The (Northern) Sporades (; el, Βόρειες Σποράδες, ) are an

archipelago An archipelago ( ), sometimes called an island group or island chain, is a chain, cluster, or collection of islands, or sometimes a sea containing a small number of scattered islands. Examples of archipelagos include: the Indonesian Arch ...

along the east coast of

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders wi ...

, northeast of the island of

Euboea Evia (, ; el, Εύβοια ; grc, Εὔβοια ) or Euboia (, ) is the second-largest Greek island in area and population, after Crete. It is separated from Boeotia in mainland Greece by the narrow Euripus Strait (only at its narrowest poi ...

,"Skyros - Britannica Concise" (description), Britannica Concise, 2006, webpage
EB-Skyros
notes "including Skiathos, Skopelos, Skyros, and Alonnisos." in the

Aegean Sea The Aegean Sea ; tr, Ege Denizi ( Greek: Αιγαίο Πέλαγος: "Egéo Pélagos", Turkish: "Ege Denizi" or "Adalar Denizi") is an elongated embayment of the Mediterranean Sea between Europe and Asia. It is located between the Balkans ...

. They consist of 24 islands, four of which are permanently inhabited:

Alonnisos Alonnisos ( el, Αλόννησος ), also transliterated as Alonissos, is a Greek island in the Aegean Sea. After Skiathos and Skopelos it is the third member of the Northern Sporades. It is (2 nm) east of the island of Skopelos. Alonnisos i ...

, Skiathos, Skopelos and Skyros. They may also be referred to as the Thessalian Sporades ().

Etymology

"Sporades" means "those scattered" (compare with "sporadic"). From

Classical Antiquity Classical antiquity (also the classical era, classical period or classical age) is the period of cultural history between the 8th century BC and the 5th century AD centred on the Mediterranean Sea, comprising the interlocking civilizations of ...

the name has referred to the Aegean island groups outside the central archipelago of the

Cyclades The Cyclades (; el, Κυκλάδες, ) are an island group in the Aegean Sea, southeast of mainland Greece and a former administrative prefecture of Greece. They are one of the island groups which constitute the Aegean archipelago. The name ...

Geography

In modern geographical parlance, there are five different Sporades groups: * Thessalian Sporades () or Northern Sporades. Since 1960, the term "Sporades" refers mainly to these islands: ** Skopelos **

** Skiathos ** Skyros **

Kyra Panagia Kyra Panagia ( el, Κυρά Παναγιά ) is a Greek island in the Sporades. It is administratively part of the municipality of Alonnisos in the Sporades regional unit. The island is also known by the name of Pelagos and rarely Pelagonisi. . A ...

Peristera Peristera ( el, Περιστέρα, feminine form of pigeon), also Aspro, locally Xero (meaning dry), Eudemia in antiquity, is a Greece, Greek island in the Sporades. It is administratively part of the municipality of Alonnisos and is also direct ...

** Gioura **

Skantzoura Skantzoura ( el, Σκάντζουρα) is an island in the Sporades archipelago, Greece. The island is located southeast of the larger island of Alonnisos (to which it belongs administratively) and northwest of the island Skyros. , it had no res ...

** Piperi ** Tsougria *

Thracian Sporades The (Northern) Sporades (; el, Βόρειες Σποράδες, ) are an archipelago along the east coast of Greece, northeast of the island of Euboea,"Skyros - Britannica Concise" (description), Britannica Concise, 2006, webpageEB-Skyrosnotes " ...

():

Thasos Thasos or Thassos ( el, Θάσος, ''Thásos'') is a Greek island in the North Aegean Sea. It is the northernmost major Greek island, and 12th largest by area. The island has an area of and a population of about 13,000. It forms a separate r ...

Samothrace Samothrace (also known as Samothraki, el, Σαμοθράκη, ) is a Greek island in the northern Aegean Sea. It is a municipality within the Evros regional unit of Thrace. The island is long and is in size and has a population of 2,859 (2011 ...

, Imbros,

Lemnos Lemnos or Limnos ( el, Λήμνος; grc, Λῆμνος) is a Greek island in the northern Aegean Sea. Administratively the island forms a separate municipality within the Lemnos regional unit, which is part of the North Aegean region. The p ...

and Agios Efstratios * Western Sporades (): Salamis, Aigina, Poros, Hydra,

Spetses Spetses ( el, Σπέτσες, grc, Πιτυούσσα "Pityussa", Arvanitika: Πετσε̱) is an upscale affluent island in Attica, Greece. It is included as one of the Saronic Islands. Until 1948, it was part of the old prefecture of Argolis ...

, and the other islands of the

Saronic Gulf The Saronic Gulf ( Greek: Σαρωνικός κόλπος, ''Saronikós kólpos'') or Gulf of Aegina in Greece is formed between the peninsulas of Attica and Argolis and forms part of the Aegean Sea. It defines the eastern side of the isthmus of ...

and the Myrtoan Sea. *

Eastern Sporades Eastern Sporades (Greek: ''Ανατολικές Σποράδες'') or Eastern Islands (Greek: ''Ανατολικοί Νήσοι'') was the name of one of the thirteen divisions (administrative districts) created in 1828 with the administrative div ...

(), i.e. the islands of the eastern and northeastern Aegean, near the coast of

Asia Minor Anatolia, tr, Anadolu Yarımadası), and the Anatolian plateau, also known as Asia Minor, is a large peninsula in Western Asia and the westernmost protrusion of the Asian continent. It constitutes the major part of modern-day Turkey. The re ...

Samos Samos (, also ; el, Σάμος ) is a Greek island in the eastern Aegean Sea, south of Chios, north of Patmos and the Dodecanese, and off the coast of western Turkey, from which it is separated by the -wide Mycale Strait. It is also a sepa ...

, Ikaria,

Lesbos Lesbos or Lesvos ( el, Λέσβος, Lésvos ) is a Greek island located in the northeastern Aegean Sea. It has an area of with approximately of coastline, making it the third largest island in Greece. It is separated from Asia Minor by the nar ...

Chios Chios (; el, Χίος, Chíos , traditionally known as Scio in English) is the fifth largest Greek island, situated in the northern Aegean Sea. The island is separated from Turkey by the Chios Strait. Chios is notable for its exports of mast ...

Tenedos Tenedos (, ''Tenedhos'', ), or Bozcaada in Turkish, is an island of Turkey in the northeastern part of the Aegean Sea. Administratively, the island constitutes the Bozcaada district of Çanakkale Province. With an area of it is the third l ...

, Psara, Oinousses and smaller island groups * Southern Sporades (), i.e. the

Dodecanese The Dodecanese (, ; el, Δωδεκάνησα, ''Dodekánisa'' , ) are a group of 15 larger plus 150 smaller Greek islands in the southeastern Aegean Sea and Eastern Mediterranean, off the coast of Turkey's Anatolia, of which 26 are inhabited ...

, to which group

and Ikaria are sometimes appended.

Administration

As a part of the 2011 Kallikratis government reform, the ''Sporades

Regional Unit The 74 regional units of Greece ( el, περιφερειακές ενότητες, ; sing. , ) are the country's Seventy-four second-level administrative units. They are divisions of the country's 13 regions, and are further divided into munici ...

'' () was created out of part of the former Magnesia Prefecture,

region In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as zones, lands or territories, are areas that are broadly divided by physical characteristics ( physical geography), human impact characteristics ( human geography), and the interaction of humanity an ...

Thessaly Thessaly ( el, Θεσσαλία, translit=Thessalía, ; ancient Thessalian: , ) is a traditional geographic and modern administrative region of Greece, comprising most of the ancient region of the same name. Before the Greek Dark Ages, Thes ...

. The regional unit is subdivided into 3 municipalities. These are: * Skiathos (1) * Skopelos (3) *

(2) The island of Skyros with a few uninhabited islets in its area are part of the '' Euboea regional unit'' and the '' administrative region of Central Greece''.

References

Sources

* "Skyros – Britannica Concise" (description), Britannica Concise, 2006, webpage
EB-Skyros

External links