Amazing Greece Team HISTORY
According to mythology, the first inhabitant of Karpathos was Titan Iapetos, son of Ouranos and Gaia, father of the gods and people long before the gods of Olympus. The island was first inhabited in the Neolithic era.
The contacts that Karpathos had with the island of Crete played a significant role in the island’s development in the Bronze Age. Back then, the island’s most important port Potidaio (today’s Pigadia) became home to settlers from Crete and it acquired a Minoan character.
The contacts between the two islands continued throughout the 14th century B.C. period when the Myceneans took control of Karpathos island.
Karpathos island was deserted following a number of raids after 1200 B.C.
The inhabitants of the island settled in more protected areas such as today’s Aperi where they founded the city of Karpathos.
Karpathians fought with Sparta in the Peloponnesian War in 431 BC and lost their independence to Rhodes in 400 BC.
In 42 BC the island was conquered by the Romans. In the centuries that followed, the Karpathians were conquered by the Arabs, the Genoese, pirate Moresco, the Venetians and the Ottoman Empire.
The Italians occupied the island during World War I. Karpathos was also occupied by the Germans a few years before the end of World War II. Karpathos was incorporated into the newly formed Greek State along with all the other Dodecanese on March 7, 1948.
GEOGRAPHY
Karpathos is the second largest island in the Greek complex of the Dodecanese (after Rhodes). It has an area of 302,152 Km2, 180 km of coastline and a total population of 6.226 inhabitants.
It is a rich habitat and for this reason it has protected areas, where populations survive to extinction.
It is located in the middle of the Karpathian Sea between Rhodes and Crete and has its capital Pigadia or Karpathos (2.280 inhabitants).
Pigadia is the islands biggest port. A new port was built at Diafani in northern Karpathos in 1992. Until that time the tourists on board the liners could only reach Diafani in small boats.
MORPHOLOGY
The island is mostly mountainous, except for its most southern part, with deep canyons and arable valleys, steep rocky shores and exquisite beaches, as well as many forests, despite the great fires that plagued Karpathos in the past years.
The island’s highest peak, Kali Limni (at 1.215m), is located at the Lastos mountain range.
In aspect of geomorphology, Karpathos and Saria, the small island north of Karpathos, are two of the most gifted Greek islands. Calcareous rock beds define its morphological character. Over the rock beds of limestones lie more recent beds of stones such as plaster and others.
CLIMATE
The climate of Karpathos is definitely Mediterranean. One main characteristic of the Mediterranean climate are the strong winds during summer well-known as ”Meltemia” (etisian winds), whereas during wintertime there are low levels of rain and mild temperatures.
ECONOMY
The inhabitants of the island work οn agriculture, farming, beekeeping but mainly in tourism.
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