Psara
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The Greek island of Psara (Greek Ψαρά (n. pl. ) ), Together with the uninhabited island Andipsara and other uninhabited islets community Psara ( Δήμος Ψαρών ) in the North Aegean region.
Psara is hilly and vegetationsarm. Almost all permanent residents live in the main town of the same name, which lies on a protected bay in the south of the island. While the island still had one of the most important fleets of the Aegean in the 18th century, the present-day inhabitants live mainly from fishing and agriculture. Tourism plays on Psara despite numerous beaches only a subordinate role.
Geography
Psara located in the northern part of the Aegean Sea about 22 km west of the northwest coast of the island of Chios and 150 km north-east of Athens. The archipelago is made up of a dozen islands, besides Andipsara these are Kato Nisi ( Κάτω Νησί ), Ai Nikolakis ( Αϊ Νικολάκης ) Daskalio ( Δασκαλειό ) Mastrogiorgi ( Μαστρογιώργη ) Prasonisi ( Πρασονήσι ) and some smaller rocks.
The maximum length of the main island is in an area of 40.467 km ² around 10 km from NW to SE and 8 km from NE to SW. Its highest point is the 531 meter high mountain Prophet Elias in the northeast of the island. Besides Andipsara after West approximately 3.5 kilometers long from north-east, is only slightly larger Kato Nisi with a length of approximately 1 miles, all other islands have a diameter of only about 100 meters or less.
The hills and the eastern, northeastern and southern coastal cliffs of the main island consist exclusively of phyllite, some parts of the west coast of volcanic rock. Only the plains to the south coast towards consist of gravel, sand and clay and are available for purchase.
The island is highly dry, there are only a few ponds and no permanent watercourses.
History
The earliest evidence of human presence date back to the Neolithic period. The extensive excavations between 2000 and 2005 under the direction of Aglaia Archontidou show on the West Coast at Archontiki using numerous tombs from the end of the Neolithic and the Early Bronze Age the settlement. In the Late Bronze Age (1400-1100 BC) dated a well-organized Mycenaean settlement with houses, storerooms and a necropolis from the 8th to the 5th century. BC with rich grave goods. The findings of the burial ground with glass objects and materials fayenceähnlichen testify to the existence of a rich and prosperous Mycenaean settlement in the northeastern Aegean Sea. The finds are exhibited in the Archaeological Museum of Chios.
According to the negotiated the Treaty of Küçük Kaynarca contract provisions Greek shipowners in the Mediterranean and the Black Sea region free trade was allowed under the Russian flag. In addition to the islands of Spetses and Hydra to Psara developed in the 18th century the most important Greek merchant fleets. Psara participated in the Greek War of Independence began in 1821 and experienced 21 Junijul. / July 3 1824greg. their darkest day, when the island was occupied by the Turks, and about 15,000 inhabitants were killed or expelled and the city was destroyed. The poet Dionysios Solomos themed this in a famous poem, I Katastrofi ton Psaron ( Η καταστροφή των Ψαρών, The destruction of Psara '). From this disaster, the island has not been able to recover. Today, many descendants of the former inhabitants in Athens or live overseas.
The census results of 2011 show for the neighbor island Andipsara of 4 inhabitants, making it the small neighboring island of Psara inhabited for the first time since the 1950s.
Management and community
The rural community of Psara was founded in 1918 as Palea Psara ( Κοινότητα Παλαιών Ψαρών ). Through the incorporation of the island Andipsara learned the municipal area in 1940 an extension. The renaming of rural municipality ( Κοινότητα Ψαρών ) and the main town in Psara was 1960. The status of a municipality ( Dimos Psaron Δήμος Ψαρών ) received Psara 1984. Through the incorporation of the surrounding islands in 2001, the community reached its current dimensions. Together with the municipalities of Chios and Inousses forms the municipality Psara since the implementation of the administrative reform in 2010 the Regional District of Chios ( Chios Periferiaki Enotita Περιφερειακή Ενότητα Χίου ).
Flora
The flora of Psara includes verified at around 331 species of vascular plants, the total population is estimated at around 400 species, approximately 66 % of annual herbaceous plants. Endemics are missing. Extremely high is the proportion of so-called Anthropophyten: 34 % of the species are considered to be naturalized and wild by humans and only 44 % as native.
The vegetation of the island is extremely monotonous; many of the plant species, which are often under similar conditions in the region, are completely absent here. Forests missing, trees are rare and always planted. The only significant vegetation that is at least half of course, is the species-poor, 15 to 30 centimeters high Phrygana, the shrub layer of Centaurea spinosa, Poterium spinosum, Cistus creticus, Asparagus aphyllus and Thymelaea hirsuta is dominated and the largely extremely dry hills completely covered. Condenses on the more sheltered places, the shrub layer is up to one meter high and dominate eg Calicotome villosa and Anthyllis hermanniae.
Only three natural and deviating from this vegetation, special habitats exist on the island, namely sandy coastal areas, rocky coast and dry river beds. In the latter, oleander find ( Nerium oleander) and Vitex agnus castus.
In floristic terms Werner Greuter Psara called " overwhelming banal ". In Overall, the flora of the island is hardly related to the floras of other ostägäischer islands or Anatolia, but rather with those of the Cyclades. Greuter attributes this to the fact that the island is probably for a very long time already isolated from the continents, their original flora impoverished and was then replaced by plant species that einschleppte man or that are distributed on long distances.