Kalydon (Greek: Καλυδών) is an uninhabited island area near to and belonging to
Elounda,
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 ...
,
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 made up of the island of
Spinalonga
Spinalonga () is an island in the Gulf of Elounda, north-eastern Crete, in the municipality of Agios Nikolaos, Crete, Agios Nikolaos, Lasithi, next to the town of Plaka in the area of Kalydon (Elounda), Kalydon.
It is near the Spinalonga peninsu ...
, the
Peninsula Spinalonga and the island of
Kolokythas along with other smaller islets. The term Kalydon is often applied to each of the Spinalonga islands as their alternate historic name that was further re-established in modern Greek naming, whilst Spinalonga is still the preferred naming in the public.
In 1834, a population of 81 Muslim families is attested in the area. After the
1866 revolution a lot of other
Cretan Muslims
The Cretan Muslims or Cretan Turks ( or , or ; , , or ; ) were the Muslim inhabitants of the island of Crete. Their descendants settled principally in Turkey, the Dodecanese Islands under Italian administration (part of Greece since 1947), S ...
from other areas moved in. During the
Cretan revolt of 1878, only Spinalonga and the fortress at
Ierapetra
Ierapetra (; ancient name: ) is a Greece, Greek city and municipality located on the southeast coast of Crete.
History
The town of Ierapetra (in the local dialect: Γεράπετρο ''Gerapetro'') is located on the southeast coast of Crete, sit ...
were not taken by the Christian Cretan insurgents. In 1881 the 1112 Muslims formed their own community. When the island Spinalonga became a
leper colony
A leper colony, also known by many other names, is an isolated community for the quarantining and treatment of lepers, people suffering from leprosy.
'' M. leprae'', the bacterium responsible for leprosy, is believed to have spread from East ...
in 1903, the last
Turks left the place.
Islands of Greece
Landforms of Crete
Landforms of Lasithi
Uninhabited islands of Greece
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