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Sunset over the Peloponnesos
The Peloponnese covers an area of some 21,549 km² (8,320 square miles). It constitutes the southernmost part of mainland Greece, although technically it is an island since the construction of the Corinth Canal in 1893. It has two land connections with the rest of Greece, a natural one at the Isthmus of Corinth and an artificial one in the shape of the Rio-Antirio bridge (completed 2004). The peninsula has been inhabited since prehistoric times. Its modern name derives from ancient Greek mythology , specifically the legend of the hero Pelops who was said to have conquered the entire region. The name Peloponnesos means "Island of Pelops". During the Middle Ages, the peninsula was known as the Morea. According to folk etymology, this is because the Crusaders found it densely planted with mulberry trees (Greek: moreai) used by the flourishing silk industry.
Greece's first major civilizations, the Aegean (or Mycenaean) civilization, dominated the Peloponnese in the Bronze Age from the stronghold at Mycenae in the north-east of the peninsula. During classical antiquity, the Peloponnese was at the heart of the affairs of ancient Greece, possessed some of its most powerful city-states and saw some of its bloodiest battles. It was the site of the cities of Sparta, Corinth, Argos and Megalopolis, and was the homeland of the Peloponnesian League. The peninsula was involved in the Persian Wars and was the scene of the Peloponnesian War of 431 BC-404 BC. It fell to the expanding Roman Republic in 146 BC and became the province of Achaea.
The Peloponnese was subsequently ruled by the Byzantine Empire, though many parts were lost to invading Venetians and Franks. The Franks founded the Principality of Achaea in the northern half of the peninsula in 1205, while the Venetians founded a number of ports around the coast such as Monemvasia, Pylos and Koroni which lasted into the 15th century. The Byzantines retained control of the southern part of the peninsula, which they ruled from the fortified hill town of Mystras near Sparta. They staged a revival from the mid-13th century through to the mid-15th century, when the Ottoman Turks overran the Peloponnese between 1458-1460. The Venetians occupied parts of the peninsula between 1699-1718 but Turkish control was otherwise solid and opposed only by sporadic rebellions in the Mani Peninsula, the southernmost part of the Peloponnese.
The Peloponnesians played a major role in the Greek War of Independence -- the war actually began in the Peloponnese, when rebels took control of Kalamata on March 23, 1821. The decisive naval Battle of Navarino was fought off Pylos on the west coast of the Peloponnese, and the city of Náfplio on the east coast became the seat of independent Greece's first parliament.
During the 19th and 20th century, the region became a relatively poor backwater and a significant part of its population left, heading for the cities, especially Athens, and other countries such as the United States and Australia. It was badly affected by the Second World War and Greek Civil War, experiencing some of the worst atrocities committed in Greece during those conflicts. Living standards have improved dramatically throughout Greece since then, especially after the country's accession to the European Union in 1981.
Length: 496
Rating: 4.40 (132 ratings)
Tags: Peloponnese Greece sail cruise sunset
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Greek Fires, Peloponnesos, 2007
Some video I shot driving through the mountains in Peloponnesos, Greece - outside of Tripoli. You get a sense of just how wide the devastation is - as the video goes on, and we continue to drive, everything is dead and dead and dead.
Length: 122
Rating: 4.00 (3 ratings)
Tags: greek fire greece peloponnesos tripoli
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Mani peninsula, Peloponnese, Greece
Mani peninsula, Peloponnese, Greece.
The Mani Peninsula (Μάνη in Greek), also long known as Maina or Maïna, is a region in Greece. Mani is the central peninsula of the three which extend southwards from the Peloponnese in southern Greece. To the east is the Laconian Gulf, to the west the Messenian Gulf. The peninsula forms a continuation of the Taygetos mountain range, the western spine of the Peloponnese.
The terrain is mountainous and inaccessible. The name "Mani" is thought to have originally meant "dry" or "treeless." Until recent years many Mani villages could be reached only by sea. Today a narrow and winding road extends down the west coast from Kalamata to Areopoli, then south to Akrotainaro (the pointy cape which is the most southward soil of continental Greece) before it turns north until Gytheio.Neolithic remains have been found in many caves along the Mani coasts. Homer refers to a number of towns in the Mani region, and some artifacts from the Mycenaean period have been found. The area was occupied by the Dorians in about 1200 BC, and became a dependency of Sparta. When Spartan power was destroyed in the 3rd century BC, Mani was self-governing for a time before being absorbed into the Roman Empire in the 2nd century BC.
As the power of the Byzantine Empire declined in the 9th century AD, the peninsula drifted out of the Empire's control. The fortress of Maini in the south became the area's centre. Over the subsequent centuries the peninsula was fought over by the Byzantines, the Franks, and the Saracens.
After the Fourth Crusade in 1204, Italian and French knights (known to the Greeks as Franks), occupied parts of the Peloponnese. In 1249, Mani was occupied by the Venetians, who made it one of the twelve baronies of the Principality of Morea and built the fortresses of Mystras, Passavas, Gustema (Beaufort) and Megali Maini.
In 1460, after the fall of Constantinople, Mystras fell to the Ottomans, but Mani was not subdued and retained its internal self-government in exchange for an annual tribute. Local chieftains or beys governed Mani on behalf of the Ottomans. As Ottoman power declined, the mountains of the Mani became a stronghold of the klephts, bandits who also fought against the Ottomans. There is evidence of a sizeable Maniot emigration to Corsica sometime during the Ottoman years
Gytheio, Areopoli, Kardamyli and Stoupa are filled with tourists during the summer months but the region quiets down during the winter months. Many inhabitants are still working as olive farmers, and thus many of the winter months are devoted to the olive harvest. Some of the villages in the mountains are less touristic and often have very few inhabitants. Mani is considered to be one of the most traditionalist and conservative regions of Greece, and is a stronghold of the right-wing New Democracy party.
There were fires in Mani in the summer of 2007.
Length: 175
Rating: 5.00 (5 ratings)
Tags: Mani peninsula Μάνη Maina Maïna Peloponnese Greece Gytheio Areopoli Kardamyli Stoupa Peloponesus Πελοπόνησος
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Monemvassia - Peloponnese - Greece
Monemvassia (Greek: Μονεμβασία, Μονεμβάσια, Μονεμβασιά), is a medieval fortress with an adjacent town, located on a small peninsula off the east coast of the Peloponnese in the Greek prefecture of Laconia. Remains include the defensive structures, the small adjacent town and Byzantine churches. Its name derives from two Greek words, mone and emvassia, meaning "single entrance". Many of the streets are narrow and are only fit for pedestrians. The bay of Palaia Monemvassia is found in the north. Monemvassia's nickname is the Gibraltar of the East or The Rock.
Length: 277
Rating: 5.00 (17 ratings)
Tags: Monemvassia Monemvasia Lakonia Sparta Peloponnese Greece Hellas Medieval Castle Byzantine Churches Holidays Travel Sun
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Greek Fires, Peloponnesos, 2007
A quick video blog I shot in the midst of the devastated mountains in southern Greece, near Tripoli.
Length: 42
Rating: 4.60 (5 ratings)
Tags: greek fire greece peloponnesos tripoli
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