranges is that of San Salvador, probably the ancient Istone, which stretches east and west from Cape St. Angelo to Cape St. Stefano, and attains its greatest elevation of 3300 ft (1000 m) in the summit from which it takes its name. The second culminates in the mountain of Santi Jeca, or Santa Decca, as it is called by misinterpretation of the Greek designation οἱ Ἅγιοι Δέκα (hoi Hagioi Deka), or the Ten Saints. The whole island, composed as it is of various limestone formations, presents great diversity of surface, and the prospects from the more elevated spots are magnificent. Beautiful and sparkling beaches with yellow sands are founded in Agii Gordi, the Korissi lagoon, Agios Georgios, Marathia, Kassiopi, Sidari, Roda, Palaiokastritsa and many others. Korissi lagoon Corfu is generally considered the most beautiful of all the Greek isles, but the prevalence of the olive gives some monotony to its colouring. It is worthy of remark that Homer names, as adorning the garden of Alcinous, seven plants only—wild olive, oil olive, pear, pomegranate, apple, fig and vine. Of these the apple and the pear are now very inferior in Corfu; the others thrive well and are accompanied by all the fruit trees known in southern Europe, with addition of the Japanese medlar(or loquat) and, in some spots, the banana. When undisturbed by cultivation, the myrtle, arbutus, bay and ilex form a rich brushwood and the minor flora of the island is extensive. Japanese The town of Corfu stands on the broad part of a peninsula, whose termination in the citadel is cut from it by an artificial fosse formed in a natural gully, with a salt-water ditch at the bottom. Having grown up within fortifications, where every foot of ground was precious, it is mostly, in spite of recent improvements, a labyrinth of narrow, tortuous, up-and-down streets, accommodating themselves to the irregularities of the ground, few of them fit for wheel carriages. There is, however, a handsome esplanade between the town and the citadel, and a promenade by the seashore towards Castrades. In several parts of the town may be found houses of the Venetian time, with some traces of past splendour, but they are few, and are giving place to structures in the modern and more convenient French style. The town is as mundane as Rome, looks like Venice and has the flair of Cuba. Of the thirty-seven Greek churches the most important are the city's cathedral, the church dedicated to Our Lady of the Cave (ἡ Παναγία Σπηλιώτισσα (hē Panagia Spēliōtissa)); Saint Spyridon church, where inside lies the preserved body of the patron saint of the island; and the suburban church of St Jason and St Sosipater, reputed the oldest in the island, named after the two saints who were probably the first to preach Christianity to the Corfiots. The nearby island named Pontikonisi (Greek meaning "mouse island") has only three trees, and the highest point is about 2 m. Othoni (Οθωνοί) is the westernmost settlement and island in all of Greece. Erikoussa is the northernmost of the Ionian Islands. All areas lie below the 40° N. About a quarter of the villages ends with -ades and there is some villages that also ends with -ades outside Corfu and are a few in the prefecture of Ioannina. The southern part and on Paxoi have villages ending with -atika and one ending with -eika and is Gramateika.

Climate

Population

Transportation

- Greece Interstate 24, Cen., W, Corfu - Palaiokastritsa
- Greece Interstate 25, Cen., S, SE, Corfu - Lefkimi

Municipalities and communities

History

List of settlements in the Corfu prefecture According to the local tradition Corcyra was the Homeric island of Scheria, and its earliest inhabitants the Phaeacians. At a date no doubt previous to the foundation of Syracuse it was peopled by settlers from Corinth, but it appears to have previously received a stream of emigrants from Eretria. The splendid commercial position of Corcyra on the highway between Greece and the West favoured its rapid growth and, influenced perhaps by the presence of non-Corinthian settlers, its people, quite contrary to the usual practice of Corinthian colonies, maintained an independent and even hostile attitude towards the mother city. This opposition came to a head in the early part of the 7th century, when their fleets fought the first naval battle recorded in Greek history (about 664 BC). These hostilities ended in the conquest of Corcyra by the Corinthian tyrant Periander who induced his new subjects to join in the colonization of Apollonia and Anactorium. The island soon regained its independence and henceforth devoted itself to a purely mercantile policy. During the Persian invasion of 480 BC it manned the second largest Greek fleet (60 ships), but took no active part in the war. In 435 BC it was again involved in a quarrel with Corinth and sought assistance from Athens (see Battle of Sybota). This new alliance was one of the chief immediate causes of the Peloponnesian War, in which Corcyra was of considerable use to the Athenians as a naval station, but did not render much assistance with its fleet. The island was nearly lost to Athens by two attempts of the oligarchic faction to effect a revolution; on each occasion the popular party ultimately won the day and took a most bloody revenge on its opponents (427 BC and 425 BC). During the Sicilian campaigns of Athens Corcyra served as a base for supplies; after a third abortive rising of the oligarchs in 410 BC it practically withdrew from the war. In 375 BC it again joined the Athenian alliance; two years later it was besieged by a Lacedaemonian armament, but in spite of the devastation of its flourishing countryside held out successfully until relief was at hand. In the Hellenistic period Corcyra was exposed to attack from several sides; after a vain siege by Cassander it was occupied in turn by Agathocles and Pyrrhus. It subsequently fell into the hands of Illyrian corsairs, until in 229 BC it was delivered by the Romans, who retained it as a naval station and gave it the rank of a free state. In 31 BC it served Octavian (Augustus) as a base against Mark Antony. Eclipsed by the foundation of Nicopolis, Corcyra for a long time passed out of notice. With the rise of the Norman kingdom in Sicily and the Italian naval powers, it again became a frequent object of attack. In 1081-1085 it was held by Robert Guiscard, in 1147-1154 by Roger II of Sicily. During the break-up of the Later Roman Empire it was occupied by Genoese privateers (1197-1207) who in turn were expelled by the Venetians. In 1214-1259 it passed to the Greek despots of Epirus, and in 1267 became a possession of the Neapolitan house of Anjou. Under the latter's weak rule the island suffered considerably from the inroads of various adventurers; hence in 1386 it placed itself under the protection of Venice, which in 1401 acquired formal sovereignty over it. Corcyra remained in Venetian hands till 1797, though several times assailed by Turkish armaments and subjected to two notable sieges in 1536 and 1716-1718, in which the great natural strength of the city again asserted itself. The Venetian feudal families pursued a mild but somewhat enervating policy towards the natives, who began to merge their nationality in that of the Latins and adopted for the island the new name of Corfu. The Corfiotes were encouraged to enrich themselves by the cultivation of the olive, but were debarred from entering into commercial competition with Venice. The island served as a refuge for Greek scholars, and in 1732 became the home of the first academy of modern Greece, but no serious impulse to Greek thought came from this quarter. By the Treaty of Campo Formio, Corfu was ceded to the French, who occupied it for two years, until they were expelled by the Russian squadron under Admiral Ushakov. For a short time it became the capital of a self-governing federation of the Hephtanesos ("Seven Islands"); in 1807 its faction-ridden government was again replaced by a French administration, and in 1809 it was vainly besieged by a British fleet. When, by the Treaty of Paris of November 5, 1815, the Ionian Islands became a protectorate of the United Kingdom, Corfu became the seat of the British high commissioner. The British commissioners, who were practically autocrats in spite of the retention of the native senate and assembly, introduced a strict method of government which brought about a decided improvement in the material prosperity of the island, but by its very strictness displeased the natives. In 1864 it was, with the other Ionian Islands, ceded to the kingdom of Greece, in accordance with the wishes of the inhabitants. The island has again become an important point of call and has a considerable trade in olive oil; under a more careful system of tillage the value of its agricultural products might be largely increased. During the Second World War, the Italian Army bombarded the city devastating most of the area. Several movies were filmed in Corfu and a song was common that it was set in a city square and it was called Kerkyra which is dedicated to this city and the island. It was also set in a Corfiot beach. In late-2002 and early-2003, heavy rains plundered the island several times including one which caused a mudslide near Messonghi Beach.

Archaeology and architecture

Corfu contains a few very important remains of antiquity. The site of the ancient city of Corcyra (Kerkyra) is well ascertained, about 1 1/2 miles (2 km) to the south-east of Corfu, upon the narrow piece of ground between the sea-lake of Halikiopoulo and the Bay of Castrades, in each of which it had a port. The circular tomb of Menekrates, with its well-known inscription, is on the Bay of Castrades. Under the hill of Ascension are the remains of a temple, popularly called of Poseidon, a very simple dome structure, which still in its mutilated state presents some peculiarities of architecture. Of Cassiope, the only other city of ancient importance, the name is still preserved by the village of Cassiopi, and there are some rude remains of building on the site; but the temple of Zeus Cassius for which it was celebrated has totally disappeared. Throughout the island there are numerous monasteries and other buildings of Venetian erection, of which the best known are Paleokastritsa, San Salvador and Pelleka. The Achilleon or Achilleas Thniskon is a palace commissioned by Elisabeth of Austria and purchased in 1907 by Wilhelm II of Germany; it is now a popular tourist attraction. Corfu Town is famous for its Italianate architecture, most notably the Liston, an arched colonnade lined with cafes on the edge of the Spianada (Esplanade), the vast main plaza and park which incorporates a cricket field and several pavilions. Also notable are the Old and New castles, the recently restored Palace of Sts. Michael and George, formerly the residence of the British governor and the seat of the Ionian Senate, and the summer Palace of Mon Repos, formerly the property of the Greek royal family and birthplace of the Duke of Edinburgh.

Music and festivities

Corfiotes are great lovers of music. Most people readily join in the singing of the cantadas, impromptu choral songs in two, three or four voices, usually accompanied by a guitar. Corfu Town is home to three famous, top-quality marching brass bands, the dark red-uniformed Philharmonic Society of Corfu or Old Philharmonic, the blue-uniformed Mantzaros Philharmonic and the bright red and black-uniformed Capodistria Philharmonic. The bands give regular weekend promenade concerts and partake in the yearly Holy Week celebrations. There is considerable but friendly rivalry among them, and their respective repertoires are rigorously adhered to. For example on Good Friday the Old Philharmonic will parade the streets playing Albinoni's Adagio, the Mantzaros plays Verdi's Marcia Funebre from Don Carlo, and the Capodistria plays Chopin's Funeral March and Mariani's Sventura. Sometimes, though, the three bands coexist, as is the case on Holy Saturday morning, when the Epitaphios of the St. Spiridon Cathedral is paraded, along with the Saint's relics. At this time the bands play Miccheli's Calde Lacrime, the Marcia Funebre from Faccio's opera Amleto, and the Funeral March from Beethoven's Eroica. The custom dates from the 16th century, when the Venicians banned the traditional Good Friday Epitaphios parade. The defiant Corfiotes held the litany the following morning, and paraded the relics of St. Spiridon as well, so that the Venicians would not dare intervene. The litany is followed by the most spectacular Corfiote celebration by far, the "Early Resurrection". Balconies in the old town are decked in bright red cloths, and Corfiotes throw large clay pots (the botides) full of water down, so that they smash on the street pavement. This is done in anticipation of the Resurrection of Jesus, which is to be celebrated that same night. During Venetian rule, the Corfiotes developed a fervent appreciation for Italian opera. The Corfu Opera House was a fixture in famous opera singers' itineraries, and those who were successful there were given the title "applaudito in Corfu".

Persons

- Prince Philip
- John Capodistria
- Nikos Mantzaros (1795 - April 12, 1872)
- Rena Vlachopoulou (1923 - July 29, 2004 in Athens)
- Theodore Stephanides
- Gerald Durrell and Lawrence Durrell lived in Corfu for some years and Gerald wrote several books about his upbringing on the island.

External links

- http://www.enimerosi.com - Newspaper in Ionian Islands, portal about Corfu and Ionian
- http://www.travel-to-corfu.com - Corfu travel guide
- http://www.holiday.gr/place5.php?place_id=32 - Corfu By Holiday.gr
- http://www.e-city.gr/corfu/ - Corfu guide
- [http://www.hit360.com/english/destinations/showcounty.php?county_id=50 Corfu Travel and Hotels Guide] with panoramic 360 images.
- http://www.kerkyra.net
- http://www.corfu.gr - Homepage of the city of Corfu
- http://www.olympion.de/ - Corfu weather, pictures, information (in German)
- http://www.corfugolfclub.com/ - Corfu Golfclub
- http://www.ionio.gr/ - Ionian University
- http://www.allcorfu.com/ - Maps, news and weather
- http://www.corfunet.com
- [http://www.pelekas.com/ Pelekas] - A typical Corfiot village
- http://www.meditationincorfu.org/ - Meditation and Buddhism in Corfu (greece and english)
- http://www.greek-recipe.com/static/regions/corfu/food.html - Corfiot food specialities (what to eat) Category:Cities and towns in Greece
- Category:Greek prefectural capitals Category:Islands of Greece Category:Prefectures of Greece Category:Euboean colonies Category:Corinthian colonies

Corfu

Geography

Climate

Population

Transportation

- Greece Interstate 24, Cen., W, Corfu - Palaiokastritsa
- Greece Interstate 25, Cen., S, SE, Corfu - Lefkimi

Municipalities and communities

History

Archaeology and architecture

Music and festivities

Persons

External links

Paxos

Paxi (Greek: Παξοί, Paksi) formerly known as "Paxos" and sometimes spelled "Paxoi", is the smallest of the Ionian Islands. In fact in Greek it is a plural form and it refers to a complex of islands of both Paxi and Antipaxi (a smaller nearby island famous for its sandy beaches). In Greek mythology Poseidon created the island by striking Corfu with his trident, so that he and wife Amphitrite could have some peace and quiet. Although possibly inhabited from prehistoric times, the Phoenecians are traditionally held to have been the first settlers on Paxi. The name is believed to be derived from Pax which meant slate in their language. The Romans ruled the island from the 2nd century BC, and during the Byzantine period and Middle ages it was constantly attacked by pirates. After various rulers and Crusaders had passed Paxi, the island was taken by the Venetians in the beginning of the 16th century. At the end of the 18th century, the island belonged to the Napoleonic army, and for a while, it belonged to the Ionian Union. During most of the 19th century Paxi was a British protectorate. The war of Independence had broken out in 1821 and in 1864 Paxi was united with Greece by the British.
- Inhabitants: Paxiot s., -s pl.

Communities and settlements

- Antipaxos (nearby island)
- Dalietatika
- G

Ionian Islands

History

The islands today

External links

Island group

List of archipelagoes

See also

Ancient Greek

Dialects of Ancient Greek

Sound changes

Sounds

Vowels

Short vowels

Long Vowels

Consonants

Consonant classes

Consonant contractions

Compensatory lengthening

Augment

Reduplication

Grammatical forms

Nouns

Alpha Declension

Island group

List of archipelagoes

See also

Corfu

Geography

Climate

Population

Transportation

Municipalities and communities

History

Archaeology and architecture

Music and festivities

Persons

External links

Corfu

Geography

Climate

Population

Transportation

Municipalities and communities

History

Archaeology and architecture

Music and festivities

Persons

External links

Paxos

Communities and settlements