Archaeological finds proved that the island was inhabited
during the Neolithic times and that the Minoans had a
great influence on the civilisation that lived there;
some ones even believe that the Minoans settled on Karpathos.
The remains of the acropolis at Arkasa built by the Mycenaeans after arriving on the island during the 14th century
BC, followed by the Phoenicians.
Then the Dorians settled on Karpathos around 1000 BC and
brought great prosperity to it, developing four fortified
cities.
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The island of Karpathos owned Karpathos during the Hellenistic
period.
Then various invaders succeeded: first came the Romans,
followed by the Arabs, the Sericucians, the Mauritanians,
the Genovese pirate Moresco, the Venetians and the Ottomans.
But the Turks were never interested in the improvement
and maintenance of Karpathos and never inhabited it; they
just sent officers to collect the taxes, once in a while.
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The
island of Karpathos became independent in 1823, becoming
a province of Santorini.
But, in 1830, the protocol of London gave the islands
of the Dodecanese (of which Karpathos is part) to the
Turks.
The Italians invaded the island in 1912.
They were joined by the Germans who came on Karpathos
in 1943, during World War II and left on the 4th of October
1944.
On the 5th of October 1944, the inhabitants of Karpathos
started to revolt against the Italians and managed to
free their island on the 17th of October 1944.
Karpathos became part of the independent Greek
State on the 7th of March 1948. |
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