Khios

Statistics
Capital: Chios
Area: 910 km²
Elevation: Lowest: Aegean Sea
Highest: (central part)
Inhabitants: 52,691(1991)
52,290(2001)
Population density: 48.14/km²(1991)
57.46/km²
ISO 3166-2: GR-85
FIPS code: GR50
Car designation: XI
Code for the municipalities: 54xx
Number of municipalities: 10
Number of independent communes: none
2-letter abbreviation/HASC: KH
Map
Missing image
GreeceChios.png
Image:GreeceChios.png

Khios, or Chios or Hios (Χίος) as most Greek English speakers know the island, is a Greek island in the Aegean Sea.

The population is about 52,290 (census of 2001), with an area of 910 km². The capital is also called Khíos or Khora; it is a port and the island's chief town. Other settlements include Vrondados, Volissos, Kardamylla, Oinoussais, Agios Giorgios Sikousis, and Vavili. The island is famous for its scenery and good climate. Its chief export is mastic but it also produces olives, figs, and wine.

Contents

History

Khíos was colonized by Ionians but has been occupied by the Persians, part of the Delian League and the Byzantine Empire, before passing through the possession of the Latin emperors of Constantinople, the Genoese, the Ottoman Turks.

During the Turkish occupation, there was a massacre of the islanders after a rebellion in 1822, depicted by Eugène Delacroix in his famous artwork at The Louvre. Khios rejoined the rest of independent Greece after the First Balkan War (1912).

The Turkish massacre of 1822, which annihilated 1/4 of the 30,000 inhabitants of the island, decimated the Mastichohoria, the mastic growing villages in the south of the island. It triggered enormous public outrage in Western Europe, as can be seen in the art of Delacroix, in the writing of Lord Byron and Victor Hugo.

Claims to Fame

  • The Korai Library, in Khios, is one of the most important in Greece, containing 95,000 volumes.
  • Khíos claims to be the birthplace of Homer, Hippocrates the mathematician, and Oenopides. Oenopion, a legendary king, is said to have brought winemaking to the island.
  • Khíos is home to one of the biggest ship-owning fraternities in Greece, with such shipping families as Livanos, Chandris, Los, Lemos, Pateras, Fafalios, Tsakos, Frangos, and Xylas hailing from the island.
  • Some claim Khios is Christopher Columbus's birthplace. Columbus said he was from Genoa, but he never claimed he was from the city of Genoa itself. Khios was a Genoese possession at the time of Columbus birth, and 'Columbus' is common surname on Khios. Furthermore Columbus appears to have known Khios very well, since he often made references to it in his journals.
  • Chios is also the birthplace of some well known poets of modern times as Giorgos Dilvois, Nikos Gialouris, Dimitris Varos and Matheos Moundes.
  • Chios Museum of Byzantine and Post-Byzantine Art, Website (http://www.culture.gr/2/21/212/21203m/e212cm01.html)
  • Chios Archaeological Museum, Website (http://www.culture.gr/2/21/211/21120m/e211tm02.html)

Climate

Its climate is mainly Mediterranean. Winters are rarely founded in higher elevations.


Municipalities

Municipality YPES code Seat Postal code Area code ((0)30-)
Agias Mimas 5401 Thymiano Chiou 821 00 22730-3
Amani 5402 Volissos 821 03 22740-2
Chios 5409 Chios 821 00 22710-2 thru 4
Oinousses 5407 Oinousses 821 03 22710-52
Ionia 5403 Kallimasia 821 00 22710-5 thru 6
Kampochora 5404 Kampochora 821 00 22710-8
Kardamyla 5405 Kardamyla 823 00 22720-2
Mastichochori 5406 Pyrgi 821 02 22710-7
Omiroupoli 5408 Vrontados 822 00 22710-9
Psara 5410 Psara 821 04 22740-6

Communities

External references

et:Chíos el:Χίος fr:Chios nl:Chios no:Khios pl:Chios ro:Chios sv:Chios fi:Khios

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