[BACK TO KITHIRA]

Kithira

Kithira has been known since ancient times, as the island of Aphrodite. At the start of the second millennium B.C. the island's ancient name, Porphyrusa (Greek for "purple"), but a lack of natural harbours precluded the island from gaining political importance. As a Spartan outpost, the island was subdued (424 BC) by Athens during the Peloponnesian War. After the Fourth Crusade (1204) it was subjected to frequent incursions; in 1537 the island's inhabitants were sold into slavery. In 1717 Venice took over the island, renaming it Cerigo. Thereafter, its history is largely that of the Ionian Islands.

It was a Minoan colony and in 424 B.C. it came under the influence 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 1571, year of the great naval battle in Nafpaktos between the western allies and Turks, Kithira suffered a population decrease due to the continuing war between Venice and Turkey. The ending of this war signed the reorganization and strengthening of the island by Venice, as it held an important strategic position. During ancient times Kithira was an important station for sailing between Greece and Egypt or Libya. Due to that, the island was disputed between Spartans and Athenians. During the Peloponessian War and until 300BC the island changed hands between the two of them many times. Its neighboring with Sparta gave Athenians the opportunity for raids against their enemies, while on the other hand its occupation by Spartans secured their home city.

During the 17th century while a lot of Venetian colonies fell in Turkish hands, many refuges from Peloponess and Crete, found shelter in the island. In 1715, during another war between Venice and Turkey, the fort of Kapsali was surrendered to the Turks by the Venetian commander Marceli after a capitulation. In 1718 Venice took Kithira back with the Passarovic Convention. This was the only period that Kithira suffered from the Turkish occupation. In the 18th century the island met high development, which continued even after the breaking of Venetian domination with the Campoformio Convention (1797), which gave the Seven Islands - a complex of islands which Kithira is a part of - to France, that had just become a republic and gave hope to the island's people. In 1798 France was forced to surrender the island to the Russian-Turkish fleet. Until 1800, when the State of the Seven Islands was founded, the island suffered from conflicts and bloody fights. The State and the Constitution of 1803 became one of the first signs of Hellenic regeneration and independence, which didn't come until the Hellenic revolution in 1821. The second French occupation during 1807-1809 contradicted the people's hopes for freedom, while the Ionian State, which was created by the Paris Convention in November 1815, became an English colony. Kytherians made many efforts to free themselves from the British and unite with Hellas, something that was finally achieved in 1864, when the Ionian Islands were given as a "dower" to George A King of the Hellenes.

The main town was completely destroyed in 1537 by the notorious Barbarossa. In 1717 it was rebuilt by the Venetians and in 1864 united with the Greek state.

 

<click to go back>