Andros Περιφερειακή ενότητα / Δήμος Άνδρου | |
|---|---|
 Andros town | |
 Andros within the South Aegean | |
  Andros | |
| Coordinates:37°50′N24°54′E / 37.833°N 24.900°E /37.833; 24.900 | |
| Country | Greece |
| Administrative region | South Aegean |
| Seat | Andros (town) |
| Area | |
• Municipality | 380 km2 (150 sq mi) |
| Population (2021)[1] | |
• Municipality | 8,826 |
| • Density | 23/km2 (60/sq mi) |
| Time zone | UTC+2 (EET) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC+3 (EEST) |
| Postal code | 845 xx |
| Area code | 22820 |
| Vehicle registration | EM |
| Website | www |
Andros (Greek:Άνδρος,pronounced[ˈanðros]) is the northernmostisland of theGreekCycladesarchipelago, about 10 km (6 mi) southeast ofEuboea, and about 3 km (2 mi) north ofTinos. It is nearly 40 km (25 mi) long, and its greatest breadth is 16 km (10 mi). It is for the most partmountainous, with many fruitful and well-wateredvalleys.[2] The municipality, which includes the island Andros and several small, uninhabited islands, has an area of 380 km2 (147 sq mi).[3] The largest towns areAndros,Gavrio, Batsi, and Ormos Korthiou.
Palaeopolis, the ancient capital, was built into a steep hillside, and thebreakwater of its harbor can still be seen underwater.[4] At the village of Apoikia, there is the notable spring of Sariza, where the water flows from a sculpted stone lion's head. Andros also offers hiking options with many new paths being added each year.
During the FinalNeolithic, Andros had a fortified village on its west coast, which archaeologists have namedStrofilas [de], after theplateau on which it was built. Final Neolithic in the Cycladic area is now dated around 4500–4000 BC.[5] Strofilas was related to the "Attica-Kephala" culture, coinciding with the beginning of theCycladic culture of theBronze Age.
Strofilas is the largest organized settlement of the Neolithic Age of the Aegean in Cyclades islands. It was rather densely built, and stretches over 30 acres. The excavations were started in 1997 by a team of Greek archeologists headed by Christina Televantou.[6]
The settlement was an importantmaritime centre and one of the earliest examples of fortification inGreece. Its fortifications feature a gate and bastions.
Strofilas is also notable for rock carvings on its walls, which include animals such asjackals,goats,deer,fish anddolphins, as well as a depiction of aflotilla of ships.[7]
About 1km to the southeast along the coastline, also can be found the site ofZagora (Andros) [de], another ancient settlement of a laterGeometric period. The settlement dates back to the 10th-8th centuries BC. An impregnable wall, about 110 meters long, was constructed around it.[8]
In ancient times, the island contained anIonian population, perhaps with an admixture ofThracian ancestry.[citation needed] Though it has been proposed that Andros was originally dependent onEretria,[citation needed] by the 7th century BC it had become sufficiently prosperous to send out several colonies, toChalcidice (Acanthus,Stageira,Argilus,Sane). The ruins ofPalaeopolis, the ancient capital, are on the west coast; the town possessed a famous temple, dedicated toDionysus. In 480 BC, it supplied ships toXerxes and was subsequently harried by the Greek fleet. Though enrolled in theDelian League, it remained disaffected towardsAthens, and in 477 had to be coerced by the establishment of acleruchy on the island; nevertheless, in 411 Andros proclaimed its freedom, and in 408 withstood an Athenian attack. As a member of the second Delian League, it was again controlled by a garrison and anarchon. In theHellenistic period, Andros was contended for as a frontier-post by the two naval powers of theAegean Sea,Macedon andPtolemaic Egypt. In 333, it received a Macedonian garrison fromAntipater; in 308 it was freed byPtolemy I of Egypt. In theChremonidean War (266–263) it passed again to Macedon after abattle off its shores.[2] The Ptolemaic empire was at its height, with a considerable fleet stationed at Andros.[9]
In 200, it was captured by a combinedRoman,Pergamene andRhodian fleet, and remained a possession of theAttalid kingdom until its dissolution in 133 BC, when it was granted to Rome.[2][10]
During the long centuries ofByzantine rule, Andros was relatively obscure. First part of theRoman province of the Islands, it later became part of thetheme (Byzantine district) of theAegean Sea.[10] Like other Aegean islands, it sufferedSaracen raids,[10] but during theKomnenian period the island flourished due to itssilk production, exportinggossamer andvelvet fabrics to Western Europe.[10][11]
Andros was captured by theFourth Crusade on its way toConstantinople in 1203.[12] After thefall of Constantinople in 1204, the island was slated to come under control of theRepublic of Venice according to thePartitio Romaniae;[13][14] in 1207 it became part of theDuchy of the Archipelago underMarco I Sanudo, who in turn gave it toMarino Dandolo as a sub-fief.[15][16] Probably sometime around 1239, Dandolo was expelled from the island byGeremia Ghisi, ruler ofSkiathos,Skopelos, andSkyros. Dandolo died soon after and a case was brought before the Venetian courts against Ghisi by Dandolo's widow Felisa and his sister Maria Doro. Felisa was soon aided by the VenetianJacopo Querini, who became her second husband. Although the Venetian court found in their favour in August 1243 and ordered the Ghisi brothers to give up Andros, this did not happen. The case dragged on until after Geremia's death, when DukeAngelo Sanudo took over the island. He eventually gave half of it, according to thefeudal law current inLatin Greece, to Felisa.[17][18] The case took on new life after Felisa died and no claimant made appearance. DukeMarco II Sanudo then reverted the entire island to the ducal domain, but just two days before the legal deadline of two years and two days had passed, Marino's grandson Nicholas Querini appeared in Naxos to claim his inheritance. The case was again brought before the courts of Venice, but Sanudo disputed the Republic's authority over his domain. The case was eventually settled through the mediation of Nicolò Giustinian, the Venetianbailo of Negroponte in 1291–93, whereby Querini renounced his claims in exchange for a cash payment of 5,000 pounds.[19][20] Thus Andros remained in the hands of the Sanudo dukes, who henceforth styled themselves "Lords of the duchy of Naxos and Andros" and occasionally chose the castle of Andros as their residence.[21] In 1292, Andros, along with other of the Cyclades, was raided by theAragonese fleet underRoger de Lluria.[22]
In December 1371, the island was granted as a fief toMaria Sanudo, half-sister of the last Sanudo duke,Nicholas III dalle Carceri.[23] In 1383, Nicholas III was murdered andFrancesco I Crispo became the new duke, giving Andros withSyros to his daughter and her husband,Pietro Zeno, the son of the Venetianbailo of Negroponte.[24] Zeno was a very able diplomat,[25] but even he found it difficult to manoeuvre among the various competing powers of the era. Unlike Syros,Paros, and other islands, which had been left destitute and almost depopulated by theOttoman raids, Andros managed to escape relatively unscathed, but in return Zeno was forced to pay tribute and provide harbour and shelter for the Turkish ships. Nevertheless, in 1416, the island was raided and almost the entire population carried off by the Ottomans.[26] At about the same timeAlbanians crossed fromEuboea over into the island, settling in its northern part.[27]
In 1431, when the Venetians ravaged the Genoese colony ofChios, the Genoese seized Andros and Naxos, both under Venetian protection, in retaliation, and only adroit diplomacy by the dukes of the Archipelago managed to prevent the islands' outright annexation by Genoa.[28] In 1427, Pietro Zeno died, and was succeeded by his son Andrea, who was of poor health and only had a daughter. In 1437, Andrea too died, and the island was seized by Andrea's uncles, who aimed to wed Andrea's daughter to their son when she came of age, and thus legalize their control of Andros. Venice quickly reacted and took over the island, installing a governor there while her courts heard the cases of all the claimants. One of them was Maria Sanudo's sonCrusino I Sommaripa, Lord of Paros andTriarch of Negroponte. Like his mother, he never abandoned his claims on the island, and eventually was vindicated by the Venetian courts. After compensating the Zeno family, he took possession of the island in 1440.[29][30]
Andros suffered once again heavily from Turkish attacks during theOttoman–Venetian War of 1463–1479. In 1468 four ships attacked the island, killing baronGiovanni Sommaripa and carrying off numerous prisoners and booty worth 15,000ducats. Two years later the Ottomans raided the island again, carrying off so many of its population that the island was left with 2,000 inhabitants.[31] Despite these disasters, the two Sommaripa possessions of Andros and Paros remained the most prosperous islands in the Cyclades in the period, and the Sommaripa rulers of Andros acted independently of their theoretical suzerain at Naxos, even to the point of claiming the title of duke for themselves.[32] By the 1500s, however, the two Sommaripa branches of Andros and Paros were at war with each other, as a result of which many Andrians were carried off to Paros. In addition, the Andrians suffered from the cruelty of their own "duke", Francesco, to the point that they sent an embassy to Venice threatening to call in the Turks if nothing was done. The Venetians responded by removing Francesco to Venice in 1507, and installing a governor of their own for the next seven years.[33]
In the event, Sommaripa rule was restored when Venice recognizedAlberto Sommaripa as the rightful heir.[34] The island was seized by the Ottoman admiralHayreddin Barbarossa in 1537, butCrusino III Sommaripa managed to regain it through the intercession of the French ambassador, in exchange for an annual tribute of 35,000akçes to the Ottoman governor at Negroponte.[35]
When the Ottomans annexed Naxos in 1566, at the behest of the local Greeks, the Andrians too decided to rise up against their ruler,Gianfrancesco Sommaripa. Although the latter managed to escape with his life, Andros too now came under Ottoman control.[36] For the next thirteen years, the entirety of the former Duchy of the Archipelago was granted to the Sultan's favourite,Joseph Nasi, who ruled the islands via representatives and was mostly concerned with using them as a source of wealth.[37] Upon Nasi's death, the Greeks of Andros and Naxos requested from the Sultan that the descendants of their old dynasties be restored as Turkish vassals, but in the end, the islands were directly annexed as a province; in 1580, however, the Cyclades were granted a charter of privileges that granted them considerable local autonomy, low taxes and religious freedom, a situation that remained throughout the period of Ottoman rule.[38] In the early 1770s, during theRusso-Turkish War of 1768–74, the island was occupied by theRussians and used as a base for their operations in the Aegean.[10]
On 10 May 1821,Theophilos Kairis, one of the leading Greek intellectuals, declared the island's participation in theGreek War of Independence by raising the Greek flag at the Church of St George.[10] At this time, a famous heartfelt speech, or "ritoras" (ρήτορας), inspired shipowners and merchants to contribute funds to build a Greek Navy to combat the Ottomans. At the end of the war, the island became part of the independentKingdom of Greece.
Following Independence, Andros became a major centre ofGreek shipping. In this it was helped by the arrival ofrefugees fromPsara, and the decline of other traditional shipping centres such asGalaxeidi andHydra Island. Andrian merchants were particularly active in thegrain trade from central and eastern Europe conducted from theDanube estuary. Initially locally constructed, Andrian ships were later built atSyros, especially as shipping began the transit to steam. By 1914, Andrian-registered shipping was second in Greece in terms of capacity. AfterWorld War I, the local registered ships rose from 25 (1921) to 80 beforeWorld War II. The losses suffered during the latter, as well as the internationalization of shipping and emigration of the ship-owning families to Piraeus and London, signalled the end of Andrian shipping.[39]
Andros is a separateregional unit of theSouth Aegean region, and the onlymunicipality of the regional unit. As part of the 2011 Kallikratis government reform, the regional unit Andros was created out of part of the formerCyclades Prefecture. At the same reform, the current municipality Andros was created out of the 3 former municipalities:[40]
The province of Andros (Greek:Επαρχία Άνδρου) was one of theprovinces of the Cyclades Prefecture. Its territory corresponded with that of the current regional unit Andros.[41] It was abolished in 2006.
In 1900, Andros, the capital, had about 2,000 inhabitants, and the island as a whole had a population of about 18,000. The 1991 census showed that number had dropped to 8,781. According to the 2011 Greek census, the town of Andros still numbered 1,665 inhabitants, and the island's total was 9,221. The island is composed of the municipal units ofAndros (town) (pop. 3,901),Korthio (pop. 1,948), andYdrousa (pop. 3,372). The north of Andros has a smallArvanite community. The name of the island inArvanitika is Ε̰νdρα,Ëndra.[42]
One notable beach in Andros isPidima tis grias (Πήδημα της γριάς, Jump of the old woman). It is named after an old woman who, according to legend, betrayed a nearby town toSaracen pirates. She then jumped off a cliff to her death and was transformed into a distinctive vertical rock that is a striking feature of the beach.[43]
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Attribution:
This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911), "Andros",Encyclopædia Britannica, vol. 2 (11th ed.), Cambridge University Press, p. 1
| Regional unit ofAndros |  | |
|---|---|---|
| Regional unit ofKalymnos | ||
| Regional unit ofKarpathos-Kasos | ||
| Regional unit ofKea-Kythnos | ||
| Regional unit ofKos | ||
| Regional unit ofMilos | ||
| Regional unit ofMykonos | ||
| Regional unit ofNaxos | ||
| Regional unit ofParos | ||
| Regional unit ofRhodes | ||
| Regional unit ofSyros | ||
| Regional unit ofThira | ||
| Regional unit ofTinos | ||
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| Geographic | |
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