The Lesser Cyclades or Small Cyclades ( el, Μικρές Κυκλάδες) is an island complex in the

Aegean Sea The Aegean Sea ; tr, Ege Denizi ( Greek: Αιγαίο Πέλαγος: "Egéo Pélagos", Turkish: "Ege Denizi" or "Adalar Denizi") is an elongated embayment of the Mediterranean Sea between Europe and Asia. It is located between the Balkans ...

, inside the archipelago of 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 ...

. It is located to the south-east 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 ...

and comprises 32 islands and rocks. The main islands are

Ano Koufonisi 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 are ...

Kato Koufonisi 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 are ...

, Irakleia,

Schoinoussa Schoinoussa or Schinoussa ( el, Σχοινούσσα, before 1940: Σχοινούσα, ; anciently, grc, Σχινοῦσσα) is an island and a former community in the Cyclades, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the mu ...

, Donousa and

Keros Keros ( el, Κέρος; anciently, Keria or Kereia ( grc, Κέρεια) is an uninhabited and unpopulated Greek island in the Cyclades about southeast of Naxos. Administratively it is part of the community of Koufonisia. It has an area of an ...

. The largest of them is Irakleia with an area of 18 km² and the most populated is Ano Koufonisi with a population of 399, according to the 2011 census. Only four of them are inhabited, Ano Koufonisi, Irakleia, Donousa and Schoinoussa. The islet of Kato Antikeri has also two inhabitants. Administratively, the islands belong to the Naxos and Lesser Cyclades municipality apart from the islets of Ano and Kato Antikeri that belong to

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 ...

municipality.

History

During the last ice age most of the islands of the

were united into a big landmass. After the sea level rose in ca. 9,000 B.C. the Aegean flooded the landmass to form the many small islands: this is when the archipel acquire its modern form. The Lesser Cyclades have been inhabited since the

Stone Age The Stone Age was a broad prehistoric period during which stone was widely used to make tools with an edge, a point, or a percussion surface. The period lasted for roughly 3.4 million years, and ended between 4,000 BC and 2,000 BC, with ...

. The islands flourished during the early

Bronze Age The Bronze Age is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in some areas, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second pri ...

, when the

Cycladic culture Cycladic culture (also known as Cycladic civilisation or, chronologically, as Cycladic chronology) was a Bronze Age culture (c. 3200–c. 1050 BC) found throughout the islands of the Cyclades in the Aegean Sea. In chronological terms, it is a re ...

appeared. The island of

was one of the major sites of Cycladic culture and has given its name to Early Cycladic II period of Cycladic culture, known as Keros-Syros culture. The islands continued to be populated thereafter. On the islands, particularly on

and Irakleia, ruins from

classical antiquity Classical antiquity (also the classical era, classical period or classical age) is the period of cultural history between the 8th century BC and the 5th century AD centred on the Mediterranean Sea, comprising the interlocking civilizations of ...

and the

Roman period The Roman Empire ( la, Imperium Romanum ; grc-gre, Βασιλεία τῶν Ῥωμαίων, Basileía tôn Rhōmaíōn) was the post- Republican period of ancient Rome. As a polity, it included large territorial holdings around the Mediter ...

can be found. The islands suffered from piracy both in medieval and modern times, which lead the islands to be at turn depopulated and colonised again by shepherds from

. Since the 11th century most of the islands of the Lesser Cyclades were given as property to the Hozoviotissa Monastery in Amorgos. The monastery even today retains large areas in the islands as its property. The islands today have been developed as a popular tourist destination. Mikres Kyklades de

Main islands

References

External links

Webpage about the Lesser Cyclades
{{The Cyclades Landforms of Naxos (regional unit) Landforms of the South Aegean Archipelagoes of Greece Cyclades