Foinikounta (, before 1930: Ταβέρνα - ''Taverna''1st
an
2nd name change
/ref>), also known transliterated as Finikounda, Finikounta, or Finikous, is a seaside village and a community in the municipality of

Pylos-Nestor Pylos-Nestoras () is a municipality in the Messenia regional unit, Peloponnese (region), Peloponnese, Greece. The seat of the municipality is the town Pylos. The municipality has an area of 554.265 km2. Municipality The municipality Pylos-Nestora ...

Messenia Messenia or Messinia ( ; ) is a regional unit (''perifereiaki enotita'') in the southwestern part of the Peloponnese region, in Greece. Until the implementation of the Kallikratis plan on 1 January 2011, Messenia was a prefecture (''nomos' ...

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

. It is situated in the southwestern tip of the

Peloponnese The Peloponnese ( ), Peloponnesus ( ; , ) or Morea (; ) is a peninsula and geographic region in Southern Greece, and the southernmost region of the Balkans. It is connected to the central part of the country by the Isthmus of Corinth land bridg ...

peninsula, 9 km east of Methoni and 37 km southwest of

Kalamata Kalamata ( ) is the second most populous city of the Peloponnese peninsula in southern Greece after Patras, and the largest city of the Peloponnese (region), homonymous administrative region. As the capital and chief port of the Messenia regiona ...

. It is most notable for its beautiful beaches which attract mostly Greek and other European visitors during the summer months. The community consists of the main village Foinikounta, the small villages Anemomylos, Chounakia, Grizokampos and Loutsa, and the island of

Schiza Schiza () is a Greek island off the southwestern coast of the Peloponnese. According to 2011 census, the island is uninhabited. Administratively it is part of the municipality of Pylos-Nestor in Messenia. It is the largest island of the Messenian ...

Population

History

It is believed to have been founded by the

Phoenicians Phoenicians were an ancient Semitic group of people who lived in the Phoenician city-states along a coastal strip in the Levant region of the eastern Mediterranean, primarily modern Lebanon and the Syrian coast. They developed a maritime civi ...

. The ancient town Phoenicus (Φοινικούς) was mentioned by Pausanias as a port west of Cape Akritas. Pausanias ''Description of Greece'' 4.34.12 It is believed that it was a small commercial port where the fishers of ''

murex trunculus ''Hexaplex trunculus'' (previously known as ''Murex trunculus'', ''Phyllonotus trunculus'', or the banded dye-murex) is a medium-sized sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Muricidae, the murex shells or rock snails. It is include ...

'' (a sea snail from which a known indigo dye is produced) could trade their product and has vanished in our days. The present village was founded in the 1840s by inhabitants of Lachanada, that had fled from

Crete Crete ( ; , Modern Greek, Modern: , Ancient Greek, Ancient: ) is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the List of islands by area, 88th largest island in the world and the List of islands in the Mediterranean#By area, fifth la ...

and Arcadians from Crisovitsi. It was initially called Taverna, after a tavern in the village. It received its present name in 1930. The main resources of the inhabitants are agriculture and tourism, which has flourished since the 1980s. Each of the three long sandy beaches in Foinikounta has been rated a Red Flag beach.

References

External links

*http://www.methoni.gr/ *http://www.finikunda.com/ {{Phoenician cities and colonies, state=collapsed Populated places in Messenia Pylos-Nestor Cities in ancient Greece Ancient Messenia Phoenician colonies in Greece

Population

History

See also

References

External links