Crete ( ; , Modern: ,

Ancient Ancient history is a time period from the beginning of writing and recorded human history through late antiquity. The span of recorded history is roughly 5,000 years, beginning with the development of Sumerian cuneiform script. Ancient h ...

: ) 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 The Mediterranean Sea ( ) is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern Eur ...

, after

Sicily Sicily (Italian language, Italian and ), officially the Sicilian Region (), is an island in the central Mediterranean Sea, south of the Italian Peninsula in continental Europe and is one of the 20 regions of Italy, regions of Italy. With 4. ...

Sardinia Sardinia ( ; ; ) is the Mediterranean islands#By area, second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after Sicily, and one of the Regions of Italy, twenty regions of Italy. It is located west of the Italian Peninsula, north of Tunisia an ...

Cyprus Cyprus (), officially the Republic of Cyprus, is an island country in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Situated in West Asia, its cultural identity and geopolitical orientation are overwhelmingly Southeast European. Cyprus is the List of isl ...

, and

Corsica Corsica ( , , ; ; ) is an island in the Mediterranean Sea and one of the Regions of France, 18 regions of France. It is the List of islands in the Mediterranean#By area, fourth-largest island in the Mediterranean and lies southeast of the Metro ...

. Crete is located about south of the

Peloponnese The Peloponnese ( ), Peloponnesus ( ; , ) or Morea (; ) is a peninsula and geographic region in Southern Greece, and the southernmost region of the Balkans. It is connected to the central part of the country by the Isthmus of Corinth land bridg ...

, and about southwest of

Anatolia Anatolia (), also known as Asia Minor, is a peninsula in West Asia that makes up the majority of the land area of Turkey. It is the westernmost protrusion of Asia and is geographically bounded by the Mediterranean Sea to the south, the Aegean ...

. Crete has an area of and a coastline of 1,046 km (650 mi). It bounds the southern border of the

Aegean Sea The Aegean Sea is an elongated embayment of the Mediterranean Sea between Europe and Asia. It is located between the Balkans and Anatolia, and covers an area of some . In the north, the Aegean is connected to the Marmara Sea, which in turn con ...

, with the Sea of Crete (or North Cretan Sea) to the north and the Libyan Sea (or South Cretan Sea) to the south. Crete covers 260 km from west to east but is narrow from north to south, spanning three longitudes but only half a latitude. Crete and a number of islands and islets that surround it constitute the Region of Crete (), which is the southernmost of the 13 top-level administrative units of Greece, and the fifth most populous of Greece's regions. Its capital and largest city is

Heraklion Heraklion or Herakleion ( ; , , ), sometimes Iraklion, is the largest city and the administrative capital city, capital of the island of Crete and capital of Heraklion (regional unit), Heraklion regional unit. It is the fourth largest city in G ...

, on the north shore of the island. , the region had a population of 624,408. The

Dodecanese The Dodecanese (, ; , ''Dodekánisa'' , ) are a group of 15 larger and 150 smaller Greek islands in the southeastern Aegean Sea and Eastern Mediterranean, off the coast of Anatolia, of which 26 are inhabited. This island group generally define ...

are located to the northeast of Crete, while the

Cyclades The CYCLADES computer network () was a French research network created in the early 1970s. It was one of the pioneering networks experimenting with the concept of packet switching and, unlike the ARPANET, was explicitly designed to facilitate i ...

are situated to the north, separated by the Sea of Crete. The

is to the region's northwest. Crete was the center of

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

's first advanced civilization, the Minoans, from 2700 to 1420 BC. The Minoan civilization was overrun by the Mycenaean civilization from mainland Greece. Crete was later ruled by Rome, then successively by the

Byzantine Empire The Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire centred on Constantinople during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Having survived History of the Roman Empire, the events that caused the ...

, Andalusian Arabs, the

again, the Venetian Republic, and the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empire, was an empire, imperial realm that controlled much of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th to early 20th centuries; it also controlled parts of southeastern Centr ...

. In 1898 Crete, whose people had for some time wanted to join the Greek state, achieved independence from the Ottomans, formally becoming the Cretan State. Crete became part of Greece in December 1913. The island is mostly mountainous, and its character is defined by a high mountain range crossing from west to east. It includes Crete's highest point, Mount Ida, and the range of the White Mountains (Lefka Ori) with 30 summits above in altitude and the Samaria Gorge, a World Biosphere Reserve. Crete forms a significant part of the economy and cultural heritage of Greece, while retaining its own local cultural traits (such as its own

poetry Poetry (from the Greek language, Greek word ''poiesis'', "making") is a form of literature, literary art that uses aesthetics, aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language to evoke meaning (linguistics), meanings in addition to, or in ...

and

music Music is the arrangement of sound to create some combination of Musical form, form, harmony, melody, rhythm, or otherwise Musical expression, expressive content. Music is generally agreed to be a cultural universal that is present in all hum ...

). The Nikos Kazantzakis airport at Heraklion and the Daskalogiannis airport at

Chania Chania (, , ), also sometimes romanization of Greek, romanized as Hania, is a city in Greece and the capital of the Chania (regional unit), Chania regional unit. It lies along the north west coast of the island Crete, about west of Rethymno ...

serve international travelers. The Minoan palace at

Knossos Knossos (; , ; Linear B: ''Ko-no-so'') is a Bronze Age archaeological site in Crete. The site was a major centre of the Minoan civilization and is known for its association with the Greek myth of Theseus and the minotaur. It is located on th ...

is also located in Heraklion.Ancient Crete
Oxford Bibliographies Online: Classics

Name

The earliest references to the island of Crete come from texts from the

Syria Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in West Asia located in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to Syria–Turkey border, the north, Iraq to Iraq–Syria border, t ...

n city of Mari dating from the

18th century The 18th century lasted from 1 January 1701 (represented by the Roman numerals MDCCI) to 31 December 1800 (MDCCC). During the 18th century, elements of Enlightenment thinking culminated in the Atlantic Revolutions. Revolutions began to ch ...

BC, where the island is referred to as ''Kaptara''. This is repeated later in Neo-Assyrian records and the

Bible The Bible is a collection of religious texts that are central to Christianity and Judaism, and esteemed in other Abrahamic religions such as Islam. The Bible is an anthology (a compilation of texts of a variety of forms) originally writt ...

('' Caphtor''). It was known in ancient Egyptian as or , strongly suggesting a similar Minoan name for the island. The current name ''Crete'' is first attested in the 15th century BC in

Mycenaean Greek Mycenaean Greek is the earliest attested form of the Greek language. It was spoken on the Greek mainland and Crete in Mycenaean Greece (16th to 12th centuries BC). The language is preserved in inscriptions in Linear B, a script first atteste ...

texts, written in

Linear B Linear B is a syllabary, syllabic script that was used for writing in Mycenaean Greek, the earliest Attested language, attested form of the Greek language. The script predates the Greek alphabet by several centuries, the earliest known examp ...

, through the words ''ke-re-te'' , *''Krētes''; later Greek: , plural of ) and ''ke-re-si-jo'' , *''Krēsijos''; later Greek: , 'Cretian'). In

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

, the name Crete () first appears in

Homer Homer (; , ; possibly born ) was an Ancient Greece, Ancient Greek poet who is credited as the author of the ''Iliad'' and the ''Odyssey'', two epic poems that are foundational works of ancient Greek literature. Despite doubts about his autho ...

's ''

Odyssey The ''Odyssey'' (; ) is one of two major epics of ancient Greek literature attributed to Homer. It is one of the oldest surviving works of literature and remains popular with modern audiences. Like the ''Iliad'', the ''Odyssey'' is divi ...

''. Its etymology is unknown. One proposal derives it from a hypothetical Luwian word (compare 'island', 'cutting, sliver'). Another proposal suggests that it derives from the

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

word ''"κραταιή" (krataie̅)'', meaning strong or powerful, the reasoning being that Crete was the strongest

thalassocracy A thalassocracy or thalattocracy, sometimes also maritime empire, is a state with primarily maritime realms, an empire at sea, or a seaborne empire. Traditional thalassocracies seldom dominate interiors, even in their home territories. Examples o ...

during ancient times. In

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

, the name of the island became . The original Arabic name of Crete was ( < , but after the

Emirate of Crete The Emirate of Crete ( or , ; ) was an Arab Islamic state that existed on the Mediterranean island of Crete from the late 820s to Siege of Chandax, the reconquest of the island by the Byzantine Empire in 961. Although the emirate recognized the ...

's establishment of its new capital at (modern

; , ), both the city and the island became known as () or (), which gave Latin, Italian, and Venetian , from which were derived French and English ''Candy'' or ''Candia''. Under Ottoman rule, in

Ottoman Turkish Ottoman Turkish (, ; ) was the standardized register of the Turkish language in the Ottoman Empire (14th to 20th centuries CE). It borrowed extensively, in all aspects, from Arabic and Persian. It was written in the Ottoman Turkish alphabet. ...

, Crete was called (). In the Hebrew Bible, Crete is referred to as () "kretim".

Physical geography and climate

Mount Ida chain Messara plain from Phaistos Crete Greece

Crete is the largest island in Greece and the fifth largest island in the

. It is located south of almost the rest of the country, in the southern part of the

separating the Aegean from the Libyan Sea.

Island morphology

The island has an elongated shape: it spans from east to west, is at its widest point, and narrows to as little as (close to

Ierapetra Ierapetra (; ancient name: ) is a Greece, Greek city and municipality located on the southeast coast of Crete. History The town of Ierapetra (in the local dialect: Γεράπετρο ''Gerapetro'') is located on the southeast coast of Crete, sit ...

). Crete covers an area of , with a coastline of ; to the north, it broaches the Sea of Crete (); to the south, the Libyan Sea (); in the west, the Myrtoan Sea, and toward the east the Carpathian Sea. It lies approximately south of the Greek mainland. There are a number of peninsulas and gulfs on the north side of Crete, from west to east these include: Gramvousa peninsula, gulf of Kissamos, Rodopos peninsula, gulf of Chania, Akrotiri peninsula, Souda Bay, Apokoronas cape, gulf of Almiros, gulf of

, Aforesmenos cape, gulf of Mirabello, gulf of

Sitia Sitia (Latin language, Latin and Italian language, Italian) or Siteia (, ) is a port town and a municipality in Lasithi, Crete, Greece. The town has 11,166 inhabitants and the municipality has 20,438 (2021). It lies east of Agios Nikolaos, Cre ...

and the Sideros peninsula. On the south side of Crete is the gulf of Messaras and Cape Lithinon.

Mountains and valleys

Crete is mountainous, and its character is defined by a high mountain range crossing from west to east, formed by six different groups of mountains: *The White Mountains or Lefka Ori *The Idi Range ( Psiloritis) * Asterousia Mountains * Kedros *The Dikti Mountains * Thrypti These mountains lavish Crete with valleys, such as Amari valley, fertile plateaus, such as Lasithi plateau, Omalos and Nidha; caves, such as Gourgouthakas, Diktaion, and Idaion (the birthplace of the ancient Greek god

Zeus Zeus (, ) is the chief deity of the List of Greek deities, Greek pantheon. He is a sky father, sky and thunder god in ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, mythology, who rules as king of the gods on Mount Olympus. Zeus is the child ...

); and a number of gorges. The mountains have been seen as a key feature of the island's distinctiveness, especially since the time of Romantic travellers' writing. Contemporary Cretans distinguish between highlanders and lowlanders; the former often claim to reside in places affording a higher/better climatic and moral environment. In keeping with the legacy of Romantic authors, the mountains are seen as having determined their residents' 'resistance' to past invaders which relates to the oft-encountered idea that highlanders are 'purer' in terms of less intermarriages with occupiers. For residents of mountainous areas, such as Sfakia in western Crete, the aridness and rockiness of the mountains is emphasised as an element of pride and is often compared to the alleged soft-soiled mountains of others parts of Greece or the world.

Gorges, rivers and lakes

The island has a number of gorges, such as the Samariá Gorge, Imbros Gorge, Kourtaliotiko Gorge, Ha Gorge, Platania Gorge, the Gorge of the Dead (at Kato Zakros,

) and Richtis Gorge and (Richtis) waterfall at Exo Mouliana in

. The rivers of Crete include the Geropotamos River, the Koiliaris, the Anapodiaris, the Almiros, the Giofyros, the Keritis, and Megas Potamos. There are only two freshwater lakes in Crete: Lake Kournas and Lake Agia, which are both in Chania regional unit. Lake Voulismeni at the coast, at Aghios Nikolaos, was formerly a freshwater lake but is now connected to the sea, in

Lasithi Lasithi () is the easternmost regional unit on the island of Crete, to the east of Heraklion. Its capital is Agios Nikolaos, the other major towns being Ierapetra and Sitia. The mountains include the Dikti in the west and the Thrypti in the ...

. Three artificial lakes created by dams also exist in Crete: the lake of Aposelemis Dam, the lake of Potamos Dam, and the lake of Mpramiana Dam. File:HaGorgeExit.jpg, Ha Gorge File:Samaria Gorge 09.jpg, Samariá Gorge File:Crete Aradaina3 tango7174.jpg, Aradaina Gorge File:Venetian Bridge over Megalopótamos River, Préveli, Crete.jpg, Venetian Bridge over Megalopotamos River

Surrounding islands

A large number of islands,

islet An islet ( ) is generally a small island. Definitions vary, and are not precise, but some suggest that an islet is a very small, often unnamed, island with little or no vegetation to support human habitation. It may be made of rock, sand and/ ...

s, and rocks hug the coast of Crete. Many are visited by tourists, some are only visited by

archaeologists Archaeology or archeology is the study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of Artifact (archaeology), artifacts, architecture, biofact (archaeology), biofacts or ecofacts, ...

and

biologist A biologist is a scientist who conducts research in biology. Biologists are interested in studying life on Earth, whether it is an individual Cell (biology), cell, a multicellular organism, or a Community (ecology), community of Biological inter ...

s. Some are environmentally protected. A small sample of the islands includes: * Gramvousa ( Kissamos, Chania) the pirate island opposite the Balo lagoon * Elafonisi (Chania), which commemorates a shipwreck and an Ottoman massacre * Chrysi island (

), which hosts the largest natural '' Juniperus macrocarpa'' forest in Europe * Paximadia island (Agia Galini,

Rethymno Rethymno (also Rethymnon; ) is a city in Greece on the island of Crete. It is the capital of Rethymno regional unit, and has a population of more than 35,000 inhabitants (nearly 40,000 for the municipal unit). It is believed to have been built ...

) where the god Apollo and the goddess Artemis were traditionally believed to be born *The Venetian fort and leper colony at Spinalonga opposite the beach and shallow waters of Elounda ( Agios Nikolaos, Lasithi) * Dionysades islands which are in an environmentally protected region together with the Palm Beach Forest of Vai in the municipality of

, Lasithi Off the south coast, the island of Gavdos is located south of Hora Sfakion and is the southernmost point of

Climate

Crete straddles two climatic zones, the

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea ( ) is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern ...

and the

semi-arid climate A semi-arid climate, semi-desert climate, or steppe climate is a dry climate sub-type. It is located on regions that receive precipitation below potential evapotranspiration, but not as low as a desert climate. There are different kinds of se ...

, mainly falling within the former. As such, the climate in Crete is primarily a hot-summer Mediterranean (''Csa'') climate while some areas in the

south South is one of the cardinal directions or compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both west and east. Etymology The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Proto-Germanic ''*sunþa ...

and east have a

hot semi-arid climate A semi-arid climate, semi-desert climate, or steppe climate is a dry climate sub-type. It is located on regions that receive precipitation below potential evapotranspiration, but not as low as a desert climate. There are different kinds of sem ...

(

Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification divides Earth climates into five main climate groups, with each group being divided based on patterns of seasonal precipitation and temperature. The five main groups are ''A'' (tropical), ''B'' (arid), ''C'' (te ...

: ''BSh''). The higher elevations fall into the warm-summer

Mediterranean climate A Mediterranean climate ( ), also called a dry summer climate, described by Köppen and Trewartha as ''Cs'', is a temperate climate type that occurs in the lower mid-latitudes (normally 30 to 44 north and south latitude). Such climates typic ...

category (''Csb'') while the mountain peaks (>2,000 meters) might feature a cold-summer

(''Csc'') or a

continental climate Continental climates often have a significant annual variation in temperature (warm to hot summers and cold winters). They tend to occur in central and eastern parts of the three northern-tier continents (North America, Europe, and Asia), typi ...

(''Dfb'' or ''Dfc''). The atmosphere can be quite humid, depending on the proximity to the sea, while winter is fairly mild. Snowfall is common on the mountains between November and May, but rare in the low-lying areas. Flag harbour Chania Crete Greece

The south coast, including the Mesara Plain and Asterousia Mountains, falls in the North African climatic zone, enjoying significantly more sunny days and high temperatures throughout the year. There,

date palm ''Phoenix dactylifera'', commonly known as the date palm, is a flowering-plant species in the palm family Arecaceae, cultivated for its edible sweet #Fruits, fruit called dates. The species is widely cultivated across North Africa, northern A ...

s bear fruit, and swallows remain year-round rather than migrate to

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...

. The fertile region around

, on the southeastern corner of the island, has year-round agricultural production, with summer vegetables and fruit produced in

greenhouse A greenhouse is a structure that is designed to regulate the temperature and humidity of the environment inside. There are different types of greenhouses, but they all have large areas covered with transparent materials that let sunlight pass an ...

s throughout the winter. Western Crete (Chania province) receives more rain and the soils there suffer more erosion compared to the Eastern part of Crete. Average annual temperatures reach up to 21.6 °C in

Psari Forada Psari Forada is a seaside village in Heraklion regional unit, in Crete, Greece. It is situated in the Libyan Sea, 21 km west of Ierapetra. The local church is a tourist attraction. The seaside village of Sidonia is an extension of Psari For ...

which is located in South Crete. Crete holds the record for the highest temperatures ever recorded in

during October, November, January and February from

World Meteorological Organization The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations responsible for promoting international cooperation on atmospheric science, climatology, hydrology an ...

stations. According to the Hellenic National Meteorological Service, South Crete receives the most sunshine in

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

with more than 3,257 hours of sunshine per year.

Human geography

Crete is the most populous island in Greece with a population of more than 600,000 people. Approximately 42% live in Crete's main cities and towns whilst 45% live in rural areas. File:Chania harbour.jpg, Venetian harbour in

File:Ενετικό λιμάνι Ρεθύμνου 0301-HDR.jpg, Dusk airview of the Old Harbour of

File:Venetian Arsenals in Heraklion Crete.jpg, View of the harbour in

File:Agios Nikolaos R02.jpg, The old harbour in Agios Nikolaos

Administration

Crete with its nearby islands form the Crete Region (, , ), one of the 13 regions of Greece which were established in the 1987 administrative reform. Under the 2010 Kallikratis plan, the powers and authority of the regions were redefined and extended. The region is based at

and is divided into four regional units (pre-Kallikratis prefectures). From west to east these are:

, and

. These are further subdivided into 24

municipalities A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality' ...

. Since 1 January 2011, the regional governor is Stavros Arnaoutakis of the Panhellenic Socialist Movement. First elected in

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

, he was re-elected in

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

and

2023 Catastrophic natural disasters in 2023 included the Lists of 21st-century earthquakes, 5th-deadliest earthquake of the 21st century 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes, striking Turkey and Syria, leaving up to 62,000 people dead; Cyclone Freddy ...

Cities

is the largest city and capital of Crete, holding more than a fourth of the island's population.

was the capital until 1971. The principal cities are: *

(''Iraklion'' or ''Candia'') (144,422 inhabitants)2011 Census *

(''Haniá'') (88,525 inhabitants) *

(34,300 inhabitants) *

(23,707 inhabitants) * Agios Nikolaos (20,679 inhabitants) *

(14,338 inhabitants) File:Venetian Fortress in Heraklion Crete NE side.jpg, Venetian fortress in

File:Kreta - Chania - Kathedrale der drei Märtyrer.jpg,

cathedral File:Rethymno Fortezza Mosque 02.JPG,

Fortezza Mosque File:Sitia R01.jpg, Kazarma fortress at the top in

Demographics

According to official census data by the Hellenic Statistical Authority, the region's population has increased by 1,343 people between 2011 and 2021, experiencing a rise of 0.22%. The island is home to 308,608 men and 315,800 women, accounting for 49.4% and 50.6% of the population respectively. The island is divided into four regional units, Heraklion, Rethymno, Chania, and Lasithi.

Economy

The economy of Crete is predominantly based on services and tourism. However, agriculture also plays an important role and Crete is one of the few Greek islands that can support itself without a tourism industry. The economy began to change visibly during the 1970s as tourism gained in importance. Although an emphasis remains on agriculture and stock breeding, because of the climate and terrain of the island, there has been a drop in manufacturing, and an observable expansion in its service industries (mainly tourism-related). All three sectors of the Cretan economy (agriculture/farming, processing-packaging, services), are directly connected and interdependent. The island has a per capita income much higher than the Greek average, whereas unemployment is at approximately 4%, one-sixth of that of the country overall. As in many regions of Greece,

viticulture Viticulture (, "vine-growing"), viniculture (, "wine-growing"), or winegrowing is the cultivation and harvesting of grapes. It is a branch of the science of horticulture. While the native territory of ''Vitis vinifera'', the common grape vine ...

and

olive The olive, botanical name ''Olea europaea'' ("European olive"), is a species of Subtropics, subtropical evergreen tree in the Family (biology), family Oleaceae. Originating in Anatolia, Asia Minor, it is abundant throughout the Mediterranean ...

groves are significant; oranges, citrons,

avocado The avocado, alligator pear or avocado pear (''Persea americana'') is an evergreen tree in the laurel family (Lauraceae). It is native to Americas, the Americas and was first domesticated in Mesoamerica more than 5,000 years ago. It was priz ...

es and

banana A banana is an elongated, edible fruit – botanically a berry – produced by several kinds of large treelike herbaceous flowering plants in the genus '' Musa''. In some countries, cooking bananas are called plantains, distinguishing the ...

s are also cultivated. Dairy products are important to the local economy and there are a number of specialty cheeses such as mizithra, anthotyros, and kefalotyri. 20% of Greek wine is produced in Crete, mostly in the region of Peza. The

Gross domestic product Gross domestic product (GDP) is a monetary measure of the total market value of all the final goods and services produced and rendered in a specific time period by a country or countries. GDP is often used to measure the economic performanc ...

(GDP) of the region was €9.4 billion in 2018, accounting for 5.1% of Greek economic output. GDP per capita adjusted for purchasing power was €17,800 or 59% of the EU27 average in the same year. The GDP per employee was 68% of the EU average. Crete is the region in Greece with the fifth highest GDP per capita.

Transport infrastructure

Airports

The island has three significant airports, Nikos Kazantzakis at Heraklion, the Daskalogiannis airport at Chania and the smaller

airport. The first two serve international routes, acting as the main gateways to the island for travellers. Work has begun plan to replace Heraklion airport with a new airport at Kasteli, where there is presently an air force base, and the new Kasteli Airport is due to open by 2027.

Ferries

The island is well served by ferries, mostly from

Piraeus Piraeus ( ; ; , Ancient: , Katharevousa: ) is a port city within the Athens urban area ("Greater Athens"), in the Attica region of Greece. It is located southwest of Athens city centre along the east coast of the Saronic Gulf in the Ath ...

, by ferry companies such as Minoan Lines and ANEK Lines with links to the

and

islands. Seajets also operates routes to

. The main ports from west to east are at Kissamos (ferry link to Peloponnese), Souda (Chania),

(links to Cyclades), Agios Nikolaos and

(link to Dodecanese).

Road network

Most of Crete is served by the road network. A modern highway is currently being upgraded along the north coast connecting the four major cities ( A90 motorway), the sections bypassing the main cities (Heraklion to Malia, Rethymno, Chania to Kolymvari) are at motorway standard, while the sections in between, and west to Kissamos and east to Sitia, should be completed by 2028. A link will also connect to the new Kasteli international airport . In addition, a

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...

study has been devised to promote a modern highway to connect the northern and southern parts of the island via a

tunnel A tunnel is an underground or undersea passageway. It is dug through surrounding soil, earth or rock, or laid under water, and is usually completely enclosed except for the two portals common at each end, though there may be access and ve ...

. The study proposal includes a section of road between the villages of Agia Varvara and Agia Deka in central Crete. The new road section forms part of the route between Messara in the south and Crete's largest city

, which houses the island's biggest airport and ferry links with mainland

Railway

Also, during the 1930s there was a narrow-gauge industrial railway in Heraklion, from Giofyros in the west side of the city to the port. There are now no railway lines on Crete. The government is planning the construction of a line from Chania to Heraklion via Rethymno.Rackham, O. & Moody, J., 1996
The Making of the Cretan Landscape
Manchester University Press,

Development

The construction sector in Crete responded well during the pandemic and has come out strong in the post-recession recovery period. Total construction spending recovered and is expected to peak a record high (approximately 8% higher than 2019 average levels) signalling consistent expansion in construction projects and real estate investments in Crete. The evolution of the private sector in Crete is tightly linked with the demand for tourism-related investments. Moreover, the recovery of the tourism sector is expected to lead to further growth in housing prices and rental demand. Newspapers have reported that the Ministry of Mercantile Marine is ready to support the agreement between Greece,

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the southern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders North Korea along the Korean Demilitarized Zone, with the Yellow Sea to the west and t ...

Dubai Ports World DP World is a multinational corporation, multinational logistics company based in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. It specialises in cargo logistics, port terminal operations, maritime services and free trade zones. Formed in 2005 by the merger of D ...

and

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

for the construction of a large international

container A container is any receptacle or enclosure for holding a product used in storage, packaging, and transportation, including shipping. Things kept inside of a container are protected on several sides by being inside of its structure. The term ...

port and free trade zone in southern Crete near Tympaki; the plan is to expropriate of land. The port would handle two million containers per year, but the project has not been universally welcomed because of its environmental, economic and cultural impact.No Container Transshipment Hub in Timbaki
. Retrieved 27 May 2007. As of January 2013, the project has still not been confirmed, although there is mounting pressure to approve it, arising from Greece's difficult economic situation. There are plans for underwater cables going from mainland Greece to Israel and Egypt passing by Crete and Cyprus: EuroAfrica Interconnector and EuroAsia Interconnector. They would connect Crete electrically with mainland Greece, ending energy isolation of Crete. At present Greece covers electricity cost differences for Crete of around €300 million per year.

History

In the later Neolithic and Bronze Age periods, under the Minoans, Crete had a highly developed, literate civilization. It has been ruled by various ancient Greek entities, the

Roman Empire The Roman Empire ruled the Mediterranean and much of Europe, Western Asia and North Africa. The Roman people, Romans conquered most of this during the Roman Republic, Republic, and it was ruled by emperors following Octavian's assumption of ...

, the

Republic of Venice The Republic of Venice, officially the Most Serene Republic of Venice and traditionally known as La Serenissima, was a sovereign state and Maritime republics, maritime republic with its capital in Venice. Founded, according to tradition, in 697 ...

and the

. After a brief period of independence (1897–1913) under a provisional Cretan government, it joined the Kingdom of Greece. It was occupied by

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German Reich, German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a Totalit ...

during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

Prehistory

Stone tools suggest that

archaic humans ''Homo'' () is a genus of great ape (family Hominidae) that emerged from the genus ''Australopithecus'' and encompasses only a single extant species, ''Homo sapiens'' (modern humans), along with a number of extinct species (collectively calle ...

may have visited Crete as early as 130,000 years ago, but there is no evidence of permanent settlement of the island until the

Neolithic The Neolithic or New Stone Age (from Ancient Greek, Greek 'new' and 'stone') is an archaeological period, the final division of the Stone Age in Mesopotamia, Asia, Europe and Africa (c. 10,000 BCE to c. 2,000 BCE). It saw the Neolithic Revo ...

, around 7,000 BCE. Settlements dating to the aceramic Neolithic in the 7th millennium BC, used

cattle Cattle (''Bos taurus'') are large, domesticated, bovid ungulates widely kept as livestock. They are prominent modern members of the subfamily Bovinae and the most widespread species of the genus '' Bos''. Mature female cattle are calle ...

sheep Sheep (: sheep) or domestic sheep (''Ovis aries'') are a domesticated, ruminant mammal typically kept as livestock. Although the term ''sheep'' can apply to other species in the genus '' Ovis'', in everyday usage it almost always refers to d ...

goat The goat or domestic goat (''Capra hircus'') is a species of Caprinae, goat-antelope that is mostly kept as livestock. It was domesticated from the wild goat (''C. aegagrus'') of Southwest Asia and Eastern Europe. The goat is a member of the ...

s, pigs and dogs as well as domesticated

cereal A cereal is a grass cultivated for its edible grain. Cereals are the world's largest crops, and are therefore staple foods. They include rice, wheat, rye, oats, barley, millet, and maize ( Corn). Edible grains from other plant families, ...

s and

legume Legumes are plants in the pea family Fabaceae (or Leguminosae), or the fruit or seeds of such plants. When used as a dry grain for human consumption, the seeds are also called pulses. Legumes are grown agriculturally, primarily for human consum ...

s; ancient

was the site of one of these major Neolithic (then later Minoan) sites. Other neolithic settlements include those at Kephala, Magasa, and Trapeza.

Minoan civilization

During the

Bronze Age The Bronze Age () was a historical period characterised principally by the use of bronze tools and the development of complex urban societies, as well as the adoption of writing in some areas. The Bronze Age is the middle principal period of ...

, Crete was the centre of the

Minoan civilization The Minoan civilization was a Bronze Age culture which was centered on the island of Crete. Known for its monumental architecture and energetic art, it is often regarded as the first civilization in Europe. The ruins of the Minoan palaces at K ...

, notable for its art, its writing systems such as

Linear A Linear A is a writing system that was used by the Minoans of Crete from 1800 BC to 1450 BC. Linear A was the primary script used in Minoan palaces, palace and religious writings of the Minoan civilization. It evolved into Linear B, ...

, and for its massive building complexes including the palace at

. Its economy benefited from a network of trade around much of the

, and Minoan cultural influence extended to

Canaan CanaanThe current scholarly edition of the Septuagint, Greek Old Testament spells the word without any accents, cf. Septuaginta : id est Vetus Testamentum graece iuxta LXX interprets. 2. ed. / recogn. et emendavit Robert Hanhart. Stuttgart : D ...

, and

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

. Some scholars have speculated that legends such as that of the

minotaur In Greek mythology, the Minotaur (, ''Mīnṓtauros''), also known as Asterion, is a mythical creature portrayed during classical antiquity with the head and tail of a bull and the body of a man or, as described by Roman poet Ovid, a being "par ...

have a historical basis in Minoan times.

Mycenaean civilization

In 1420 BC, the Minoan civilization was subsumed by the Mycenaean civilization from mainland Greece. The oldest samples of writing in the Greek language, as identified by Michael Ventris, is the Linear B archive from Knossos, dated approximately to 1425–1375 BC.

Archaic and Classical period

After the

Bronze Age collapse The Late Bronze Age collapse was a period of societal collapse in the Mediterranean basin during the 12th century BC. It is thought to have affected much of the Eastern Mediterranean and Near East, in particular Egypt, Anatolia, the Aege ...

, Crete was settled by new waves of Greeks from the mainland. A number of city states developed in the Archaic period. There was limited contact with mainland Greece, and

Greek historiography Hellenic historiography (or Greek historiography) involves efforts made by Greeks to track and record historical events. By the 5th century BC, it became an integral part of ancient Greek literature and held a prestigious place in later Roman h ...

shows little interest in Crete, so there are few literary references about the island or its people. During the 6th to 4th centuries BC, Crete was comparatively free from warfare. The Gortyn code (5th century BC) is evidence for how codified civil law established a balance between aristocratic power and civil rights. In the late 4th century BC, the aristocratic order began to collapse due to endemic infighting among the elite, and Crete's economy was weakened by prolonged wars between city states. During the 3rd century BC, Gortyn, Kydonia (

), Lyttos and Polyrrhenia challenged the primacy of ancient Knossos. While the cities continued to prey upon one another, they invited into their feuds mainland powers like

Macedon Macedonia ( ; , ), also called Macedon ( ), was an ancient kingdom on the periphery of Archaic and Classical Greece, which later became the dominant state of Hellenistic Greece. The kingdom was founded and initially ruled by the royal ...

and its rivals

Rhodes Rhodes (; ) is the largest of the Dodecanese islands of Greece and is their historical capital; it is the List of islands in the Mediterranean#By area, ninth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. Administratively, the island forms a separ ...

and

Ptolemaic Egypt Ptolemaic is the adjective formed from the name Ptolemy, and may refer to: Pertaining to the Ptolemaic dynasty * Ptolemaic dynasty, the Macedonian Greek dynasty that ruled Egypt founded in 305 BC by Ptolemy I Soter *Ptolemaic Kingdom Pertaining ...

. In 220 BC the island was tormented by a war between two opposing coalitions of cities. As a result, the Macedonian king Philip V gained

hegemony Hegemony (, , ) is the political, economic, and military predominance of one State (polity), state over other states, either regional or global. In Ancient Greece (ca. 8th BC – AD 6th c.), hegemony denoted the politico-military dominance of ...

over Crete which lasted to the end of the Cretan War (205–200 BC), when the Rhodians opposed the rise of Macedon and the Romans started to interfere in Cretan affairs. In the 2nd century BC Ierapytna (

) gained supremacy on eastern Crete.

Roman rule

Crete was involved in the

Mithridatic Wars The Mithridatic Wars were three conflicts fought by the Roman Republic against the Kingdom of Pontus and its allies between 88 and 63 BC. They are named after Mithridates VI, the King of Pontus during the course of the wars, who initiated the ho ...

, initially repelling an attack by Roman general Marcus Antonius Creticus in 71 BC. Nevertheless, a ferocious three-year campaign soon followed under Quintus Caecilius Metellus, equipped with three legions. Crete was conquered by Rome in 69 BC, earning for Metellus the title "''Creticus''". Gortyn was made capital of the island, and Crete became a Roman province, along with

Cyrenaica Cyrenaica ( ) or Kyrenaika (, , after the city of Cyrene), is the eastern region of Libya. Cyrenaica includes all of the eastern part of Libya between the 16th and 25th meridians east, including the Kufra District. The coastal region, als ...

that was called Creta et Cyrenaica. Archaeological remains suggest that Crete under Roman rule witnessed prosperity and increased connectivity with other parts of the Empire. In the 2nd century AD, at least three cities in Crete (Lyttos, Gortyn, Hierapytna) joined the

Panhellenion The Panhellenion () or Panhellenium was a league of Greek city-states established in the year 131–132 AD by the Roman Emperor Hadrian while he was touring the Roman provinces of Greece. The League was established following a ceremony at the Te ...

, a league of Greek cities founded by the emperor

Hadrian Hadrian ( ; ; 24 January 76 – 10 July 138) was Roman emperor from 117 to 138. Hadrian was born in Italica, close to modern Seville in Spain, an Italic peoples, Italic settlement in Hispania Baetica; his branch of the Aelia gens, Aelia '' ...

. When

Diocletian Diocletian ( ; ; ; 242/245 – 311/312), nicknamed Jovius, was Roman emperor from 284 until his abdication in 305. He was born Diocles to a family of low status in the Roman province of Dalmatia (Roman province), Dalmatia. As with other Illyri ...

redivided the Empire, Crete was placed, along with Cyrene, under the diocese of Moesia, and later by

Constantine I Constantine I (27 February 27222 May 337), also known as Constantine the Great, was a Roman emperor from AD 306 to 337 and the first Roman emperor to convert to Christianity. He played a Constantine the Great and Christianity, pivotal ro ...

to the diocese of Macedonia.

Byzantine Empire – first period

Crete was separated from Cyrenaica . It remained a province within the eastern half of the Roman Empire, usually referred to as the Eastern Roman (Byzantine) Empire after the establishment of a second capital in Constantinople by Constantine in 330. Crete was subjected to an attack by

Vandals The Vandals were a Germanic people who were first reported in the written records as inhabitants of what is now Poland, during the period of the Roman Empire. Much later, in the fifth century, a group of Vandals led by kings established Vand ...

in 467, the great earthquakes of 365 and 415, a raid by

Slavs The Slavs or Slavic people are groups of people who speak Slavic languages. Slavs are geographically distributed throughout the northern parts of Eurasia; they predominantly inhabit Central Europe, Eastern Europe, Southeastern Europe, and ...

in 623, Arab raids in 654 and the 670s, and again in the 8th century. In , the Emperor

Leo III the Isaurian Leo III the Isaurian (; 685 – 18 June 741), also known as the Syrian, was the first List of Byzantine emperors, Byzantine emperor of the Isaurian dynasty from 717 until his death in 741. He put an end to the Twenty Years' Anarchy, a period o ...

transferred the island from the jurisdiction of the

Pope The pope is the bishop of Rome and the Head of the Church#Catholic Church, visible head of the worldwide Catholic Church. He is also known as the supreme pontiff, Roman pontiff, or sovereign pontiff. From the 8th century until 1870, the po ...

to that of the Patriarchate of Constantinople.

Arab rule

The Cretan Saracens defeat the Byzantines under Damianos

In the 820s, after 900 years as a Roman island, Crete was captured by Andalusian Muwallads led by Abu Hafs,Reinhart Dozy, ''Histoire des Musulmans d'Espagne: jusqu'à la conquête de l'Andalousie par les Almoravides'' (French) pg. 711–1110, Leiden, 1861 & 1881, 2nd edition who established the

. The Byzantines launched a campaign that took most of the island back in 842 and 843 under Theoktistos. Further Byzantine campaigns in 911 and 949 failed. In 960–61, Nikephoros Phokas' campaign restored Crete to the Byzantine Empire, after a century and a half of Arab control.

Byzantine Empire – second period

In 961, Nikephoros Phokas returned the island to Byzantine rule after expelling the Arabs. Extensive efforts at conversion of the populace were undertaken, led by John Xenos and Nikon "the Metanoeite". The reconquest of Crete was a major achievement for the Byzantines, as it restored Byzantine control over the Aegean littoral and diminished the threat of

Saracen upright 1.5, Late 15th-century German woodcut depicting Saracens ''Saracen'' ( ) was a term used both in Greek and Latin writings between the 5th and 15th centuries to refer to the people who lived in and near what was designated by the Rom ...

pirates, for which Crete had provided a base of operations. In 1204, the

Fourth Crusade The Fourth Crusade (1202–1204) was a Latin Christian armed expedition called by Pope Innocent III. The stated intent of the expedition was to recapture the Muslim-controlled city of Jerusalem, by first defeating the powerful Egyptian Ayyubid S ...

seized and sacked the imperial capital of

Constantinople Constantinople (#Names of Constantinople, see other names) was a historical city located on the Bosporus that served as the capital of the Roman Empire, Roman, Byzantine Empire, Byzantine, Latin Empire, Latin, and Ottoman Empire, Ottoman empire ...

. Crete was initially granted to leading Crusader Boniface of Montferrat in the partition of spoils that followed. However, Boniface sold his claim to the

, whose forces made up the majority of the Crusade. Venice's rival the

Republic of Genoa The Republic of Genoa ( ; ; ) was a medieval and early modern Maritime republics, maritime republic from the years 1099 to 1797 in Liguria on the northwestern Italy, Italian coast. During the Late Middle Ages, it was a major commercial power in ...

immediately seized the island and it was not until 1212 that Venice secured Crete as a colony.

Venetian rule

I Creta - Buondelmonti Cristoforo - 1420

From 1212, during

Venice Venice ( ; ; , formerly ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 islands that are separated by expanses of open water and by canals; portions of the city are li ...

's rule, which lasted more than four centuries, a

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) is a Periodization, period of history and a European cultural movement covering the 15th and 16th centuries. It marked the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and was characterized by an effort to revive and sur ...

swept through the island as is evident from the artistic works dating to that period. Known as The Cretan School or Post-Byzantine Art, it is among the last flowerings of the artistic traditions of the fallen empire. This included the painter

El Greco Doménikos Theotokópoulos (, ; 1 October 1541 7 April 1614), most widely known as El Greco (; "The Greek"), was a Greek painter, sculptor and architect of the Spanish Renaissance, regarded as one of the greatest artists of all time. ...

and the writers Nicholas Kalliakis (1645–1707), Georgios Kalafatis (professor) (–1720), Andreas Musalus (–1721) and Vitsentzos Kornaros. Bell tower of church Megali Panagia -2

Under the rule of the Catholic Venetians, the city of

Candia The name Candia can refer to: People * The House of Candia, a noble family from Savoy (14th-16th) * Alfredo Ovando Candía, 56th president of Bolivia * Antoinette Candia-Bailey, American academic administrator * Cecilia Maria de Candia, British-It ...

was reputed to be the best fortified city of the

Eastern Mediterranean The Eastern Mediterranean is a loosely delimited region comprising the easternmost portion of the Mediterranean Sea, and well as the adjoining land—often defined as the countries around the Levantine Sea. It includes the southern half of Turkey ...

.M. Greene. 2001. Ruling an island without a navy: A comparative view of Venetian and Ottoman Crete. ''Oriente moderno'', 20(81), 193–207 The three main forts were located at Gramvousa, Spinalonga, and Fortezza at Rethymnon. Other fortifications include the Kazarma fortress at Sitia and Frangokastello in Sfakia. In 1492, Jews expelled from Spain settled on the island. In 1574–77, Crete was under the rule of Giacomo Foscarini as Proveditor General, Sindace and Inquisitor. According to Starr's 1942 article, the rule of Giacomo Foscarini was a Dark Age for Jews and Greeks. Under his rule, non-Catholics had to pay high taxes with no allowances. In 1627, there were 800 Jews in the city of Candia, about seven percent of the city's population. Marco Foscarini was the Doge of Venice during this time.

Ottoman rule

The Ottomans conquered Crete (Girit Eyâleti) in 1669, after the siege of Candia with the last Venetian strongholds off Crete falling in the last Ottoman–Venetian War in 1715. Many Greek Cretans fled to other regions of the

after the Ottoman–Venetian Wars, some even prospering such as the family of Simone Stratigo (c. 1733 – c. 1824) who migrated to

Dalmatia Dalmatia (; ; ) is a historical region located in modern-day Croatia and Montenegro, on the eastern shore of the Adriatic Sea. Through time it formed part of several historical states, most notably the Roman Empire, the Kingdom of Croatia (925 ...

from Crete in 1669.

Islamic Islam is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number Islam by country, 2 billion worldwide and are the world ...

presence on the island, aside from the interlude of the Arab occupation, was cemented by the Ottoman conquest. Most Cretan Muslims were local Greek converts who spoke Cretan Greek, but in the island's 19th-century political context they came to be viewed by the Christian population as Turks. Contemporary estimates vary, but in 1830, as much as 45% of the population of the island may have been Muslim. A number of

Sufi Sufism ( or ) is a mysticism, mystic body of religious practice found within Islam which is characterized by a focus on Islamic Tazkiyah, purification, spirituality, ritualism, and Asceticism#Islam, asceticism. Practitioners of Sufism are r ...

orders were widespread throughout the island, the

Bektashi Bektashism (, ) is a tariqa, Sufi order of Islam that evolved in 13th-century western Anatolia and became widespread in the Ottoman Empire. It is named after the wali, ''walī'' "saint" Haji Bektash Veli, with adherents called Bektashis. The ...

order being the most prevalent, possessing at least five tekkes. Many Cretan Muslims fled Crete because of sectarian violence, settling in Turkey, Rhodes, Syria, Libya and elsewhere. By 1900, 11% of the population was Muslim. Those remaining were relocated in the 1924 population exchange between Greece and Turkey. During the

Russo-Turkish War (1768–1774) The Russo-Turkish wars ( ), or the Russo-Ottoman wars (), began in 1568 and continued intermittently until 1918. They consisted of twelve conflicts in total, making them one of the longest series of wars in the history of Europe. All but four of ...

, a revolt against Ottoman rule in Crete was started by Daskalogiannis, a shipowner from Sfakia who was promised support by the Russian navy which never arrived. Daskalogiannis eventually surrendered to the Ottoman authorities. On 17 June 1771 Daskalogiannis was, in the full daylight of publicity, tortured, skinned alive and then beaten to death, an ordeal that he endured in complete silence. Today, Chania International Airport is named after him. 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. In 1826, the Greeks were assisted ...

, Sultan

Mahmud II Mahmud II (, ; 20 July 1785 – 1 July 1839) was the sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1808 until his death in 1839. Often described as the "Peter the Great of Turkey", Mahmud instituted extensive administrative, military, and fiscal reforms ...

granted rule over Crete to Egypt's ''de facto'' ruler Muhammad Ali Pasha in exchange for his military support. Crete was subsequently left out of the new Greek state established under the London Protocol of 1830. Its administration by Muhammad Ali was confirmed in the

Convention of Kütahya The Convention of Kütahya, also known as the Peace Agreement of Kütahya, ended the Egyptian–Ottoman War (1831–1833) in May 1833. Information At the convention, the Ottoman provinces of Syria and Adana were ceded to Egypt, and Ibrahim P ...

of 1833, but direct Ottoman rule was re-established by the Convention of London of 3 July 1840. Heraklion was surrounded by high walls and bastions and extended westward and southward by the 17th century. The most opulent area of the city was the northeastern quadrant where the elite were gathered. The city had received another name under the rule of the Ottomans, "the deserted city" following its destruction after the Siege of Candia. The urban policy that the Ottoman applied to Candia was a two-pronged approach. The first was the religious endowments. It made the Ottoman elite contribute to building and rehabilitating the ruined city. The other method was to boost the population and the urban revenue by selling off urban properties. According to Molly Greene (2001) there were numerous records of real-estate transactions during the Ottoman rule. In the deserted city, minorities received equal rights in purchasing property. Christians and Jews were also able to buy and sell in the real-estate market. The Cretan Revolt of 1866–1869 or Great Cretan Revolution () was a three-year uprising against Ottoman rule, the third and largest in a series of revolts between the end of the Greek War of Independence in 1830 and the establishment of the independent Cretan State in 1898. A particular event which caused strong reactions among the liberal circles of western Europe was the ''Holocaust of Arkadi''. The event occurred in November 1866, as a large Ottoman force besieged the Arkadi Monastery, which served as the headquarters of the rebellion. In addition to its 259 defenders, over 700 women and children had taken refuge in the monastery. After a few days of hard fighting, the Ottomans broke into the monastery. At that point, under orders from the

hegumen Hegumen, hegumenos, or igumen (, trans. ), is the title for the head of a monastery in the Eastern Orthodox and Eastern Catholic Churches, or an archpriest in the Coptic Orthodox Church, similar to the title of abbot. The head of a convent of ...

(abbot) of the monastery, the Cretans blew up barrels of gunpowder, choosing to sacrifice themselves rather than surrender. The subsequent explosion resulted the death of most of the rebels and the women and children sheltered there. Thirty-six insurgents had found refuge in the refectory, near the ammunitions. Discovered by the Ottomans, who forced the door, they were massacred.

Cretan State and union with Greece

Following the repeated uprisings in 1841, 1858, 1889, 1895 and 1897 by the Cretan people, who wanted to join Greece, the Great Powers decided to restore order and in February 1897 sent in troops. The island was subsequently garrisoned by troops from Great Britain, France, Italy and Russia; Germany and Austro-Hungary withdrawing from the occupation in early 1898. During this period Crete was governed through a committee of admirals from the remaining four Powers. In March 1898 the Powers decreed, with the reluctant consent of the Sultan, that the island would be granted autonomy under Ottoman

suzerainty A suzerain (, from Old French "above" + "supreme, chief") is a person, state (polity)">state or polity who has supremacy and dominant influence over the foreign policy">polity.html" ;"title="state (polity)">state or polity">state (polity)">st ...

in the near future. In September 1898 the Candia massacre in Candia, modern Heraklion, left over 500 Cretan Christians and 14 British servicemen dead at the hands of Muslim irregulars. As a result, the Admirals ordered the expulsion of all Ottoman troops and administrators from the island, a move that was ultimately completed by early November. The decision to grant autonomy to the island was enforced and a High Commissioner, Prince George of Greece, appointed, arriving to take up his post in December 1898.Robert Holland and Diane Markides, ''The British and the Hellenes: Struggles for Mastery in the Eastern Mediterranean 1850–1960''. p. 81. Oxford University Press, 2005. The flag of the Cretan State was chosen by the Powers, with the white star representing the Ottoman suzerainty over the island. Flag of Cretan State

In 1905, disagreements between Prince George and minister Eleftherios Venizelos over the question of the '' enosis'' (union with Greece), such as the Prince's autocratic style of government, resulted in the Theriso revolt, one of the leaders being Eleftherios Venizelos. Prince George resigned as High Commissioner and was replaced by Alexandros Zaimis, a former Greek prime minister, in 1906. In 1908, taking advantage of domestic turmoil in Turkey as well as the timing of Zaimis's vacation away from the island, the Cretan deputies unilaterally declared union with Greece. With the outbreak of the

First Balkan War The First Balkan War lasted from October 1912 to May 1913 and involved actions of the Balkan League (the Kingdoms of Kingdom of Bulgaria, Bulgaria, Kingdom of Serbia, Serbia, Kingdom of Greece, Greece and Kingdom of Montenegro, Montenegro) agai ...

, the Greek government declared that Crete was now Greek territory. This was not recognised internationally until 1 December 1913.

Second World War

During World War II, the island was the scene of the

Battle of Crete The Battle of Crete (, ), codenamed Operation Mercury (), was a major Axis Powers, Axis Airborne forces, airborne and amphibious assault, amphibious operation during World War II to capture the island of Crete. It began on the morning of 20 May ...

in May 1941. The initial 11-day battle was bloody and left more than 11,000 soldiers and civilians killed or wounded. As a result of the fierce resistance from both Allied forces and civilian Cretan locals, the invasion force suffered heavy casualties, and

Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (20 April 1889 – 30 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was the dictator of Nazi Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his suicide in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the lea ...

forbade further large-scale paratroop operations for the rest of the war. During the initial and subsequent occupation, German firing squads routinely executed male civilians in reprisal for the death of German soldiers; civilians were rounded up randomly in local villages for the mass killings, such as at the Massacre of Kondomari and the Viannos massacres. Two German generals were later tried and executed for their roles in the killing of 3,000 of the island's inhabitants. Following the collapse of fronts elsewhere in Europe, German forces evacuated most of Crete in October 1944 leaving an area including Chania under occupation. The following year the day after VE Day the remaining Germans under Generalmajor Hans-Georg Benthack surrendered at

to British Major-General Colin Callander.

Civil War

In the aftermath of the Dekemvriana in Athens, Cretan leftists were targeted by the right-wing paramilitary organization National Organization of Rethymno (EOR), which engaged in attacks in the villages of Koxare and Melampes, as well as Rethymno in January 1945. Those attacks did not escalate into a full-scale insurgency as they did in the Greek mainland and the Cretan ELAS did not surrender its weapons after the Treaty of Varkiza. An uneasy truce was maintained until 1947, with a series of arrests of notable communists in Chania and Heraklion. Encouraged by orders from the central organization in Athens, KKE launched an insurgency in Crete; marking the beginning of the

Greek Civil War The Greek Civil War () took place from 1946 to 1949. The conflict, which erupted shortly after the end of World War II, consisted of a Communism, Communist-led uprising against the established government of the Kingdom of Greece. The rebels decl ...

on the island. In eastern Crete the

Democratic Army of Greece The Democratic Army of Greece (DAG; , ΔΣΕ; ''Dimokratikós Stratós Elládas'', DSE) was the army founded by the Communist Party of Greece during the Greek Civil War (1946–1949). At its height, it had a strength of around 50,000 men and w ...

(DSE) struggled to establish its presence in Dikti and Psilorites. On 1 July 1947, the surviving 55 fighters of DSE were ambushed south of Psilorites, the few surviving members of the unit managed to join the rest of DSE in Lefka Ori. The Lefka Ori region in the west offered more favourable conditions for DSE's insurgency. In the summer of 1947 DSE raided and looted the Maleme Airport and motor depot at Chrysopigi. Its numbers swelled to approximately 300 fighters. The rise of DSE numbers compounded with crop failure on the island created serious logistical issues for the insurgents. The communists resorted to cattle rustling and crop confiscations which solved the problem only temporarily. In the autumn of 1947, the Greek government offered generous amnesty terms to Cretan DSE fighters and mountain bandits, many of whom opted to abandon armed struggle or defect to the nationalists. On 4 July 1948, government troops launched a large scale offensive on Samariá Gorge. Many DSE soldiers were killed in the fighting while the survivors broke into small armed bands. In October 1948, the secretary of the Cretan KKE Giorgos Tsitilos was killed in an ambush. By the following month only 34 DSE fighters remained active in Lefka Ori. The insurgency in Crete gradually withered away, with the last two hold outs surrendering in 1974, 25 years after the conclusion of the war in mainland Greece.

Tourism

Crete is one of the most popular holiday destinations in Greece. 15% of all arrivals in Greece come through the city of Heraklion (port and airport), while charter journeys to Heraklion make up abou
20% of all charter flights in Greece
. The number of hotel beds on the island increased by 53% in the period between 1986 and 1991. Today, the island's tourism infrastructure includes a wide range of accommodation; including large luxury hotels with their complete facilities, swimming pools, sports and recreation, smaller family-owned apartments, camping facilities and others. Visitors reach the island via two international airports in Heraklion and

and a smaller airport in

(international charter and domestic flights started in May 2012) or by boat to the main ports of Heraklion, Chania, Rethimno, Agios Nikolaos and

. Popular tourist attractions include the archaeological sites of the Minoan civilisation, the Venetian old city and port of

, the Venetian castle at

, the gorge of

Samaria Samaria (), the Hellenized form of the Hebrew name Shomron (), is used as a historical and Hebrew Bible, biblical name for the central region of the Land of Israel. It is bordered by Judea to the south and Galilee to the north. The region is ...

, the islands of Chrysi, Elafonisi, Gramvousa, Spinalonga and the Palm Beach of Vai, which is the largest natural palm forest in Europe.

Transportation

Crete has an extensive bus system with regular services across the north of the island and from north to south. There are two regional bus stations in Heraklion. Bus routes and timetables can be found on KTEL website.

Holiday homes and immigration

Crete's mild climate attracts

northern Europe The northern region of Europe has several definitions. A restrictive definition may describe northern Europe as being roughly north of the southern coast of the Baltic Sea, which is about 54th parallel north, 54°N, or may be based on other ge ...

ans who want a holiday home or residence on the island. EU citizens have the right to freely buy property and reside with little formality. In the cities of Heraklion and Chania, the average price per square metre of apartments ranges from €1,670 to €1,700. A growing number of real estate companies cater mainly to British immigrants, followed by Dutch, German,

Scandinavia Scandinavia is a subregion#Europe, subregion of northern Europe, with strong historical, cultural, and linguistic ties between its constituent peoples. ''Scandinavia'' most commonly refers to Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. It can sometimes also ...

n and other European nationalities wishing to own a home in Crete. The

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

immigrants are concentrated in the western regional units of

and

and to a lesser extent in

and

Archaeological sites and museums

The area has a large number of archaeological sites, including the Minoan sites of

, Malia (not to be confused with the town of the same name), Zakros,

Petras = Petras = Petras () is the archaeological site of an ancient Minoan civilization, Minoan town on northeastern Crete. It includes a building which shows strong similarities with Minoan palaces and is sometimes labeled as a palace. Ar ...

and

Phaistos Phaistos (, ; Ancient Greek: , , Linear B: ''Pa-i-to''; Linear A: ''Pa-i-to''), also Transliteration, transliterated as Phaestos, Festos and Latin Phaestus, is a Bronze Age archaeological site at modern Faistos, a municipality in south centr ...

, the classical site of Gortys, and the diverse archaeology of the island of Koufonisi, which includes Minoan, Roman, and World War II era ruins (nb. due to conservation concerns, access to Koufonisi has been restricted for the last few years). There are museums throughout Crete, most notably the Heraklion Archaeological Museum which displays most of the archaeological finds from the Minoan era. Other notable museums include the Maritime Museum of Crete, the Archaeological Museum of Chania, and the WW2 museum in Platinias.

Harmful effects

Helen Briassoulis, in a qualitative analysis, proposed in the '' Journal of Sustainable Tourism'' that Crete is affected by tourism applying pressure to it to develop at an unhealthy rate, and that informal, internal systems within the country are forced to adapt. According to her, these forces have strengthened in three stages: from the period from 1960 to 1970, 1970–1990, and 1990 to the present. During this first period, tourism was a largely positive force, pushing modern developments like running water and electricity onto the largely rural countryside. However, beginning in the second period and especially in the third period leading up to the present day, tourist companies became more pushy with deforestation and pollution of Crete's natural resources. The country is then pulled into an interesting parity, where these companies only upkeep those natural resources that are directly essential to their industry. File:Gortys R02.jpg, View of Gortyn File:Festos1(js).jpg, Archaeological site of

File:Knossos south propylaeum.jpg, Ruins of the Palace of Knossos File:Archaeological Museum of Chania.jpg, Archaeological Museum of Chania File:AMC Intern of Museum of Chania (Crete) 2.jpg, Archaeological Museum of Chania File:Chania naval museum.jpg, Maritime Museum of Crete File:Pluto Serapis and Persephone Isis Heraklion museum.jpg,

Pluto Pluto (minor-planet designation: 134340 Pluto) is a dwarf planet in the Kuiper belt, a ring of Trans-Neptunian object, bodies beyond the orbit of Neptune. It is the ninth-largest and tenth-most-massive known object to directly orbit the Su ...

and

Persephone In ancient Greek mythology and Ancient Greek religion, religion, Persephone ( ; , classical pronunciation: ), also called Kore ( ; ) or Cora, is the daughter of Zeus and Demeter. She became the queen of the Greek underworld, underworld afte ...

Museum File:Jars in Malia Crete the two.jpg, Jars in Malia, Crete

Fauna and flora

Fauna

Crete is isolated from mainland Europe, Asia, and Africa, and this is reflected in the diversity of the fauna and flora. As a result, the fauna and flora of Crete have many clues to the evolution of species. There are no animals that are dangerous to humans on the island of Crete in contrast to other parts of Greece. Indeed, the ancient Greeks attributed the lack of large mammals such as bears, wolves, jackals, and venomous snakes, to the labour of

Hercules Hercules (, ) is the Roman equivalent of the Greek divine hero Heracles, son of Jupiter and the mortal Alcmena. In classical mythology, Hercules is famous for his strength and for his numerous far-ranging adventures. The Romans adapted the Gr ...

(who took a live Cretan bull to the

). Hercules wanted to honor the birthplace of Zeus by removing all "harmful" and "venomous" animals from Crete. Later, Cretans believed that the island was cleared of dangerous creatures by the

Apostle Paul Paul, also named Saul of Tarsus, commonly known as Paul the Apostle and Saint Paul, was a Apostles in the New Testament, Christian apostle ( AD) who spread the Ministry of Jesus, teachings of Jesus in the Christianity in the 1st century, first ...

, who lived on the island of Crete for two years, with his exorcisms and blessings. The Natural History Museum of Crete, operates under the direction of the University of Crete and two aquariums – Aquaworld in

Hersonissos Hersonissos (, meaning “peninsula”, ''Chersónisos'', ), also transliterated as ''Chersonissos'' and ''Hersónisos'', is a town and a local government unit in the north of Crete, bordering the Mediterranean / Aegean Sea. The town is about 25 ...

and Cretaquarium in Gournes, display sea creatures common in Cretan waters.

Prehistoric fauna

Dwarf elephants, dwarf hippopotamus, dwarf mammoths, dwarf deer, and giant flightless owls were native to

Pleistocene The Pleistocene ( ; referred to colloquially as the ''ice age, Ice Age'') is the geological epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was fin ...

Crete. Their ancestors could have reached the island in the time of the

Messinian salinity crisis In the Messinian salinity crisis (also referred to as the Messinian event, and in its latest stage as the Lago Mare event) the Mediterranean Sea went into a cycle of partial or nearly complete desiccation (drying-up) throughout the latter part of ...

Mammals

Mammals of Crete include the vulnerable kri-kri, ''Capra aegagrus cretica'' that can be seen in the national park of the Samaria Gorge and on Thodorou, Dia and Agioi Pantes (islets off the north coast), the Cretan wildcat and the Cretan spiny mouse.Thodorou Islands off Platanias
ExploreCrete.com Other terrestrial mammals include subspecies of the Cretan marten, the Cretan weasel, the Cretan badger, the Cretan wildcat, the long-eared hedgehog, and the

edible dormouse ''Glis'' is a genus of rodent that contains two extant species, both known as edible dormice or fat dormice: the European edible dormouse ''(Glis glis'') and the Iranian edible dormouse (''Glis persicus''). It also contains a number of fossil spe ...

. The Cretan shrew, a type of white-toothed shrew is considered

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...

to the island of Crete because this species of shrew is unknown elsewhere. It is a relic species of the ''Crocidura'' shrews of which

fossil A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserve ...

s have been found that can be dated to the

era. Today it can only be found in the highlands of Crete. It is considered to be the only surviving remnant of the endemic species of the Pleistocene Mediterranean islands. Bat species include: Blasius's horseshoe bat, the lesser horseshoe bat, the

greater horseshoe bat The greater horseshoe bat (''Rhinolophus ferrumequinum'') is an Insectivore, insectivorous bat of the genus ''Rhinolophus''. Its distribution covers Europe, Northern Africa, Central Asia and Eastern Asia. It is the largest of the horseshoe bats i ...

, the lesser mouse-eared bat, Geoffroy's bat, the whiskered bat, Kuhl's pipistrelle, the common pipistrelle, Savi's pipistrelle, the serotine bat, the long-eared bat, Schreibers' bat and the European free-tailed bat.Wildlife on Crete
IntoCrete.com File:Kri-kri 1.jpg, The kri-kri (the Cretan ibex) lives in protected natural parks at the gorge of Samaria and the island of Agios Theodoros. File:Male Cretan ibex.jpg, Male Cretan ibex File:Kritikos Lagonikos 02.jpg, Cretan Hound or ''Kritikos Lagonikos'', one of Europe's oldest hunting dog breeds

Birds

Varieties of birds include eagles (can be seen in

), swallows (throughout Crete in the summer and year-round in the south of the island),

pelican Pelicans (genus ''Pelecanus'') are a genus of large water birds that make up the family Pelecanidae. They are characterized by a long beak and a large throat pouch used for catching prey and draining water from the scooped-up contents before ...

s (along the coast), and

common crane The common crane (''Grus grus''), also known as the Eurasian crane, is a bird of the family Gruidae, the crane (bird), cranes. A medium-sized species, it is the only crane commonly found in Europe besides the demoiselle crane (''Grus virgo'') an ...

s (including Gavdos and Gavdopoula). The Cretan mountains and gorges are refuges for the endangered lammergeier vulture. Bird species include: the

golden eagle The golden eagle (''Aquila chrysaetos'') is a bird of prey living in the Northern Hemisphere. It is the most widely distributed species of eagle. Like all eagles, it belongs to the family Accipitridae. They are one of the best-known bird of pr ...

, Bonelli's eagle, the bearded vulture or lammergeier, the griffon vulture, Eleonora's falcon,

peregrine falcon The peregrine falcon (''Falco peregrinus''), also known simply as the peregrine, is a Cosmopolitan distribution, cosmopolitan bird of prey (raptor) in the family (biology), family Falconidae renowned for its speed. A large, Corvus (genus), cro ...

, lanner falcon, European kestrel,

tawny owl The tawny owl (''Strix aluco''), also called the brown owl, is a stocky, medium-sized owl in the family Strigidae. It is commonly found in woodlands across Europe, as well as western Siberia, and has seven recognized subspecies. The tawny owl' ...

, little owl, hooded crow, alpine chough, red-billed chough, and the Eurasian hoopoe. The population of griffon vultures in Crete is the largest insular one of the species in the world and consists of the majority of the griffon vulture population in Greece.

Reptiles and amphibians

Tortoises can be seen throughout the island. Snakes can be found hiding under rocks. Toads and frogs reveal themselves when it rains. Reptiles include the Aegean wall lizard, Balkan green lizard, common chameleon, ocellated skink, snake-eyed skink, Moorish gecko, Turkish gecko, Kotschy's gecko, spur-thighed tortoise, and the Caspian turtle.Native Reptiles of Crete at Aquaworld
Aquaworld Aquarium. There are four species of snake on the island and these are not dangerous to humans. The four species include the leopard snake (locally known as ''ochendra''), the Balkan whip snake (locally called ''dendrogallia''), the dice snake (called ''nerofido'' in Greek), and the only venomous snake is the nocturnal cat snake which has evolved to deliver a weak venom at the back of its mouth to paralyse geckos and small lizards, and is not dangerous to humans.The Snakes of Crete by John McClaren
CreteGazette.com Sea turtles include the green turtle and the loggerhead turtle which are both threatened species. The loggerhead turtle nests and hatches on north-coast beaches around Rethymno and Chania, and south-coast beaches along the gulf of Mesara.Crete p. 69
by Victoria Kyriakopoulos Amphibians include the European green toad, American bullfrog (introduced), European tree frog, and the Cretan marsh frog (

Arthropods

Cicada The cicadas () are a superfamily, the Cicadoidea, of insects in the order Hemiptera (true bugs). They are in the suborder Auchenorrhyncha, along with smaller jumping bugs such as leafhoppers and froghoppers. The superfamily is divided into two ...

s, known locally as ''tzitzikia'', make a distinctive repetitive ''tzi tzi'
sound
that becomes louder and more frequent on hot summer days. Butterfly species include the swallowtail butterfly. Moth species include the hummingbird moth. There are several species of scorpion such as '' Euscorpius carpathicus'' whose venom is generally no more potent than a mosquito bite.

Crustaceans and molluscs

River crabs include the semi-terrestrial '' Potamon potamios'' crab. Edible snails are widespread and can cluster in the hundreds waiting for rainfall to reinvigorate them.

Sealife

Apart from terrestrial mammals, the seas around Crete are rich in large marine mammals. The endangered Mediterranean monk seal lives in almost all the coasts of the country. The area south of Crete, known as the Greek Abyss, hosts

whale Whales are a widely distributed and diverse group of fully Aquatic animal, aquatic placental mammal, placental marine mammals. As an informal and Colloquialism, colloquial grouping, they correspond to large members of the infraorder Cetacea ...

sperm whale The sperm whale or cachalot (''Physeter macrocephalus'') is the largest of the toothed whales and the largest toothed predator. It is the only living member of the Genus (biology), genus ''Physeter'' and one of three extant species in the s ...

dolphin A dolphin is an aquatic mammal in the cetacean clade Odontoceti (toothed whale). Dolphins belong to the families Delphinidae (the oceanic dolphins), Platanistidae (the Indian river dolphins), Iniidae (the New World river dolphins), Pontopori ...

s and

porpoise Porpoises () are small Oceanic dolphin, dolphin-like cetaceans classified under the family Phocoenidae. Although similar in appearance to dolphins, they are more closely related to narwhals and Beluga whale, belugas than to the Oceanic dolphi ...

s. The Minoan frescoes depicting dolphins in Queen's Megaron at Knossos indicate that Minoans were well aware of and celebrated these creatures.

Squid A squid (: squid) is a mollusc with an elongated soft body, large eyes, eight cephalopod limb, arms, and two tentacles in the orders Myopsida, Oegopsida, and Bathyteuthida (though many other molluscs within the broader Neocoleoidea are also ...

octopus An octopus (: octopuses or octopodes) is a soft-bodied, eight-limbed mollusc of the order Octopoda (, ). The order consists of some 300 species and is grouped within the class Cephalopoda with squids, cuttlefish, and nautiloids. Like oth ...

sea turtle Sea turtles (superfamily Chelonioidea), sometimes called marine turtles, are reptiles of the order Testudines and of the suborder Cryptodira. The seven existing species of sea turtles are the flatback, green, hawksbill, leatherback, loggerh ...

s and hammerhead sharks live or traverse along the coast. Some of the fish of the waters around Crete include: scorpion fish, dusky grouper, east Atlantic peacock wrasse, five-spotted wrasse, weever fish, common stingray, brown ray, Mediterranean black goby, pearly razorfish, star-gazer, painted comber, damselfish, and the flying gurnard. The Cretaquarium and the Aquaworld Aquarium, are two of the three aquariums in Greece. They are located in Gournes and

respectively.Great Britons in Crete, John Bryce McLaren
BritsinCrete.net

Flora

The Minoans contributed to the deforestation of Crete. Further deforestation occurred in the 1600s "so that no more local supplies of firewood were available". Common wildflowers include: camomile, daisy, gladiolus, hyacinth, iris, poppy, cyclamen and tulip, among others.Fielding, J. and Turland, N. "Flowers of Crete", Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, , 2008 There are more than 200 species of wild

orchid Orchids are plants that belong to the family Orchidaceae (), a diverse and widespread group of flowering plants with blooms that are often colourful and fragrant. Orchids are cosmopolitan plants that are found in almost every habitat on Eart ...

on the island and this includes 14 varieties of '' Ophrys cretica''.Crete p.68
by Victoria Kyriakopoulos Crete has a rich variety of indigenous herbs including common sage,

rosemary ''Salvia rosmarinus'' (), commonly known as rosemary, is a shrub with fragrant, evergreen, needle-like leaves and white, pink, purple, or blue flowers. It is a member of the sage family, Lamiaceae. The species is native to the Mediterranean r ...

thyme Thyme () is a culinary herb consisting of the dried aerial parts of some members of the genus ''Thymus (plant), Thymus'' of flowering plants in the mint family Lamiaceae. Thymes are native to Eurasia and north Africa. Thymes have culinary, medici ...

, and

oregano Oregano (, ; ''Origanum vulgare'') is a species of flowering plant in the mint family, Lamiaceae. It was native to the Mediterranean region, but widely naturalised elsewhere in the temperate climate, temperate Northern Hemisphere. Oregano is a ...

.The Flora of Crete
ExploreCrete.com Rare herbs include the endemic Cretan dittany and ironwort, '' Sideritis syriaca'', known as malotira (μαλοτήρα). Varieties of cactus include the edible prickly pear. Common trees on the island include the chestnut, cypress, oak, olive tree,

pine A pine is any conifer tree or shrub in the genus ''Pinus'' () of the family Pinaceae. ''Pinus'' is the sole genus in the subfamily Pinoideae. ''World Flora Online'' accepts 134 species-rank taxa (119 species and 15 nothospecies) of pines as cu ...

, plane, and

tamarisk The genus ''Tamarix'' (tamarisk, salt cedar, taray) is composed of about 50–60 species of flowering plants in the family Tamaricaceae, native to drier areas of Eurasia and Africa. The generic name originated in Latin and may refer to the Tamb ...

. Trees tend to be taller to the west of the island where water is more abundant. File:044 Dracunculus vulgaris at Akrotiri peninsula, Crete, Greece.jpg, Snake lily ('' Dracunculus vulgaris'') File:Ophrys cretica-001.jpg, The '' Ophrys cretica'' orchid

Environmentally protected areas

Environmentally protected areas include the island of Elafonisi on the coast of southwestern Crete, the palm forest of Vai in eastern Crete and the Dionysades (both in the municipality of

). Vai has a palm beach and is the largest natural palm forest in Europe. The island of Chrysi, south of

, has the largest naturally-grown '' Juniperus macrocarpa'' forest in Europe. Samaria Gorge is a World Biosphere Reserve and Richtis Gorge is protected for its landscape diversity. Also, Sitia UNESCO Global Geopark, added in 2015 in UNESCO Geoparks, is located on the easternmost edge of Crete.

Mythology

Crete has a strong association with ancient Greek gods but is also connected with the

. According to

Greek mythology Greek mythology is the body of myths originally told by the Ancient Greece, ancient Greeks, and a genre of ancient Greek folklore, today absorbed alongside Roman mythology into the broader designation of classical mythology. These stories conc ...

, the Diktaean Cave at Mount Dikti was the birthplace of the god

. The Paximadia islands were the birthplace of the goddess

Artemis In ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, mythology, Artemis (; ) is the goddess of the hunting, hunt, the wilderness, wild animals, transitions, nature, vegetation, childbirth, Kourotrophos, care of children, and chastity. In later tim ...

and the god

Apollo Apollo is one of the Twelve Olympians, Olympian deities in Ancient Greek religion, ancient Greek and Ancient Roman religion, Roman religion and Greek mythology, Greek and Roman mythology. Apollo has been recognized as a god of archery, mu ...

. Their mother, the goddess

Leto In ancient Greek mythology and Ancient Greek religion, religion, Leto (; ) is a childhood goddess, the daughter of the Titans Coeus and Phoebe (Titaness), Phoebe, the sister of Asteria, and the mother of Apollo and Artemis.Hesiod, ''Theogony' ...

, was worshipped at

. The goddess

Athena Athena or Athene, often given the epithet Pallas, is an ancient Greek religion, ancient Greek goddess associated with wisdom, warfare, and handicraft who was later syncretism, syncretized with the Roman goddess Minerva. Athena was regarde ...

bathed in Lake Voulismeni. Zeus launched a lightning bolt at a giant lizard that was threatening Crete. The lizard immediately turned to stone and became the lizard-shaped island of Dia, which can be seen from Knossos. The islets of Lefkai were the result of a musical contest between the Sirens and the

Muses In ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, mythology, the Muses (, ) were the Artistic inspiration, inspirational goddesses of literature, science, and the arts. They were considered the source of the knowledge embodied in the poetry, lyric p ...

. The Muses were so anguished to have lost that they plucked the feathers from the wings of their rivals; the Sirens turned white and fell into the sea at Aptera ("featherless"), where they formed the islands in the bay that were called Lefkai (the islands of Souda and Leon).

Heracles Heracles ( ; ), born Alcaeus (, ''Alkaios'') or Alcides (, ''Alkeidēs''), was a Divinity, divine hero in Greek mythology, the son of ZeusApollodorus1.9.16/ref> and Alcmene, and the foster son of Amphitryon.By his adoptive descent through ...

, in one of his labors, took the Cretan bull to the Peloponnese. Europa and Zeus made love at Gortys and conceived the kings of Crete: Rhadamanthys, Sarpedon, and Minos. The

labyrinth In Greek mythology, the Labyrinth () is an elaborate, confusing structure designed and built by the legendary artificer Daedalus for King Minos of Crete at Knossos. Its function was to hold the Minotaur, the monster eventually killed by the h ...

of the Palace of Knossos was the setting for the myth of Theseus and the Minotaur in which the Minotaur was slain by Theseus.

Icarus In Greek mythology, Icarus (; , ) was the son of the master craftsman Daedalus, the architect of the labyrinth of Crete. After Theseus, king of Athens and enemy of King Minos, escaped from the labyrinth, Minos suspected that Icarus and Daedalu ...

and

Daedalus In Greek mythology, Daedalus (, ; Greek language, Greek: Δαίδαλος; Latin language, Latin: ''Daedalus''; Etruscan language, Etruscan: ''Taitale'') was a skillful architect and craftsman, seen as a symbol of wisdom, knowledge and power. H ...

were captives of King Minos and crafted wings to escape. After his death, King Minos became a judge of the dead in

Hades Hades (; , , later ), in the ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, mythology, is the god of the dead and the king of the Greek underworld, underworld, with which his name became synonymous. Hades was the eldest son of Cronus and Rhea ...

, while Rhadamanthys became the ruler of the Elysian fields.

Culture

Crete has its own distinctive Mantinades poetry. The island is known for its Mantinades-based

(typically performed with the

Cretan lyra The Cretan lyra () is a pear-shaped three-stringed Greece, Greek Violin, a traditional Greek musical instruments, musical instrument, central to the traditional music of Crete and other islands in the Dodecanese and the Aegean Islands, Aegean Ar ...

and the laouto) and has many indigenous dances, the most noted of which is the Pentozali. Since the 1980s and certainly in the 1990s onwards there has been a proliferation of cultural associations that teach dancing (in Western Crete where many focus on rizitiko singing). These associations often perform in official events but also become stages for people to meet and engage in traditional practices. The topic of tradition and the role of cultural associations in reviving it is often debated throughout Crete. Cretan authors have made important contributions to

Greek literature Greek literature () dates back from the ancient Greek literature, beginning in 800 BC, to the modern Greek literature of today. Ancient Greek literature was written in an Ancient Greek dialect, literature ranges from the oldest surviving wri ...

throughout the modern period; major names include Vikentios Kornaros, creator of the 17th-century epic romance '' Erotokritos'' (Greek Ερωτόκριτος), and, in the 20th century, Nikos Kazantzakis. In the Renaissance, Crete was the home of the Cretan School of icon painting, which influenced

and through him subsequent European painting. Cretans are proud of their island and customs, and men often don elements of traditional dress in everyday life: knee-high black riding boots (''stivania''), ''vráka'' breeches tucked into the boots at the knee, black shirt and black headdress consisting of a fishnet-weave kerchief worn wrapped around the head or draped on the shoulders (''mantili'' / ''kefalomantilo''). Men often grow large mustaches as a mark of pride, manhood and valiance. Cretan society is known in Greece and internationally for family and clan vendettas which persist on the island to date.Brian Murphy
Vendetta Victims: People, A Village – Crete's 'Cycle Of Blood' Survives The Centuries
at ''

The Seattle Times ''The Seattle Times'' is an American daily newspaper based in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1891, ''The Seattle Times'' has the largest circulation of any newspaper in the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest region. The Seattle Time ...

'', 14 January 1999. Cretans also have a tradition of keeping firearms at home, stemming from the era of resistance against the

. Nearly every rural household on Crete has at least one unregistered gun. Guns are subject to strict regulation from the Greek government, and in recent years an effort to control firearms in Crete has been undertaken by the Greek police, but with limited success. File:Sfakia-dance.jpg, Dancers from Sfakia File:Koukouvagia.jpg, Dakos, traditional Cretan appetizer. Paximadi (hard bread) topped with fresh tomato, feta cheese,

, and olives drizzled with olive oil.

Sports

Crete has many football clubs playing in the local leagues. During the 2011–12 season, OFI Crete, which plays at Theodoros Vardinogiannis Stadium (Iraklion), and Ergotelis F.C., which plays at the Pankritio Stadium (Iraklion) were both members of the Greek Superleague. During the 2012–13 season, OFI Crete, which plays at Theodoros Vardinogiannis Stadium (Iraklion), and Platanias F.C., which plays at the Perivolia Municipal Stadium, near Chania, are both members of the Greek Superleague.

Notable people

20070427 Psarantonis All Tomorrow s Parties festival Butlins Minehead UK

Notable people from Crete include: * Vitsentzos Kornaros, Renaissance author from Sitia, who lived in Heraklion (then Candia) * Domenikos Theotokopoulos (El Greco), Renaissance artist, born in

* Nikos Xilouris, famous composer and singer. *

Psarantonis Antonios "Antonis" Xylouris (; born September 6, 1937), nicknamed Psarantonis (), is a Greek composer, singer and performer of Lyra (Cretan), lyra, the bowed string instrument of Crete and most popular surviving form of the medieval Byzantine ly ...

, Cretan folk singer and

player and brother of Nikos Xilouris. * Nikos Kazantzakis, author, born in Heraklion, 7 times suggested for the Nobel Prize * Odysseas Elytis, poet, awarded the

Nobel Prize in Literature The Nobel Prize in Literature, here meaning ''for'' Literature (), is a Swedish literature prize that is awarded annually, since 1901, to an author from any country who has, in the words of the will of Swedish industrialist Alfred Nobel, "in ...

in 1979, born in

Odysseas Elytis
by Alexandros Roniotis, CretanBeaches.com. * Eleftherios Venizelos, former Greek Prime Minister, born in Chania Prefecture *

Konstantinos Mitsotakis Konstantinos Mitsotakis (, ; – 29 May 2017) was a Greek politician who was Prime Minister of Greece from 1990 to 1993. He graduated in law and economics from the University of Athens. His son, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, was elected as the Prime Mi ...

, nephew of Eleftherios Venizelos and father to

Kyriakos Mitsotakis Kyriakos Mitsotakis (, ; born 4 March 1968) is a Greek politician currently serving as the prime minister of Greece since July 2019, except for a month between May and June 2023. Mitsotakis has been president of the New Democracy (Greece), New ...

, the

Prime Minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

. * Daskalogiannis, leader of the Orlov Revolt in Crete in 1770 * John Aniston (Giannis Anastasakis), Greek-American actor, father of Jennifer Aniston * Zach Galifianakis paternal grandparents, Mike Galifianakis and Sophia Kastrinakis, were from Crete * Georgios Chortatzis, Renaissance author * Nana Mouskouri, singer, born in Chania * Michalis Kourmoulis, leader of the

from Messara. *

Eleni Daniilidou Eleni Daniilidou (; ; born 19 September 1982) is a Greek former tennis player from the island of Crete. She is considered one of the best Greek tennis players of the Open Era, winning five singles titles and three doubles titles on the WTA Tou ...

, tennis player, born in Chania * Louis Tikas, Greek-American labor union leader * Tess Fragoulis, Greek-Canadian writer, born in Heraklion * Nick Dandolos, a.k.a. Nick the Greek, professional gambler and high roller * Joseph Sifakis, a computer scientist, laureate of the 2007

Turing Award The ACM A. M. Turing Award is an annual prize given by the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) for contributions of lasting and major technical importance to computer science. It is generally recognized as the highest distinction in the fi ...

, born in

in 1946 * Constantinos Daskalakis, Associate Professor at MIT's Electrical Engineering and Computer Science department * George Karniadakis, Professor of Applied Mathematics at Brown University; and Research Scientist at MIT * George Psychoundakis, a shepherd, a war hero and an author * Georgos Kalaitzakis, Greek professional basketball player for the Tigers Tübingen of the German

Basketball Bundesliga The Basketball Bundesliga (BBL) (English language: ''Federal Basketball League''), for sponsorship reasons named easyCredit BBL, is the German basketball league system, highest level Sports league, league of professional club basketball in German ...

is from

, Crete

References

General and cited sources

* * Francis, Jane and Anna Kouremenos (eds.) 2016. ''Roman Crete: New Perspectives''. Oxford: Oxbow. * * * * *

External links

*
Crete Locals
comprehensive guide of Crete Island (in English)
Natural History Museum of Crete
at the University of Crete.
Cretaquarium Thalassocosmos
in Heraklion.
Aquaworld Aquarium
in Hersonissos.
Ancient Crete
at Oxford Bibliographies Online: Classics.
Official Greek National Tourism Organisation website

Interactive Virtual Tour of Crete
{{Authority control Aegean islands Crete and Cyrenaica Islands of Greece Mediterranean islands Minoan geography Territories of the Republic of Venice

Name

Physical geography and climate

Island morphology

Mountains and valleys

Gorges, rivers and lakes

Surrounding islands

Climate

Human geography

Administration

Cities

Demographics

Economy

Transport infrastructure

Airports

Ferries

Road network

Railway

Development

History

Prehistory

Minoan civilization

Mycenaean civilization

Archaic and Classical period

Roman rule

Byzantine Empire – first period

Arab rule

Byzantine Empire – second period

Venetian rule

Ottoman rule

Cretan State and union with Greece

Second World War

Civil War

Tourism

Transportation

Holiday homes and immigration

Archaeological sites and museums

Harmful effects

Fauna and flora

Fauna

Prehistoric fauna

Mammals

Birds

Reptiles and amphibians

Arthropods

Crustaceans and molluscs

Sealife

Flora

Environmentally protected areas

Mythology

Culture

Sports

Notable people

See also

References

General and cited sources

External links