Schoinoussa or Schinoussa ( el, Σχοινούσσα, before 1940: Σχοινούσα, ; anciently, grc, Σχινοῦσσα) is an island and a former

community A community is a social unit (a group of living things) with commonality such as place, norms, religion, values, customs, or identity. Communities may share a sense of place situated in a given geographical area (e.g. a country, village, ...

in the

Cyclades The Cyclades (; el, Κυκλάδες, ) are an island group in the Aegean Sea, southeast of mainland Greece and a former administrative prefecture of Greece. They are one of the island groups which constitute the Aegean archipelago. The name ...

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders ...

. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Naxos and Lesser Cyclades, of which it is a municipal unit. It lies south of the island of

Naxos Naxos (; el, Νάξος, ) is a Greek island and the largest of the Cyclades. It was the centre of archaic Cycladic culture. The island is famous as a source of emery, a rock rich in corundum, which until modern times was one of the best ab ...

, in the

Lesser Cyclades The Lesser Cyclades or Small Cyclades ( el, Μικρές Κυκλάδες) is an island complex in the Aegean Sea, inside the archipelago of the Cyclades. It is located to the south-east of Naxos and comprises 32 islands and rocks. The main island ...

group, between the island communities of Irakleia and

Koufonisia Koufonisia ( el, Κουφονήσια) is a former community in the Cyclades, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Naxos and Lesser Cyclades, of which it is a municipal unit. The municipal unit has an area ...

. The population was 256 inhabitants at the 2011 census. Its land area is .

Description

Schoinoussa is located south of

, in the middle about of the

island group. It is the fourth largest island of the Lesser Cyclades and the second most populated, after Ano Koufonisi. The island has three settlements, Chora the capital of the island, Mesaria and Mersini which is the port of the island. The derivation of the name Schinoussa is not precisely known. It is believed that the name either derives from the corruption of the ancient name Echinousa or from a Venetian nobleman named Schinoza. Schoinoussa has been inhabited since antiquity. On the island there are sites of archaeological interest including

ancient Greek Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic p ...

and

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

ruins, ruins of a

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...

church and a small medieval castle. From the 11th century, the island was the property of the Hozoviotissa Monastery on the nearby island of

Amorgos Amorgos ( el, Αμοργός, ; ) is the easternmost island of the Cyclades island group and the nearest island to the neighboring Dodecanese island group in Greece. Along with 16 neighboring islets, the largest of which (by land area) is Nik ...

Historical population

Gallery

File:Chora village in Schinoussa Island.jpg, Chora village on Schoinoussa File:Schoinoussa3.JPG, The beach of Livadi File:Traditional windmill in Schinoussa Island.jpg, Traditional windmill-church in Schoinoussa File:Schoinoussa1.JPG, Schoinoussa and neighbouring islands

References

External links

Visit Greece Website
Islands of Greece Landforms of Naxos (regional unit) Islands of the South Aegean Lesser Cyclades Populated places in Naxos (regional unit) {{SouthAegean-geo-stub