Dodecanese

The Dodecanese (UK: /ˌdoʊdɪkəˈniːz/, US: /doʊˌdɛkəˈniːz/; Greek: Δωδεκάνησα, Dodekánisa [ðoðeˈkanisa], lit. 'twelve islands') are a group of 15 larger and 150 smaller Greek islands in the southeastern Aegean Sea and Eastern Mediterranean, off the coast of Turkey's Anatolia, of which 26 are inhabited. This island group generally defines the eastern limit of the Sea of Crete.^[1] They belong to the wider Southern Sporades island group.

The transfer of the name to the present-day Dodecanese has its roots in the

Pre-history and the Archaic period

The Dodecanese have been inhabited since prehistoric times. In the

Classical period

This development was interrupted around 499 BC by the

By the time the Peloponnesian War ended in 404 BC, the Dodecanese were mostly removed from the larger Aegean conflicts, and had begun a period of relative quiet and prosperity. In 408 BC, the three cities of Rhodes had united to form one state, which built a new capital on the northern end of the island, also named Rhodes; this united Rhodes dominated the region for the coming millennia. Other islands in the Dodecanese also developed into significant economic and cultural centers; most notably, Kos served as the site of the school of medicine founded by Hippocrates.

The Peloponnesian War had so weakened the entire Greek civilization's military strength that it lay open to invasion. In 357 BC, the islands were conquered by King

As the Roman Empire split in AD 395 into Eastern and Western halves, the islands became part of the Eastern part, which later evolved into the Byzantine Empire. They would remain there for nearly a thousand years, though these were punctuated by numerous invasions. It was during this period that they began to reemerge as an independent entity, and the term Dodecanese itself dates to around the 8th century. Copious evidence of the Eastern Roman period remains on the islands today, most notably in hundreds of churches from the period in various states of preservation.

In the 10th and 11th centuries, on behalf the Roman Empire of Constantinople, the area was controlled and secured with trade duty rights by powerful maritime city-state fleets of Genoa (with the clan of Vignolo de'

These massive fortifications proved sufficient to repel invasions by the Sultan of Egypt in 1444 and Mehmed II in 1480. Finally, the citadel at Rhodes fell to the army of Suleiman the Magnificent in 1522, and the other islands were overrun within the year. The few remaining Knights fled to Malta.

Ottoman rule

Thus began a period of several hundred years in the

Turks of the Dodecanese

A Turkish Muslim minority lives in Rhodes and Kos. Sources have variously estimated the Turkish population of Kos and Rhodes to be 5,000,^[29] 6,000,^[30] or 7,000.^[31]

Italian rule

After the outbreak of the Italian-Turkish war over Libya, in early 1912 Italy, in order to apply pressure on the Ottoman government closer to its metropolitan territories, occupied all the present-day Dodecanese except for Kastellorizo.^[32]

After the end of the war according to the

As part of securing sovereignty in the islands, Italy created and applied a form of imperial citizenship for the local population unique to its overseas empire. Called Italian Aegean citizenship (cittadinanza egea italiana), this form of citizenship was inclusive of local political rights and exclusive of military service. After 1934, Dodecanese citizens could complete military service and apply to become full Italian citizens, an option many locals chose while supporting Italian Fascism and seeing the Italian empire as promoting their financial well-being. Italian Aegean citizenship also ensured the islands were exempted from the exchange of Greek and Turkish minority populations in the Aegean, a provision of the Second Lausanne Treaty that ended the Greco-Turkish War. After 1934, it was also possible to acquire Italian Aegean citizenship from abroad and to transmit Italian Aegean citizenship on the principle of patrilineal descent. This reform mirrored the principle of jus sanguinis which provides the basis of Italian citizenship and was especially intended for the large Greek-speaking Dodecanese-origin emigrant community in Egypt.[33]

The Fascist administration sought to modernize the islands, eradicating malaria, constructing hospitals, aqueducts, a power plant to provide Rhodes' capital with electric lighting, and establishing the Dodecanese cadastre. The main castle of the Knights of St. John was also rebuilt. The concrete-dominated Fascist architectural style detracted significantly from the islands' picturesque scenery (and also reminded the inhabitants of Italian rule), and has consequently been largely demolished or remodeled, apart from the famous example of the Leros town of Lakki, which remains a prime example of the architecture.

From 1936 to 1940 Cesare Maria De Vecchi acted as governor of the Italian Islands of the Aegean promoting the official use of the Italian language and favoring a process of Italianization, interrupted by the beginning of World War II.^[34] In the 1936 Italian census of the Dodecanese islands, the total population was 129,135, of whom 7,015 were Italians.

World War II

During World War II, Italy joined the

Post-World War II

After the war, the islands became a British military protectorate and were almost immediately allowed to run their own civil affairs, whereupon they became informally united with Greece, though under separate sovereignty and military control. Despite objections from Turkey, which desired the islands as well, they were formally united with Greece by the

As a legacy of its former status as a jurisdiction separate from Greece, it is still considered a separate "entity" for amateur radio purposes, essentially maintaining its status as an independent country "on the air." Amateur radio call signs in the Dodecanese begin with the prefix SV5 instead of SV for Greece.^[36]

The 70th anniversary of the Dodecanese enosis was marked in 2017,^[37][38] with the Greek Parliament holding a special celebratory session for the event.^[39]

Today, Rhodes^[40] and the Dodecanese are popular travel destinations.

Administration

The Dodecanese Prefecture was one of the

• Kalymnos
• Karpathos-Kasos
• Kos
• Rhodes

Municipalities and communities

The prefecture was subdivided into the following municipalities and communities. These have been reorganised at the 2011 Kallikratis reform as well.

Provinces

Until 1997, the Prefecture of the Dodecanese was subdivided into provinces:

• Province of Patmos – Patmos
• Province of Kalymnos – Kalymnos
• Province of Kos – Kos
• Province of Rhodes – Rhodes City
• Province of Karpathos & Kasos – Karpathos

Cuisine

Local specialities of the Dodecanese include:

• Avranies
• Koulouria (Κουλουρία)
• Pitaroudia
• Pouggia (Πουγγιά)
• Tsirigia
• Fanouropita (dessert)
• Katimeria (dessert)
• Melekouni (dessert)
• Pouggakia (dessert)
• Takakia or Mantinades (dessert)

See also

• List of settlements in the Dodecanese
• List of islands of Greece

References

• Ahrweiler, Hélène (1966). Byzance et la mer. La marine de guerre, la politique et les institutions maritimes de Byzance aux VIIe- XVe siècless (in French). Paris: Presses universitaires de France.
• Carabott, P. J. (1993). "The Temporary Italian Occupation of the Dodecanese: A Prelude to Permanency". Diplomacy and Statecraft. 4 (2): 285–312.
  doi:10.1080/09592299308405886
  .
• Doumanis, Nicholas (2005). "Italians as Good Colonizers: Speaking Subalterns and the Politics of Memory in the Dodecanese". In Ben-Ghiat, Ruth; Fuller, Mia (eds.). Italian Colonialism. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
  ISBN 0-312-23649-2
  .
• Giannopoulos, Giannis (2006). "Δωδεκάνησος, η γένεση ενός ονόματος και η αντιμετώπισή του από τους Ιταλούς" [Dodecanese, the genesis of a name and the Italian approach]. Ἑῶα καὶ Ἑσπέρια (in Greek). 6: 275–296.
  ISSN 2241-7540
  .
• McGuire, Valerie (2020). Italy's Sea: Empire and Nation in the Mediterranean, 1895-1945. Liverpool: Liverpool University Press.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Dodecanese.

• Dodecanese Official website of the Greek National Tourism Organisation