Souda Bay () is a bay and natural harbour near the town of

Souda Souda () is a town and former municipality in the Chania regional unit, Crete, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Chania, of which it is a municipal unit. The municipal unit has an area of . It is an imp ...

on the northwest coast of 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

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 ...

. The bay is about 15 km long and only two to four km wide, and a deep natural harbour. It is formed between the Akrotiri peninsula and Cape Drapano, and runs west to east. The bay is overlooked on both sides by hills, with a relatively low and narrow

isthmus An isthmus (; : isthmuses or isthmi) is a narrow piece of land connecting two larger areas across an expanse of water by which they are otherwise separated. A tombolo is an isthmus that consists of a spit or bar, and a strait is the sea count ...

in the west near

Chania Chania (, , ), also sometimes romanization of Greek, romanized as Hania, is a city in Greece and the capital of the Chania (regional unit), Chania regional unit. It lies along the north west coast of the island Crete, about west of Rethymno ...

. Near the mouth of Souda bay, between the Akrotiri and the town of Kalives, there is a group of small islands with Venetian fortifications. The largest island is Souda Island, giving its name to the bay. Souda Bay is now a popular tourist destination although there are no formal public beaches designed in the area, due to the presence of the Crete Naval Base, a major naval installation of the Hellenic Navy and NATO in the eastern

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea ( ) is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern ...

. Villages such as Megala Chorafia and Kalives afford fine views of the bay, and house-building, particularly for foreigners and tourist companies, is spreading along the bay.

History

Ancient and Medieval

There have been port facilities on the bay since ancient times, previously serving the city of Aptera. Aptera was founded in the 7th century BC and was an important city during the ancient and early

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire centred on Constantinople during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Having survived the events that caused the fall of the Western Roman E ...

periods. It was destroyed by the

Saracens file:Erhard Reuwich Sarazenen 1486.png, upright 1.5, Late 15th-century History of Germany, German woodcut depicting Saracens ''Saracen'' ( ) was a term used both in Greek language, Greek and Latin writings between the 5th and 15th centuries to ...

in the 820s AD. The nearest large ancient city was

Kydonia Kydonia ( or ), also known as Cydonia (, ''Kydōnía'') was an ancient city located at the site of present-day Chania near the west end of the island of Crete in Greece. The city is known from archaeological remains dating back to the Minoan e ...

, which flourished in the

Minoan The Minoan civilization was a Bronze Age culture which was centered on the island of Crete. Known for its monumental architecture and Minoan art, energetic art, it is often regarded as the first civilization in Europe. The ruins of the Minoan pa ...

era on Crete; moreover, during a portion of the first millennium BC Kydonia held influence over Aptera.

Venetian rule

The Venetians occupied the area in 1207. In 1571 an Ottoman military force landed at Souda and caused major destruction in the

area. The Venetians fortified Souda Island between 1570 and 1573, in order to protect the area from Ottoman raiders and pirates. However, Souda Bay remained a pirate infested area during the 15th, 16th and 17th centuries. The Venetians managed to hold on to the strategic islands within Souda Bay until 1715, over thirty years after the fall of Crete to the Ottomans.

Ottoman rule

In 1822 an Egyptian army of approximately 10,000 under Hassan Pasha landed at Souda to defeat the Cretan Revolution of 1821. After the Cretan Revolution of 1866–69, the Ottomans built fortresses at Aptera ( Aptera Fortress) and Kalami ( Izzeddin Fortress), barracks, a military hospital and a naval base. They also built the town of

at the head of the bay, as the new port of the nearby city of

. The fortress at Kalami is still in use as prisons. The naval base was officially inaugurated in 1872, in the presence of Sultan Abdul Aziz.

Cretan State (1898–1913)

In the period of the semi-independent

Cretan State The Cretan State (; ) was an autonomous state governing the island of Crete from 1898 to 1913, under ''de jure'' suzerainty of the Ottoman Empire but with ''de facto'' independence secured by European Great Powers. In 1897, the Cretan Revolt (18 ...

the area attracted international interest, as it offered port facilities to foreign naval vessels enforcing the Cretan autonomy. The first High Commissioner, Prince George of Greece, disembarked at Souda Bay on December 9, 1898. The church of Saint Nicholas was built during this period.

Union with Greece to World War II (1913–1940)

In 1913, events marking the union of Crete with Greece took place on Souda Island. On February 1 the metallic Ottoman flag, the last symbol of Ottoman rule, was removed and replaced by the Greek flag on May 1. Also the ruined chapel was rebuilt and dedicated to Saint George. In 1916 the British liner SS ''Minnewaska'', requisitioned by the British Army as a troops carrier, struck a mine and was beached at Souda Bay. After 1923 the area was used as a Hellenic Army base, housing the artillery units of 5th Infantry Division.

1940–1945

During

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

British and Commonwealth troops withdrew from mainland Greece in April 1941 and 25,000 men, mainly from New Zealand and Australia, disembarked at Souda Bay. In May 1941, during the German attack named " Operation Merkur", Allied troops retreated from the Souda area to

Sfakia Sfakiá () is a mountainous area in the southwestern part of the island of Crete, in the Chania (regional unit), Chania regional unit. It is considered to be one of the few places in Greece that have never been fully occupied by foreign powers. ...

in the south of the island. The Germans occupied the area until 1945. The Souda Bay Allied War Cemetery, the principal Allied war cemetery of the island, designed by architect Louis de Soissons, is located at Souda.

Military installations

Souda Bay is the location of three major military installations: the

Hellenic Navy The Hellenic Navy (HN; , abbreviated ΠΝ) is the Navy, naval force of Greece, part of the Hellenic Armed Forces. The modern Greek navy historically hails from the naval forces of various Aegean Islands, which fought in the Greek War of Independ ...

's Crete Naval Station, which also houses the NATO Maritime Interidiction Operational Training Centre; the

Hellenic Air Force The Hellenic Air Force (HAF; , sometimes abbreviated as ΠΑ) is the air force of Greece (''Hellenic'' being the endonym for ''Greek'' in the Greek language). It is considered to be one of the largest air forces in NATO, and is globally placed 1 ...

's Souda Air Base on Akrotiri Peninsula, base of the 115th Combat Wing; and the NATO Missile Firing Installation.

Philately and postal history

During Turkish rule an Ottoman post office operated in Souda. Evidence (mailed covers) indicate that this post office was open throughout the 1890s. The Cretan State post office opened officially on 1 March 1912, although a postal agency operated there since 1908. A special local stamp depicting Souda Island was issued on November 15, 1913, to commemorate the union with Greece and was sold only by Cretan post offices. This stamp, printed by Bradbury Wilkinson and Company in the United Kingdom, is commonly called the "Souda Issue".

Notes and references

{{Coord, 35, 29, 0, N, 24, 08, 17, E , display=title , region:GR_type:waterbody Landforms of Chania (regional unit)