Karpathos
island is located between the two well know Greek islands of Rhodes and
Crete, with a history dating back to the Minoan era and Mycenean tombs and
settlements going back to the second millennium B.C. In the Doric times
(1000 BC) it was referred to as Tetrapolis, after the four famous cities,
Potideo (Pigadia), Arkessia (the present Arkasa), Vrykous and Nissyros (in
the area of Olympos). In the Classic and Hellenistic periods followed the
history of the rest of Greece. In 42 BC Karpathos was conquered by the
Romans and later became part of the Byzantine Empire. From the 7th to 10th
century the pirates ravaged A.D. Karpathos. The people who lived close to
the sea moved to the mountains. The Genoans, St. John’s Knights, the
Venetians and the Turks invaded the island. In the 1821 revolution
Karpathos was liberated and in 1830 was given back to the Turks under a
treaty. In 1912 the Italians conquered the island and in 1948 it was
liberated and joined the rest of Greece.
On 17th of Aipril 1821, the
islands of Samos, Kasos, Karpathos, Halki, Tilos, Nisiros, Leros, Patmos
ans Astipalea rebelled against the Turkish occupation. The agas, the
Turkish administrator who lived in Volada, escaped trough the port of
Diafani.
On the same time period, the
Greek admiral Antonios Kriezis approaches the coast of Karpathos with his
fleet, on the side of Kira Panagia. That day a girl of noble descends from
Aperi was getting married and Kriezis became the best man in the wedding.
When they started giving out the presents of the guests, Kriezis took his
present for the nation. Then the Karpathian bride gave him all her
jewellery for the freedom of Greece. The girl's name was Fotini. She was
the third daughter of a Greek nobleman of that time and the wedding took
place at Kira Panagia, because the couple were cousins and the parents
would not give their permission, so they had to leave town. The church
celebrates the day of Virgin Maria (Panagia) at 23 Augoust with mass,
music and local dishes.
According to the article 122,
Turkey handed over the islands of Aegean Sea to Italy (8 September 1922).
On March 7 1948, Karpathos along with the rest of the Dodecanese united
with Greece. The Turkish and the Venetian occupation changed radically
Karpathos, which is a part of the group of islands with the common name
Dodecanese (Twelve Islands). Its position in the centre of the triangle
formed by Crete, Rhodes and Asia Minor made Karpathos an important island
and its population was quite big in older times.
