Alexandrades () is a settlement in the

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

island of

Kythira Kythira ( ; ), also transliterated as Cythera, Kythera and Kithira, is an island in Greece lying opposite the south-eastern tip of the Peloponnese peninsula. It is traditionally listed as one of the seven main Ionian Islands, although it is dist ...

. According to the

2021 Greek census The 2021 Population and Housing Census () is a census in Greece that was conducted by the Hellenic Statistical Authority as part of the wider 2021 European Union census. As with the 2011 census, it enumerates the number of people in the country ...

, it had 42 residents.

History

Although it is uncertain when Alexandrades was first inhabited, there is substantial proof it has been since at least the 14th century. According to archaeological research that has been conducted, there was an old

cemetery A cemetery, burial ground, gravesite, graveyard, or a green space called a memorial park or memorial garden, is a place where the remains of many death, dead people are burial, buried or otherwise entombed. The word ''cemetery'' (from Greek ...

within the settlement, that indicated it has been inhabited for a long time. Alexandrades was first mentioned by its modern name in the 16th century, as well as in numerous contracts dating back to 1565. Additionally, Alexandrades was mentioned in some of the uncompleted works in Petros Kastrofylakas' census from 1583. During the 18th century, the Goudianika (Γουδιάνικα) settlement was often referred to as Alexandrades as well. It is assumed that Alexandrades had a bigger population in earlier years, since on the 1715 Ottoman census, it was divided into 4

parishes A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one or ...

, those being St. Ioannou, St. Georgiou, St. Triados and St. Leou. Archistratigos parish was also considered part of Alexandrades during the 18th century. In the Venetian censuses, among other sources, the Kamaria district is mentioned, which was a parish of St. Georgios. In the past, not only did Alexandrades have a bigger population, but it also took up more land.

Name

It is unsure where the name ''Alexandrades'' (Αλεξανδράδες) derives from. It is quite rare for Kythirian location names to end with -άδες. During the 16th century, there was at least 1 person whose surname was Alexandris (Αλεξανδρής) in Alexandrades, after whom the settlement could have possibly been named. This was the only found reference to this specific surname in the area, leading to the assumption that this was either one of the last references to the surname in question, or that references to it are generally scarce.

Geography

Alexandrades is located in Kythira, an

Ionian Island The Ionian Islands (Modern Greek: , ; Ancient Greek, Katharevousa: , ) are a group of islands in the Ionian Sea, west of mainland Greece. They are traditionally called the Heptanese ("Seven Islands"; , ''Heptanēsa'' or , ''Heptanēsos''; ), bu ...

, and belongs to the Islands regional unit. It has an

altitude Altitude is a distance measurement, usually in the vertical or "up" direction, between a reference datum (geodesy), datum and a point or object. The exact definition and reference datum varies according to the context (e.g., aviation, geometr ...

of 330 metres.

Population

References

{{reflist Populated places in Islands (regional unit) Kythira