Lakkoi ( el, Λάκκοι), commonly spelled Lakki on road signs and maps, is a village on the

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

island of

Crete Crete ( el, Κρήτη, translit=, Modern: , Ancient: ) is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the 88th largest island in the world and the fifth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after Sicily, Sardinia, Cyprus, and ...

in the foothills of the

Lefka Ori Lefka Ori ( el, Λευκά Όρη, meaning 'White Mountains') or Madares ( from the Cretan Greek meaning 'without coverage, bald, bare of any vegetation for high mountain areas') is a mountain range located in Western Crete, in the Chania prefect ...

(White Mountains). The village is situated on the road between

Chania Chania ( el, Χανιά ; vec, La Canea), also spelled Hania, is a city in Greece and the capital of the Chania regional unit. It lies along the north west coast of the island Crete, about west of Rethymno and west of Heraklion. The muni ...

and the plateau of Omalos which leads to the

Samaria Gorge Samaria (; he, שֹׁמְרוֹן, translit=Šōmrōn, ar, السامرة, translit=as-Sāmirah) is the historic and biblical name used for the central region of Palestine, bordered by Judea to the south and Galilee to the north. The first ...

Geography

Lakkoi is 450 metres high, below the White Mountains which rise another 1,000 metres to the south. Most of the houses cling to steep slopes covered in

olive The olive, botanical name ''Olea europaea'', meaning 'European olive' in Latin, is a species of small tree or shrub in the family Oleaceae, found traditionally in the Mediterranean Basin. When in shrub form, it is known as ''Olea europaea'' ...

and

chestnut The chestnuts are the deciduous trees and shrubs in the genus ''Castanea'', in the beech family Fagaceae. They are native to temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere. The name also refers to the edible nuts they produce. The unrelat ...

trees, reached through narrow roads or tracks that run down from the main square. The climate is cool in winter, with occasional snow, wet in spring, hot and dry in the summer. In the unusually dry summer of 2007, major brush fires broke out twice, burning about and threatening the village itself.

Economy

Traditionally the villagers have cultivated olives and raised goats, sheep and chickens. With limited work opportunities, the population has declined from a peak of around 2,000 to 212 (2011 census). There are signs of growth as houses are being purchased and renovated by citizens of other

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...

countries seeking low-cost retirement or vacation homes.

History

The first historical mention of the village dates from 1263, when the Lakkoi chieftain Pentachtenis took part in a revolt against the Venetians. In a later revolt in 1570 the chieftain George Mousouris became Secretary General of the rebel forces, based in the nearby village of Meskla. After the Ottoman

conquest Conquest is the act of military subjugation of an enemy by force of arms. Military history provides many examples of conquest: the Roman conquest of Britain, the Mauryan conquest of Afghanistan and of vast areas of the Indian subcontinent, t ...

of the island, the people of Lakkoi were involved in periodic revolts, notably the revolt of 1821-1828 during the

Greek War of Independence The Greek War of Independence, also known as the Greek Revolution or the Greek Revolution of 1821, was a successful war of independence by Greek revolutionaries against the Ottoman Empire between 1821 and 1829. The Greeks were later assisted by ...

, where an Ottoman army of 5,000 men led by Latif Pasha of

was routed in a pitched battle at Lakki. In the great rebellion of 1866-1869 Katerina Stamataki of Lakkoi was a distinguished woman revolutionary. During the

Battle of Crete The Battle of Crete (german: Luftlandeschlacht um Kreta, el, Μάχη της Κρήτης), codenamed Operation Mercury (german: Unternehmen Merkur), was a major Axis airborne and amphibious operation during World War II to capture the island ...

in May 1941 and the days that followed, four hundred and eighty five men and women resisted the German occupiers, and sixty eight Lakkoiotes lost their lives in the fight for the freedom of Greece.

Notable people

Theodoros Koukoulakis Theodoros Koukoulakis ( Greek: ''Θεόδωρος Κουκουλάκης'', c. 1879 – 1909 ) was a Greek revolutionary and a minor leader of the Macedonian Struggle. Biography Koukoulakis was a member of a well-known Cretan family from La ...

Manolis Mantakas Emmanouil or Manolis Mantakas ( el, Μανώλης Μάντακας, Lakkoi, 1891 - Athens, 1968) was a Greek Army officer who rose to the rank of Major General, and who became a leader in the Greek Resistance and a politician. Biography He w ...

References

External links

Lakkoi Map ReferenceGTP Lakki
{{Platanias div Populated places in Chania (regional unit)