Agathonísi ( el, Αγαθονήσι) is a small Greek

island An island (or isle) is an isolated piece of habitat that is surrounded by a dramatically different habitat, such as water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, skerries, cays or keys. An isla ...

and

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the ...

located at the northernmost point of 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 ...

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 ...

. It is surrounded by many smaller islands and is home to two villages, both inland; Megalo Chorio ("Big Village"), and Mikro Chorio ("Small Village"). Between them is the small settlement of Agios Georgios (Saint George), which forms the island's only harbor and consists of a few hotels and restaurants. The island is also locally known as ''Gaidaro'' ("Donkey"), or by its ancient name ''Tragea''. Front Arkoi Leipsoi Leros Back Agathonisi Farmakonisi Turkey coastline

Front Arkoi Leipsoi Leros Back Agathonisi Farmakonisi Turkey coastline

The highest point on the island is

above sea level Height above mean sea level is a measure of the vertical distance ( height, elevation or altitude) of a location in reference to a historic mean sea level taken as a vertical datum. In geodesy, it is formalized as '' orthometric heights''. Th ...

. This peak is located close to Mikro Chorio. The island covers an area of . It is made almost entirely of subcrystalline stratified

limestones Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms when t ...

, and is covered with thorny macchia. In the late 1920s the island had 80 inhabitants, active in agriculture and sheep rearing. A census of the island in 1981 showed that it was populated by 133 people. In 1991, another census showed that the population had dropped to 112. By the 2001 census it had again risen to 158 residents, and in 2011 its population was 185, 168 of whom lived in Megalo Chorio, and only 17 in Mikro Chorio. The municipality of Agathonisi, which includes the uninhabited offshore islets of Glaros, Kouneli, Nera, and Psathonisio, has a combined land area of .

Name

In ancient times, Agathonisi was known as Psetoussa ( grc, Ψετούσσα). Ancient writers varied in recording its name: ''Tragia'' (Τραγία), ''Tragiae'' or ''Tragiai'' (Τραγίαι), ''Tragaeae'' or ''Tragaiai'' (Τραγαῖαι), and ''Tragaea'' or ''Tragaia'' (Τραγαία) are among the forms recorded. The island is known as ''Gaidaro'' in Italian and as ''Eşek Adası'' in Turkish.

History

Near the island,

Pericles Pericles (; grc-gre, Περικλῆς; c. 495 – 429 BC) was a Greek politician and general during the Golden Age of Athens. He was prominent and influential in Athenian politics, particularly between the Greco-Persian Wars and the Pelo ...

defeated the

Samians 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 separate ...

in a naval engagement in 440 BCE. In modern times, the island (dependent on

Patmos Patmos ( el, Πάτμος, ) is a Greek island in the Aegean Sea. It is famous as the location where John of Patmos received the visions found in the Book of Revelation of the New Testament, and where the book was written. One of the norther ...

) was occupied in 1912 by the

Kingdom of Italy The Kingdom of Italy ( it, Regno d'Italia) was a state that existed from 1861, when Victor Emmanuel II of Kingdom of Sardinia, Sardinia was proclamation of the Kingdom of Italy, proclaimed King of Italy, until 1946, when civil discontent led to ...

during the

Italo-Turkish war The Italo-Turkish or Turco-Italian War ( tr, Trablusgarp Savaşı, "Tripolitanian War", it, Guerra di Libia, "War of Libya") was fought between the Kingdom of Italy and the Ottoman Empire from 29 September 1911, to 18 October 1912. As a result o ...

and, after being part of the Italian Islands of the Aegean (of which it was the northernmost islet),Bertarelli (1929) p. 161 was ceded from Italy to Greece in 1947 with the Treaty of Peace.Dubin (2002), p. 438

Administration

In 2011, as part of the

Kallikratis Plan The Kallikratis Programme ( el, Πρόγραμμα Καλλικράτης, Prógramma Kallikrátis) is the common name of Greek law 3852/2010 of 2010, a major administrative reform in Greece. It brought about the second major reform of the coun ...

, the island's status has been upgraded from Community to Municipality.

Archipelago of Agathonisi

Near Agathonisi lie several islets: ''Psatonisi'', ''Strongili'', ''Neronisi'', ''Katagani'', all made with crystalline

limestone Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms w ...

s, and ''Kunellonisi'', which is made of

schist Schist ( ) is a medium-grained metamorphic rock showing pronounced schistosity. This means that the rock is composed of mineral grains easily seen with a low-power hand lens, oriented in such a way that the rock is easily split into thin flakes ...

ose-crystalline rocks.

References

Sources

* Dodecanese Islands of Greece Populated places in Kalymnos (regional unit) Municipalities of the South Aegean Landforms of Kalymnos (regional unit) Islands of the South Aegean {{SAegean-geo-stub