Ikaría

Area of island: 255 sq. km / 98 sq. mi

Altitude: 1,037m/3,402ft

Population: 8,900

Chief town: Áyios Kyrikos

Ikaría (Turkish Nikarya), a largely barren island 40km/25mi long and up to 8km/5mi wide, lies in the northeastern Aegean some 18km/11mi southwest of Sámos. The whole length of the island is occupied by the bare Athéras range (1,037m/3,402ft), which falls steeply down to the sea on the south coast. The northern slopes of the hills, covered with a macchia of oak and spruce and slashed by fertile valleys with an abundance of water, fall away more gently to the coast, on which there are a number of small unsheltered bays. The inhabitants, mostly concentrated on the north side of the island, live by farming and fishing. Ikaría has preserved much of its distinctive character.

The name of the island recalls the story of Ikaros, son of Daidalos, the Attic sculptor and inventor during Minoan times. According to legend, Ikaros, wearing wings his father had made from feathers bound together with wax, flew too near the sun and plunged to his death in the sea near here. Local legends tell a different tale: that he died when his ship, with great white sails, sank in a storm.

Ikaría was settled from Miletus in the eighth century B.C., when the towns of Oinoe, Histoi, Therma and Drakanon were founded.

In Byzantine times Ikaría was used as a place of exile. Later it was held by various Frankish and Genoese barons; in 1481 it passed to the Knights of St John and in 1567 it was captured by the Turks.

On July 17th, 1912, after a successful rising against Turkish rule, the inhabitants proclaimed the free state of Ikaría, which soon afterwards joined the kingdom of Greece.

There is regular boat service between Athens (Piraeus) and Rhodes six times weekly in each direction, as well as calls at Aàyios Kyàrikos. Local boat connections with Sámos, Foúrni and Pátmos.