Schoinoussa or Schinoussa ( ; anciently Σχινοῦσσα) is an island and a former

community A community is a social unit (a group of people) with a shared socially-significant characteristic, such as place, set of norms, culture, religion, values, customs, or identity. Communities may share a sense of place situated in a given g ...

in 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 ...

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 ...

. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality

Naxos and Lesser Cyclades Naxos and Lesser Cyclades () is a municipality in the Naxos regional unit, South Aegean region, Greece. The seat of the municipality is the town Naxos (city). The municipality consists of the Cycladic island of Naxos and the islands of the Lesse ...

, of which it is a municipal unit. It lies south of the island of

Naxos Naxos (; , ) is a Greek island belonging to the Cyclades island group. It is the largest island in the group. It was an important centre during the Bronze Age Cycladic Culture and in the Ancient Greek Archaic Period. The island is famous as ...

, in the

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

group, between the island communities of Irakleia and Koufonisia. The population was 229 inhabitants at the 2021 census. Its land area is .

Description

Schoinoussa is located south of

, in the middle about of the

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

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

and

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

ruins, ruins of a

Byzantine 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 the events that caused the fall of the Western Roman E ...

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

Amorgos Amorgos (, ; ) is the easternmost island of the Cyclades island group and the nearest island to the neighboring Dodecanese island group in Greece. Along with 16 neighbouring islets, the largest of which (by land area) is Nikouria Island, it compr ...

Historical population

Climate

According to the

National Observatory of Athens The National Observatory of Athens (NOA; ) is a research institute in Athens, Greece. Founded in 1842, it is the oldest List of research institutes in Greece, research foundation in Greece. The Observatory was the first scientific research insti ...

, Schoinoussa has 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''). Schoinoussa records the lowest average annual precipitation in

with around 240 mm, missing the

hot desert climate The desert climate or arid climate (in the Köppen climate classification ''BWh'' and ''BWk'') is a dry climate sub-type in which there is a severe excess of evaporation over precipitation. The typically bald, rocky, or sandy surfaces in desert ...

(

: BWh) by less than 50 mm.National Observatory of Athens The National Observatory of Athens (NOA; ) is a research institute in Athens, Greece. Founded in 1842, it is the oldest List of research institutes in Greece, research foundation in Greece. The Observatory was the first scientific research insti ...

Description

Historical population

Climate

Gallery

References

External links