Andros

Andros Άνδρος
Batsi,Andros
Geography
Coordinates:	37°50′N 24°56′E / 37.833°N 24.933°E / 37.833; 24.933
Island Chain:	Cyclades
Area:	380.041 km² (147 sq.mi.)
Highest Mountain:	Mt. Kouvara (995 m (3,264 ft))
Government
Greece
Periphery:	South Aegean
Prefecture:	Cyclades
Capital:	Andros (town)
Statistics
Population:	10,009 (as of 2001)
Density:	26 /km² (68 /sq.mi.)
Postal Code:	845 00
Area Code:	22820
License Code:	EM
Website
www.androsweb.gr

1844 British Admiralty chart of Andros island and Cape Doro strait (today Kafireus Strait)

Andros, or Andro (Greek: Άνδρος), an island of the Greek archipelago, the most northerly of the Cyclades, approximately 10 km (6 miles) south east of Euboea, and about 3 km (2 mi) north of Tinos. It is nearly 40 km (25 mi) long, and its greatest breadth is 16 km (10 mi). Its surface is for the most part mountainous, with many fruitful and well-watered valleys. Andros, the capital, on the east coast, contained about 2,000 inhabitants in 1900. The island had about 18,000 inhabitants in (1900). The 1991 census read 8,781. According to the latest Greek census of 2001, the town of Andros still contained 1,508 inhabitants, and the island's total was 10,009. The island is composed of the municipalities of Andros (town) (pop. 4,107), Korthio (pop. 2,547), and Ydrousa (pop. 3,355). Their combined land area is 380.041 km². The largest towns are Ándros, Gávrio, Bátsi, and Órmos Korthíou.

The island is famous for its Sariza spring at Apoikia where the water comes out of a lionhead.

The north of Andros has a small Arvanite community, and an Arbëresh village in Sicily called Piana degli Albanesi is named 'Hora' in Arbëresh, possibly after the capital of Andros, also called Hora (Χώρα). The name of the island in Arvanitika is Ε̰νdρα, Ëndra.^[1]

Palaeopolis, the ancient capital, built into a steep hillside, and its harbor's breakwater can still be seen underwater.

History

The island in ancient times contained an Ionian population, perhaps with an admixture of Thracian blood. Though originally dependent on Eretria, by the 7th century BC it had become sufficiently prosperous to send out several colonies, to Chalcidice (Acanthus, Stageira, Argilus, Sane). The ruins of Palaeopolis, the ancient capital, are on the west coast; the town possessed a famous temple, dedicated to Dionysus.In 480 BC it supplied ships to Xerxes and was subsequently harried by the Greek fleet. Though enrolled in the Delian League it remained disaffected towards Athens, and in 477 had to be coerced by the establishment of a cleruchy 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 an archon. In the Hellenistic period Andros was contended for as a frontier-post by the two naval powers of the Aegean Sea, Macedon and Ptolemaic Egypt. In 333 it received a Macedonian garrison from Antipater; in 308 it was freed by Ptolemy I of Egypt. In the Chremonidean War (266-263) it passed again to Macedon after a battle fought off its shores. In 200 it was captured by a combined Roman, Pergamene and Rhodian fleet, and remained a possession of Pergamum until the dissolution of that kingdom in 133 BC. Before falling under Turkish rule, Andros was from A.D. 1207 till 1566 governed by the families Zeno and Sommariva under Venetian protection. After a few centuries, Cyclades joined the rest of Greece in 1821.

On May 10, 1821, Theophilos Kairis, one of the leading intellectuals of the Greek Revolution, declared the War of Independence by raising the Greek flag at the picturesque cliffside church of St George: at this time, a famous heartfelt speech, or "rhetoras", inspired shipowners and merchants to contribute funds to build a Greek Navy to combat the Ottomans.

Andros City

Andros (Chora or Hora, pop. 1,508), the capital of the island, is on a headland between two beaches.

Municipalities

Communities and settlements

Notable people

• Amphis (4th century BC), comic poet
• Matthew, Patriarch of Alexandria
• Theophilos Kairis (1784-1853), priest and revolutionary
• Nikitas Kaklamanis (1946-present), doctor and politician, mayor of Athens
• Yiannis Tridimas (1945-present), established UK long-distance runner
• Alexander Pantages, American vaudeville magnate

Notes

• "Large Bronze Age Town Unearthed On Andros." New York, N.Y.: Hellenic Times. Sep 2- 30, 2005. Vol. XXXII, Iss. 11; pg. 2. ISSN 1059-2121 (link)
• This article incorporates text from the article "Andros" in the Encyclopædia Britannica, Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.

References

External links

• Official website of Municipality of Ándros (English) (Greek)
• Official website of Municipality of Korthío (English) (Greek)
• Official website of Municipality of Ydroúsa (English) (Greek)
• Richard Stillwell, ed. Princeton Encyclopedia of Classical Sites, 1976: "Andros, one of the Cyclades, Greece"

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