Chios

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fertile southern part of the island, where olives, vines, figs and citrus fruits are grown. The island's major crop, however, is mastic, the aromatic resin of the mastic or lentisk tree (Pistacia lentiscus L.), which was already being exported in ancient times, making an important contribution to the island's prosperity. Apart from agriculture, the island's prosperity depends on commerce and shipping: something like a third of the Greek merchant fleet is based on Chios.

Excavation has yielded evidence of human settlement reaching back to the fourth millennium B.C. In the eighth century B.C., Ionian Greeks settled on Chios and made it one of the wealthiest and most important members of the Ionian League of cities which was established around 700 B.C. In the sixth century B.C. an important school of sculptors was active on the island. From 512 to 479, Chios was under Persian rule, and thereafter became a member of the Attic maritime league, but was able to maintain its independence. In this period Chios is believed to have had a population of 30,000 free men and 100,000 slaves, and the islanders grew wealthy from viniculture, commerce and industry (Chian beds). In 412 B.C., Chios broke away from Athens, and in 392 from Sparta; in 377 it became the first member of the second Attic maritime league, but soon left it. Under the Romans, with whom it sided in 190 B.C., it still maintained its independence. Held from 1204 to 1304 by the Venetians and later by the Genoese, Chios became Turkish in 1566. The popularity, in the Sultan's harem, of the mastic which grew on the island and of the sweets made from it gave Chios a special status - although no Greeks were allowed to live within the Turkish citadel. In addition to its mastic, Chios was famed for its silk weaving, which also contributed to the island's prosperity. Throughout their eventful history, the Chians showed themselves to be skilled seamen and shrewd businessmen. They took an active part in the struggle for liberation from the Turks, and Chios was the scene in 1822 of the bloody massacres depicted in a famous painting by Delacroix. Severe devastation was caused by an earthquake in 1881. In November, 1912, during the Balkan War, a Greek squadron appeared off the island and captured it after a brief resistance by the Turks. After WWI, Chios lost its economic hinterland in Turkey and had to give asylum to many Greeks expelled from Asia Minor.

A special celebration is held on New Year's Eve. The island's seamen carry model ships (2-3m/6-10ft long, with lamps and flags) round the town, singing carols.

Air connections with Athens several times daily; also with Lésbos, Mykonos and Sámos. Regular boat services run several times weekly from Athens (Piraeus); local connections with the neighboring islands of Inoúsai and Psará. Ferry service to Cesme (Turkey).