Zakynthos zante

Zakynthos (Greek: Ζάκυνθος - Zákynthos, also named in Italian language Zante or Zacinto) is a city in western Greece. It is the capital and main town of the island and prefecture of Zakynthos.

The capital, which has the same name as the prefecture, is the town of Zakynthos; apart from the official name, it is also called Chora (i.e. the Town, a common denomination in Greece when the name of the island itself is the same as the name of the principal town).

The Municipality of Zákynthos is the administrative entity which surrounds the town. It lies in the easternmost part of the island and has a land area of 45.788 km² and a population of 39,015 at the 2001 census. Its municipal seat is the town of Zákynthos (pop. 11,196). Other large towns within the municipality are Ampelókipoi (pop. 1,177), Bocháli (730), and Argási (569). The municipality also includes the Strofades islands, which lies about 50 km south of Zákynthos Island.

Geography

Zakynthos has a varied terrain, with fertile plains in the southeastern part and mountainous terrain with steep cliffs along the coasts on the west. The mild, Mediterranean climate and the plentiful winter rainfall endow the island with dense vegetation. The principal products are olive oil, currants, grapes and citrus fruit.

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Corfu

Corfu (Greek: Κέρκυρα - Kérkyra) is a city in north-western Greece. It is the capital and main town of the island and prefecture of Corfu. The city (pop. 28,185 in 2001) is a major tourist attraction, and has played an important role since the 8th century. The city has become known as a Kastropolis (Castle City) because of its three castles.^[1] In 2007, the old town of the city was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List.^[2][3][4] The Municipality of Corfu (Kérkyra) generally stretches in a northwesterly direction from the city on the central east coast of the island, and has a land area of 41.905 km² and a total population of 39,487 inhabitants. Besides the city of Corfu/Kérkyra, its largest other towns are Kanáli (pop. 3,556), Potamós (2,365), Kontokáli (1,616), Alepoú (1,606), and Gouviá (952).

Contents [hide] 1 Climate 2 Layout 3 Architecture 4 Government 4.1 Mayors 4.2 Consulates 5 Twin Cities 6 References 7 External links

Climate

Corfu city's climate is Mediterranean. The summers are warm with moderate humidity, and temperatures reaching 33 Celsius. The winters are mild and temperatures around on or above 10 Celsius.

Layout

The town of Corfu stands on the broad part of a peninsula, whose termination in the Venetian citadel (Παλαιό Φρούριο in Greek) is cut off from it by an artificial fosse formed in a natural gully, with a salt-water ditch at the bottom, that serves also as a kind of marina. The old city having grown up within fortifications, where every metre of ground was precious, is a labyrinth of narrow streets paved with cobblestones, sometimes tortuous but mostly pleasant, colourful and sparkling clean. These streets are called "kantounia" (Greek: καντούνια) and the older ones sometimes follow the gentle irregularities of the ground while many of them are too narrow for vehicular traffic. There is promenade by the seashore towards the bay of Garitsa (Γαρίτσα), and also a handsome esplanade between the town and the citadel called "Liston" (Greek: Λιστόν) where upscale restaurants and European style bistros abound. The name Liston came from the English "List on" meaning the list of the vendors' fare, in other words the menu.

Architecture

The old fortifications of the town, formerly so extensive as to require a force of from 10,000 to 20,000 troops to man them, were in great part thrown down by the English in the 19th century. In several parts of the town may be found houses of the Venetian time, with some traces of past splendour, but they are few compared to the British Neoclassical housing of the 19th and early 20th centuries. The palace, built in 1815 by Sir Thomas Maitland (1759-1824; lord high commissioner of the Ionian Islands) is a large structure of white Maltese stone. Near Gasturi stands the Pompeian style Achilleion, the palace built for the Empress Elizabeth of Austria, and purchased in 1907 by the German emperor, William II.

Of the thirty-seven Greek churches the most important are the cathedral, dedicated to Our Lady of the Cave; St. Spiridon's, with the tomb of the patron saint of the island; and the suburban church of St Jason and St Sosipater, reputedly the oldest in the island. The city is the seat of a Greek and a Roman Catholic archbishop; and it possesses a gymnasium, a theatre, an agricultural and industrial society, and a library and museum preserved in the buildings formerly devoted to the university, which was founded by Frederick North, 5th Earl of Guilford (1766-1827, himself the first chancellor in 1824) in 1823, but disestablished on the cessation of the English protectorate.

Based on the ICOMOS evaluation of the old town of Corfu,^[3] it was inscribed on the World Heritage List. The ICOMOS experts have noted that "about 70% of the pre-20th century buildings date from the British period" and that "whole blocks were destroyed" in the Old Town by the World War II blitzes; these were "replaced by new constructions in the 1960s and 1970s". The urban fabric was classified as being predominantly of the Neoclassical period "without special architectural features for which it could be distinguished".^[3]

Government

Mayors

Up until 1866, Corfu had no mayors. This list starts from 1866 and on.^[5]

• Nikolaos V. Manesis (1866 - 1870)
• Christodoulos M. Kiriakis (1870 - 1879)
• Georgios Theotokis (1879 - 1887)
• Michael Theotokis (1887 - 1895)
• Aggellos Psoroulas (1895 - 1899)
• Dimitrios Kollas (1899 - 1911)
• Ioannis Mavrogian (1914 - 1925)
• Spiridon Kollas (1925 - 1951)
• Stamatios Dessilas (1951 - 1959)
• Panagiotis Zafiropoulos (1959 - 1964)
• Spiridon Rath (1964 - 1967)
• Konstantinos Alexopoulos (1974 - 1975)
• Spiridon Rath (1975 - 1978)
• Ioannis Kourkoulos (1979 - 1990)
• Chrisanthos Sarlis (1991 - 2002)
• Alexandros Mastoras (2003 - 2006)
• Sotirios Micallef (2007 - present)

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some words about ionian islands

History

The Ionian Islands

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 displaced 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

Macedonian, Roman and Byzantine rule

In the 4th century BC, 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 Eastern Roman Empire, and remained part of the Byzantine Empire for another 900 years, until the destruction of Constantinople during the Fourth Crusade by marauding Western Europeans and Venetians in 1204.

When the allies of the Fourth Crusade - the French rulers of the Latin Empire based in Constantinople and the Venetians, who competed with the Byzantines for control of Mediterranean trade - split up the spoils of the Byzantine territories between themselves, 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 and Zakynthos until 1357, when this entity was merged with Lefkada and Ithaki to become the Duchy of Leucadia under French and Italian dukes. When Greeks retook Constantinople in 1261, they briefly liberated some of the islands, but the Venetians gradually increased their grip.

Venetian rule

From 1204 the Republic of Venice controlled Corfu and slowly all the Ionian islands fell under venetian rule. In the 15th century the Ottomans occupied most of Greece, but the islands remained Christian thanks to the Venetians. 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. Corfu was the only greek island never conquered by the Turks.

Under Venetian rule, many of the upper classes spoke Italian (or Venetian in some cases) 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.

Napoleonic era

In 1797, however, Napoléon Bonaparte conquered Venice, and by the Treaty of Campo Formio the islanders found themselves under French rule, the islands being organised as the départments Mer-Égée, Ithaque and Corcyre. In 1798 the Russian Admiral Ushakov evicted the French, and established the Septinsular Republic under joint Russo-Ottoman protection—the first time Greeks had had even limited self‐government since the fall of Constantinople in 1453. But in 1807 they were ceded again to the French and directly annexed to the French Empire.

British rule

v • d • e British Empire and Commonwealth of Nations

Legend Current territory · Former territory * now a Commonwealth Realm · now a member of the Commonwealth of Nations Europe [show] 18th century 1708-1757 Minorca since 1713 Gibraltar 1782-1802 Minorca 19th century 1800-1964 Malta 1807-1890 Heligoland 1809-1864 Ionian Islands 1878-1960 Cyprus 20th century since 1960 Akrotiri and Dhekelia North America [show] 16th century 1583-1907 Newfoundland 17th century 1607-1776 Thirteen Colonies since 1619 Bermuda 1670-1870 Rupert's Land 18th century Canada (British Imperial) 1763-1791 Quebec 1791-1841 Lower Canada 1791-1841 Upper Canada 19th century Canada (British Imperial) 1841-1867 Province of Canada 1849-1866 Vancouver Island 1858-1871 British Columbia 1859-1870 North-Western Territory 1862-1863 Stikine Territory *Canada (post-Confederation) 1867-1931 Dominion of Canada1 20th century *Canada (post-Confederation) 1907-1934 Dominion of Newfoundland2 1 In 1931, Canada and other British dominions obtained self-government through the Statute of Westminster. 'Dominion' remains Canada's legal title; see Canada's name. 2 Remained a de jure dominion until 1949 (when it became a Canadian province); from 1934 to 1949, Newfoundland was governed by the Commission of Government. Latin America and the Caribbean [show] 17th century 1605-1979 *Saint Lucia 1623-1883 Saint Kitts (*Saint Kitts & Nevis) 1624-1966 *Barbados 1625-1650 Saint Croix 1627-1979 *St. Vincent and the Grenadines 1628-1883 Nevis (*Saint Kitts & Nevis) 1629-1641 St. Andrew and Providence Islands3 since 1632 Montserrat 1632-1860 Antigua(*Antigua & Barbuda) 1643-1860 Bay Islands since 1650 Anguilla 1651-1667 Willoughbyland (Suriname) 1655-1850 Mosquito Coast (protectorate) 1655-1962 *Jamaica since 1666 British Virgin Islands since 1670 Cayman Islands 1670-1973 *Bahamas 1670-1688 St. Andrew and Providence Islands3 1671-1816 Leeward Islands 18th century 1762-1974 *Grenada 1763-1978 Dominica since 1799 Turks and Caicos Islands 19th century 1831-1966 British Guiana (Guyana) 1833-1960 Windward Islands 1833-1960 Leeward Islands 1860-1981 *Antigua and Barbuda 1871-1964 British Honduras (*Belize) 1882-1983 *St. Kitts and Nevis 1889-1962 Trinidad and Tobago 20th century 1958-1962 West Indies Federation 3 Now the San Andrés y Providencia Department of Colombia. Africa [show] 18th century 1792-1961 Sierra Leone 1795-1803 Cape Colony 19th century 1806-1910 Cape Colony 1816-1965 Gambia 1856-1910 Natal 1868-1966 Basutoland (Lesotho) 1874-1957 Gold Coast (Ghana) 1882-1922 Egypt 1884-1966 Bechuanaland (Botswana) 1884-1960 British Somaliland 1887-1897 Zululand 1888-1894 Matabeleland 1890-1980 Southern Rhodesia (Zimbabwe) 1890-1962 Uganda 1890-1963 Zanzibar (Tanzania) 1891-1964 Nyasaland (Malawi) 1891-1907 British Central Africa 1893-1968 Swaziland 1895-1920 British East Africa 1899-1956 Anglo-Egyptian Sudan 20th century 1900-1914 Northern Nigeria 1900-1914 Southern Nigeria 1900-1910 Orange River Colony 1906-1954 Nigeria Colony 1910-1931 South Africa 1911-1964 Northern Rhodesia (Zambia) 1914-1954 Nigeria Protectorate 1915-1931 South West Africa (Namibia) 1919-1960 Cameroons (Cameroon) 4 1920-1963 Kenya 1922-1961 Tanganyika (Tanzania) 4 1954-1960 Nigeria since 1965 British Indian Ocean Territory 4 League of Nations mandate. Asia [show] 18th century 1757-1947 Bengal (West Bengal (India) and Bangladesh) 1762-1764 Philippines 1795-1948 Ceylon (Sri Lanka) 1796-1965 Maldives 19th century 1819-1826 British Malaya (Peninsular Malaysia and Singapore) 1826-1946 Straits Settlements 1839-1967 Colony of Aden 1841-1997 Hong Kong 1841-1941 Kingdom of Sarawak (Malaysia) 1858-1947 British India (India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, Burma) 1882-1963 British North Borneo (Malaysia) 1885-1946 Unfederated Malay States 1891-1971 Muscat and Oman protectorate 1892-1971 Trucial States protectorate 1895-1946 Federated Malay States 1898-1930 Weihai Garrison 20th century 1918-1961 Kuwait protectorate 1920-1932 Iraq4 1921-1946 Transjordan4 1923-1948 Palestine4 1946-1948 Malayan Union 1946-1963 Sarawak (Malaysia) 1948-1957 Federation of Malaya (Malaysia) 4 League of Nations mandate. Oceania [show] 18th century 1788-1901 New South Wales 1794-1843 Sandwich Islands (Hawaii) 19th century 1803-1901 Van Diemen's Land/Tasmania 1807-1863 Auckland Islands6 1824-1980 New Hebrides (Vanuatu) 1824-1901 Queensland 1829-1901 Swan River Colony/Western Australia 1836-1901 South Australia since 1838 Pitcairn Islands 1840-1907 *Colony of New Zealand 1850-1901 Victoria (Australia) 1874-1970 Fiji5 1877-1976 British Western Pacific Territories 1884-1949 Territory of Papua 1888-1965 Cook Islands6 1888-1984 Sultanate of Brunei 1889-1948 Union Islands (Tokelau)6 1892-1979 Gilbert and Ellice Islands7 1893-1978 British Solomon Islands8 20th century 1900-1970 Tonga (protected state) 1900-1974 Niue6 1901-1942 *Commonwealth of Australia 1907-1953 *Dominion of New Zealand 1919-1949 Territory of New Guinea 1949-1975 Territory of Papua and New Guinea9 5 Suspended member. 6 Now part of the *Realm of New Zealand. 7 Now Kiribati and *Tuvalu. 8 Now the *Solomon Islands. 9 Now *Papua New Guinea. Antarctica and South Atlantic [show] 17th century since 1659 St. Helena 19th century since 1815 Ascension Island9 since 1816 Tristan da Cunha9 since 1833 Falkland Islands11 20th century since 1908 British Antarctic Territory10 since 1908 South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands10, 11 9 Dependencies of St. Helena since 1922 (Ascension Island) and 1938 (Tristan da Cunha). 10 Both claimed in 1908; territories formed in 1962 (British Antarctic Territory) and 1985 (South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands). 11 Occupied by Argentina during the Falklands War of April-June 1982.

Flag of British Ionian Islands

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 new constitution. 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 of 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.

Greek rule

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.

World War II

Further information: Axis Occupation of Greece

In 1941 when Axis forces occupied Greece, the Ionian Islands (except Kythera) were handed over to the Italians, who in their three years of rule attempted to Italianize the population of Corfu (as has happened with the Corfiot Italians). In 1943 the Germans replaced the Italians, and deported the centuries-old Jewish community of Corfu to their deaths. By 1944 most of the islands were under the control of the EAM/ELAS resistance movement, and they have remained a stronghold of left-wing sentiment ever since.

Today

Today all the islands are part of the Greek periphery of Ionian Islands (Ionioi Nisoi), except Kythera, which is part of the periphery 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 much of their population through emigration and the decline of their traditional industries, fishing and marginal agriculture. Today their major industry is tourism. Specifically Kerkyra, 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.

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Ionian Islands some words

The Ionian Islands (Modern Greek: Ιόνια νησιά, Ionia nisia; Ancient Greek: Ἰόνιοι Νῆσοι, Ionioi Nēsoi) are a group of islands in Greece. They are traditionally called the Seven Islands (in Modern Greek 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 as Kefalonia/Cephalonia/Kefallinia 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 Peloponnesus, the southern part of the Greek mainland. It should be noted that Kythira is not part of the periphery of Ionian Islands (Ionioi Nisoi), as it is included in the periphery of Attiki.

Latin transliteration, as well as Modern Greek pronunciation, may suggest that the Ionian Sea and Islands are somehow related to Ionia, an Anatolian region; in fact the Ionian Sea and Ionian Islands are spelt in Greek with an omicron (Ιόνια), whereas Ionia has an omega (Ιωνία). 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 Greek and Modern Greek, the Ionian is accented in the antepenult (i-O-nia) whereas Ionia in the penult (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 some of them are still known in English. Kerkyra was known as Corfu, Ithaki as Val di Compare, 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.

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