Andros

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Administrative Region : South Aegean
Regional unit : Andros

Andros, or Andro (Greek: Άνδρος) is the northernmost island of the Greek Cyclades archipelago, approximately 10 km (6 mi) 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. The area is 380 km² (147 sq mi). The largest towns are Andros (town), Gávrio, Bátsi, and Órmos Korthíou.

The island is famous for its Sariza spring at Apoikia where the water comes out of a lionhead. Palaeopolis, the ancient capital, was 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 Kingdom of Pergamon until the dissolution of that kingdom in 133 BC. Before falling under Turkish rule, Andros was from AD 1207 till 1566 governed by the families Zeno and Sommaripa under Venetian protection (see: Duchy of the Archipelago). Then the island was again under direct Ottoman rule. 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 "ritoras" (ρήτορας), inspired shipowners and merchants to contribute funds to build a Greek Navy to combat the Ottomans.

Administration

Andros is a separate regional unit of the South Aegean region, and the only municipality of the regional unit. As a part of the 2011 Kallikratis government reform, the regional unit Andros was created out of part of the former Cyclades Prefecture. At the same reform, the current municipality Andros was created out of the 3 former municipalities: [1]

Andros (town)
Korthio
Ydrousa

Population

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 municipal units of Andros (town) (pop. 4,107), Korthio (pop. 2,547), and Ydrousa (pop. 3,355). The north of Andros has a small Arvanite community. The name of the island in Arvanitika is Ε̰νdρα, Ëndra.[2]

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
George Leonardos (1937-present), journalist and author, awarded with the Greek State Literature Award 2008
Yiannis Tridimas (1945–present), established UK long-distance runner
Alexander Pantages (1875–1936), American vaudeville magnate
Andreas Embirikos(1901-1975), Greek surrealist poet and the first Greek psychoanalyst
Michael Dertouzos(1936-2001), Professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Director of the M.I.T. Laboratory for Computer Science (LCS) from 1974 to 2001.

Bibliography

"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 a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed (1911). "Andros". Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.

References

^ Kallikratis reform law textPDF
^ Jochalas, Titos P. (1971): Über die Einwanderung der Albaner in Griechenland: Eine zusammenfassene Betrachtung ["On the immigration of Albanians to Greece: A summary"]. München: Trofenik.

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