Kárpathos

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Kárpathos

island, Greece

Also known as: Scarpanto

Written and fact-checked by The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica

Article History

Italian:: Scarpanto

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Kárpathos, island of the Dodecanese (Modern Greek: Dodekánisa) group in the Aegean Sea, southeastern Greece. With neighbouring islands, it constitutes the perifereiakí enótita (regional unit) and dímos (municipality) of Kárpathos in the South Aegean (Nótio Aigaío) periféreia (region). The principal town of the 116-square-mile (301-square-kilometre) island is Pigádhia in the south behind Pigádhia Bay. Closely tied to the island of Rhodes in antiquity and the Middle Ages, the island was under Venetian rule from 1306 to about 1540, when it fell to the Turks. In 1912 it passed to Italy; after World War II it was awarded to Greece.

The inhabitants of the rocky island, which is treeless except in the south, are engaged mostly in farming, horticulture, and grazing, but there is some fishing. Their Greek dialect, containing ancient Doric as well as modern Italian words, resembles that of Rhodes (Ródos) and Cyprus. Pop. (2001) municipality, 6,565; (2011) municipality, 6,226.

This article was most recently revised and updated by Jeff Wallenfeldt.