Leros Λέρος
Leros: the village of Panteli.
Geography
Coordinates:	37°09′N 26°51′E / 37.15, 26.85
Island Chain:	Dodecanese
Total Isles:	9
Area:[1]	74. 172 km² (29 sq.mi.)
Government
Greece
Periphery:	South Aegean
Prefecture:	Dodecanese
Capital:	Agia Marina
Statistics
Population:	8,207 (as of 2001)
Density:	111 /km² (287 /sq. The square mile is an imperial and US unit of Area equal the area of a square of one statute mile. South Aegean is one of the thirteen Peripheries of Greece. It consists of the Cyclades and Dodecanese islands in the South Aegean Sea. The Dodecanese ( Greek Δωδεκάνησα Dodekánisa 'twelve islands' are a group of 12 larger plus 150 smaller Greek islands in the Aegean mi. )
Postal Code:	854 00
Area Code:	22470-2
License Code:	ΚΧ, ΡΟ, PK
Website
www.leros.gr

Leros (Greek: Λέρος; Italian: Lèro) is a Greek island and municipality in the Dodecanese prefecture in the southern Aegean Sea. Greek (el ελληνική γλώσσα or simply el ελληνικά — "Hellenic" is an Indo-European language, spoken today by 15-22 million people mainly Italian ( or lingua italiana) is a Romance language spoken by about 63 million people as a First language, primarily in Italy. Greece (Ελλάδα transliterated: Elláda, historically, Ellás,) officially the Hellenic Republic (Ελληνική Δημοκρατία An island (ˈaɪlənd or isle (/ˈaɪl/ is any piece of land that is completely surrounded by water in two dimensions above high tide and isolated from other significant The Dodecanese ( Greek Δωδεκάνησα Dodekánisa 'twelve islands' are a group of 12 larger plus 150 smaller Greek islands in the Aegean Etymology In ancient times there were various explanations for the name Aegean. It lies 317 km (171 nautical miles) from Athens's port of Piraeus, from which it can be reached by an 11-hour ferry ride (or by a 45-minute flight from Athens). Athens (ˈæθənz Αθήνα Athina,) the Capital and largest city of Greece, dominates the Attica periphery as one of the world's Piraeus (pɪˈræʊs Πειραιάς, piɾeˈas Πειραιεύς, piɾeˈefs is a city in the periphery of Attica, Greece, and a

Contents 1 Geography 2 History 2.1 Antiquity 2.2 Venetian and Ottoman Era 2.3 The Italian Period 2.4 World War Two 2.5 Post-war history 3 Landmarks 4 Transportation 5 Traditional Music 6 See also 7 References 8 External links

Geography

The island is 74 square kilometres (29 sq mi) and has a coastline of 71 km (44 mi). The municipality includes the populated offshore islands of Pharmakonisi (pop. Pharmakonisi, or Farmakonisi (Gr Φαρμακονήσι is a small Greek island of the Dodecanese prefecture 74), Levitha (8), and Kinaros (2), as well as several uninhabited islets, and had a 2001 census population of 8,207, although this figure swells to over 15,000 during the summer peak. It is known for its imposing medieval castle of the Knights of Saint John possibly built on a Byzantine fortress. Nearby islands are Patmos, Lipsi, Kalymnos, and the small islands of Agia Kyriaki and Farmakos. Patmos ( Greek, Πάτμος; Italian: Patmo) is a small Greek island in the Aegean Sea. Leipsoi (Λειψοί also Lipsi) is an island south of Samos and to the north of Leros in Greece. Kalymnos, (Κάλυμνος is a Greek island and municipality in the southeastern Aegean Sea. Agia Kyriaki (Αγια Κυριακη in Greek is a small Greek island less than one mile from Leros in the Dodecanese islands Pharmakonisi, or Farmakonisi (Gr Φαρμακονήσι is a small Greek island of the Dodecanese prefecture In ancient times it was considered the island of Parthenos Iokallis and linked to the Hellenistic and Roman literature on Meleager and the Meleagrides. The administrative center and largest town is Agia Marina, with a population of 2,672 inhabitants. Other sizable towns are Lakkíon (pop. 1,990), Xirókampos (908), Kamára (573), and Álinda (542).

History

Antiquity

Thucydides stressed the special importance of the bays and the harbours of Leros during the Peloponnesian War (431 BC – 404 BC), where Leros supported the democratic Athenians. Thucydides ( C 460 BC &ndash C 395 BC) ( Greek Θουκυδίδης Thoukydídēs) was a Greek After the end of the war Leros came under the sovereignty of the Spartans. The island had a famous sanctuary of the goddess Artemis. In Greek mythology, Artemis language|Greek] ( Nominative), ( Genitive))] was the daughter of Zeus and Leto, and the twin sister ^[2]

It then followed the fate of the rest of the Dodecanese Islands during the years of Alexander the Great and his successors, the Roman years and the Byzantine period. The Dodecanese ( Greek Δωδεκάνησα Dodekánisa 'twelve islands' are a group of 12 larger plus 150 smaller Greek islands in the Aegean Alexander the Great ( or, Mégas Aléxandros; July 20 356 BC June 10 or June 11 323 BC also known as Alexander III of Macedon (el Ἀλέξανδρος Γ' After the division of the Roman Empire, it, like all of Greece, was ruled from Constantinople, capital of the Eastern Roman Empire. The Roman Empire was the post-Republican phase of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial Constantinople (Κωνσταντινούπολις Konstantinoúpolis, or gr ἡ Πόλις hē Polis, Latin: la CONSTANTINOPOLIS On the island of Farmaco east from Leros, a few miles from Didyma on the Turkish coast, Julius Cesar was held as a hostage by local pirates for forty days.

Venetian and Ottoman Era

During the Byzantine Age, the island was incorporated into the Theme of Samos. Samos (Σάμος is a Greek island in the North Aegean Sea, south of Chios, north of Patmos and the Dodecanese, and off During the thirteen century, the island was occupied by the Genoese and then by the Venetians. Genoa ( Genova, ˈdʒɛːnova in Italian; Zena in Genoese and Ligurian; Genua in Latin and archaically in English Venice ( Italian: Venezia, Venetian: Venesia or Venexia) is a city in Northern Italy, the capital of the In the year 1309, the Knights of St John seized and fortified Leros. The Knights Hospitaller (also known as the Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of St In 1505, the Ottoman Admiral Kemal Reis, with three galleys and other seventeen warships, besieged the castle but could not capture it. The Ottoman Empire (1299–1923 ( Old Ottoman Turkish: دولتْ علیّه عثمانیّه Devlet-i Âliye-yi Osmâniyye, Late Ottoman and Modern Turkish Kemal Reis (c 1451 &ndash 1511 was a Turkish Privateer and Ottoman Admiral. The operation was repeated in 1508 with more ships, but again nothing was achieved. Legend has it that then the island was rescued by the only surviving knight, barely 18 years old. He dressed women and children with the armor of the dead defenders, convincing the Ottomans that the garrison of Leros was still strong. Finally, on 24 December 1522, following the siege of Rhodes, a treaty was signed between Sultan Suleiman and the Grand Master of the Knights, Philippe Villiers de L'Isle-Adam, and Leros, along with all the Aegean possessions of the Order, passed into Ottoman hands. Events 563 - The Byzantine church Hagia Sophia in Constantinople is dedicated for the second time after being destroyed by Earthquakes Philippe Villiers de L'Isle-Adam (1464 &ndash 1534 was a prominent member of the Knights Hospitaller at Rhodes and later Malta.

During the Ottoman occupation, and along with the other islands, Leros enjoyed a privileged regime, with partial autonomy and self–government. During the Greek Revolution of 1821, the island was liberated and became an important base for the re-supplying of the Greek Navy. The Greek War of Independence (1821–1829 also commonly known as the Greek Revolution (Ελληνική Επανάσταση Elliniki Epanastasi; Ottoman Administratively, it came under the jurisdiction of the Temporary Committee of the Eastern Sporades.

With the Treaty of London, on 3 February 1830, however, which determined the borders of the newly–established Greek state, the freed islands of the Eastern Sporades were given over to Turkey again. In the "Diary of the Prefecture of the Archipelago" of 1886, Leros, along with the islands of Patmos, Lipsos and Fournoi, belonged to the Turks. The island's administrative council was made up of both Greeks and Turks.

The Italian Period

In 1912, during the Lybian War against the Ottoman Empire, the Italians occupied all of the Dodecanese islands (except Kastelorizo). The Italo-Turkish or Turco-Italian War (also known in Italy as guerra di Libia, "the Libyan war" and in Turkey as Trablusgarp Savaşı) was fought The Dodecanese ( Greek Δωδεκάνησα Dodekánisa 'twelve islands' are a group of 12 larger plus 150 smaller Greek islands in the Aegean " Castellorizon " is also the name of a song from David Gilmour's album On an Island, based on a night he spent on Kastelorizo in 2006 On May 12, 1912 the island was seized by the sailors of the Italian Navy cruiser "San Giorgio". The Regia Marina ( Italian Royal Navy) dates from the proclamation of the Kingdom of Italy in 1861 after Italian unification. The Greek inhabitants of the islands declared the autonomy of the islands under the title "The Aegean State", with the aim of unification with Greece, but with the outbreak of the First World War, these moves came to nothing, and the Italians retained control of the islands. World War I (abbreviated WWI; also known as the First World War, the Great War, and the War to End All

From 1916 to 1918, the British used Leros as a naval base. In the Venizelos-Tittoni Agreement of 1919, the island was to be returned to Greece, along with all of the Dodecanese except Rhodes, but after the Greek defeat in the Greco-Turkish War the Italians canceled the agreement. As a result, the Treaty of Lausanne confirmed the Italian possession of Leros and the Dodecanese. The Treaty of Lausanne ( July 24, 1923) was a Peace treaty signed in Lausanne that settled the Anatolian part of the Partitioning

The new Italian Fascist regime actively attempted to Italianize the Dodecanese, by making the Italian language compulsory, giving incentives to locals to adopt the Italian nationality, and clamping down on Greek institutions. Fascism is a totalitarian nationalist and corporatist ideology Italianization is a term used to describe a process of Cultural assimilation in which ethnically non- or partially- Italian people or territory become Italian Italian ( or lingua italiana) is a Romance language spoken by about 63 million people as a First language, primarily in Italy. In the 1930s a new model town, Portolago, was built by the Italian authorities. It is one of the best examples of Italian Rationalist architecture. The intellectual principles of Rationalism are based on architectural theory The Greeks later renamed it Lakki.

During the 31 years that the Italians remained in Leros, they set up a great plan to build and fortify the island, since its strategic position and its large natural harbours (the largest of which, Lakki, is the largest deep water harbour in the Mediterranean Sea), made it an ideal naval base. The' Italian people' are a Southern European Ethnic group located primarily in Italy, Switzerland, France and by virtue of a wide-ranging The fortification of Leros and the creation of a major naval base at Lakki, ensured that the Italians had control over an area of vital interest to the Allies (the Aegean, the Dardanelles and the Near East). Mussolini, who called Leros "the Corregidor of the Mediterranean", saw the island as a crucial base for the Italian domination of the eastern Aegean Sea, and even built a mansion for himself in the town of Portolago. For the Spanish historical administrative position see Corregidor (position Corregidor is an island in the entrance of the Philippines Etymology In ancient times there were various explanations for the name Aegean.

World War Two

Main articles: Dodecanese Campaign and Battle of Leros

From 1940, when Italy entered the Second World War on the side of Germany, Leros suffered bombing raids by the British Royal Air Force. The Dodecanese Campaign of World War II was an attempt by Allied forces mostly British, to capture the Italian -held Dodecanese islands The Battle of Leros (Μάχη της Λέρου was the central event of the Dodecanese Campaign of the Second World War, and is widely used as an alternate World War II, or the Second World War, (often abbreviated WWII) was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including As a result of the excellent anchorage provided to warships by the many natural coves, the island was the second most bombed during World War Two (after Crete). Crete ( Greek: Κρήτη transliteration: Krētē, modern transliteration Kriti) is the largest of the Greek islands and the On 8 September 1943, as Italy could not continue the war on the German side, it signed an armistice and came over to the Allied camp. Events 70 - Roman forces under Titus sack Jerusalem. 1264 - The Statute of Kalisz Year 1943 ( MCMXLIII) was a Common year starting on Friday (the link will display full 1943 calendar of the Gregorian calendar. The Armistice with Italy was an Armistice signed on September 3 and publicly declared on September 8, 1943, during World War II, between After the Italian armistice, British reinforcements arrived on Leros and other Dodecanese islands and the island suffered continuous German aerial bombardment. One of the largest attacks was on the Greek Navy's flagship, the Queen Olga, sunk by German bombers on Sunday September 26, 1943, along with HMS Intrepid, while they were anchored in Portolago. Events 46 BC - Julius Caesar dedicates a Year 1943 ( MCMXLIII) was a Common year starting on Friday (the link will display full 1943 calendar of the Gregorian calendar. The island of Leros was finally captured by German troops during operation Taifun in airborne and amphibious assaults between 12-16 November 1943. The forces involved were paratroop units and a battalion from the elite Brandenburg division. The Brandenburgers were members of the Brandenburg German Commando unit during World War II. The ground troops were supported by bombers of the "Luftwaffe". Among them I. and II. group of Stuka-Wing 3. I. Group operated from Megara Air Base. The island remained under German occupation until the end of the war.

Post-war history

After the Germans evacuated the island, it came under British administration, until, on 7 March 1948, together with the other Dodecanese Islands, Leros was united with Greece. Events 161 - Roman Emperor Antoninus Pius dies and is succeeded by co-Emperors Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus Year 1948 ( MCMXLVIII) was a Leap year starting on Thursday (link will display the 1948 calendar of the Gregorian calendar. After approximately 700 years after the end of Byzantine rule, the Dodecanese was incorporated into the Greek State. During the post-war years the Greek governments used many buildings in Leros for various reasons. In 1959, the mental hospital of Leros was founded, whose original primitive conditions have been improved. During the junta of the Colonels, the island was used as a place of internal exile for political dissenters, with old Italian barracks of the island used as a concentration camp. Regime of the Colonels redirects here For the Polish regime of colonels see Colonels' group. Exile means to be away from one's home (ie city state or country while either being explicitly refused permission to return and/or being threatened by prison or death upon return Internment is the imprisonment or confinement of people commonly in large groups without trial

Landmarks

Leros has a number of charming small towns and beaches. Agia Marina has a number of bars, nightclubs and restaurants, all located in a strip which overlooks Alinda Bay. Further down the road in Broutsi is the 'Faros Bar', a bar built into a cave underneath the old lighthouse. A lighthouse is a Tower, building or framework designed to emit light from a system of lamps and lenses or in older times from a fire and used as an

Pandeli is also a well known area, with some restaurants on the water's edge. Vromolithos is one of the best beaches on Leros, situated a few minutes walk from Pandeli For those interested in the 2nd World War, visit the Commonwealth War Graves Commission Cemetery at Krithoni, the new War Museum SW of Lakki and the Bellenis Tower in Krithoni. Leros ( Greek: Λέρος Italian: Lèro) is a Greek Island and municipality in the Dodecanese prefecture The Commonwealth War Graves Commission ( CWGC) is a joint governmental organisation responsible for marking and maintaining the graves of members of the Commonwealth The island is litered with old shell cases and other remnants of the battle in November, 1943. During the summer there are opportunities to visit the neighbouring small islands of Marathi, Arkioi, Lipsi, Aspronisia on daily excursions with "Barbarossa".

Leros has an Archaeological Museum where many exhibits covering its long history are on display. In September 2005, the Leros war museum was opened in Merkia, near Lakki. The museum is inside an old tunnel made by the Italians during the Second World War. The' Italian people' are a Southern European Ethnic group located primarily in Italy, Switzerland, France and by virtue of a wide-ranging World War II, or the Second World War, (often abbreviated WWII) was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including It resembles the Dover war museum, though on a much smaller scale. Dover is a town and major ferry port in the county of Kent, England. There are several items from the battle of Leros including: guns, helmets, bombs, uniforms and various photos.

Transportation

Leros has an Airport at Partheni that connects daily the island with Athens. Illyrian tribes or possibly or partly Illyrian tribes or tribes inhabiting lands known as Illyria. The Greek Islands are a collection of over 6000 Islands and Islets that belong to Greece. Athens (ˈæθənz Αθήνα Athina,) the Capital and largest city of Greece, dominates the Attica periphery as one of the world's There are also ferry connections to and from Pireus and the other islands of the Dodecanese. The Dodecanese ( Greek Δωδεκάνησα Dodekánisa 'twelve islands' are a group of 12 larger plus 150 smaller Greek islands in the Aegean The Catamaran Dodekanissos Express and the Hydrofoils (only during the summer) connecting Leros with the most of the Dodecanese islands. For those who want to visit Leros the alternative way to Ferry travel (8-10 hours) is to fly to Athens and then fly to Leros with domestic flight or fly direct to Kos and then to Leros by boat (1 - 2 hours).

Traditional Music

Many local songs of Leros are among the most famous among the traditional Music of Greece: among the most famous are Pote tha'nixoume pania, Mes tou Aegeou ta Nisia and proutzos. The word tradition comes from the Latin traditionem acc of traditio which means "a giving up delivering up surrendering" and is used in a number of The musical legacy of Greece is as diverse as its history. Cypriot music has certain similarities to traditional Greek Music, and their

See also

• List of islands of Greece

References

External links

• Official website (English) (Greek) (Italian)
• The Battle of Leros

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