Helping San Diego, California and beyond since 1997.
Do you need
volunteer, community service, work, military or court hours?
|
|
Helping San Diego, California and beyond since 1997.
|
|
Click here and add this page to your favorites!
|
Encyclopedia Britannica - Main :: CAU-CHA |
|
|
CEPHALONIA (Ital. Cefalonia, ancient and modern official Greek Cephallenia, KeaXMvia) , an island belonging to the kingdom of Greece, and the largest of those known as the Ionian Islands, situated on the west side of the mainland, almost directly opposite the Gulf of Corinth. The name was traditionally derived from Cephalus, the Attic hero who was regarded as having colonized the island. The tradition, which is repeated by Aristotle, is probably due solely to the similarity of the names (see J. G. Frazer, Pausanias, i. 37, 6 note). Pop. (1907) 71,235. Its extreme length is 31 m., and its breadth varies from about 20 M. in the southern portion to 3 m. or less in the projecting part, which runs parallel with the island of Ithaca, at a distance of about 4 m: across the strait of Guiscardo or Viscaro. The whole island, with its area of 348 English sq. m., is covered with rocky hills of varying elevation
Mount
chief
Pale ; while on the other side of the island are the remains of Samos on the bay of the same name, of Proni or Pronni, farther south above the vale of Rakli and its blossoming oleanders, and of an unknown city near the village
of Cephalonia have all along been extremely active; and no slight amount of toil has been expended in the construction of terraces on the steep sides of the hills. Owing to the thinness of the population, however, but a small proportion of the soil is under cultivation, and the quantity of grain grown in the island is comparatively-meagre. The staple is the currant, in the production of which the island surpasses Zante. The fruit is smaller than that of the Morea, and has a peculiar flavour; it finds a market mainly in Holland, Belgium and Germany. The grape vine also is grown, and the manufacture of wine is a rising industry. The olive crop is of considerable importance, and the culture of cotton
work
In the Homeric poems Cephalonia is generally supposed to be mentioned under the name of Same, and its inhabitants, among the subjects of Ulysses, to be designated Cephallenes (see, however, under ITHACA). In the Persian War they took but little part; in the Peloponnesian they sided with the Athenians. The town of Pale was vainly besieged by Philip of Macedon in 218 B.C., because it had supported the Aetolian cause. In 189 B.C. all the cities surrendered to the Romans, but Same afterwards revolted, and was only reduced after a siege of four months. The island was presented by Hadrian to Athens, but it appears again at a later date as " free and autonomous." After the division of the Roman empire, it continued attached to Byzantium till 1082, when it was captured by Robert Guiscard, who died, however, before he could repress the revolt of 1o85. In 1204 it was assigned to Gains, prince of Tarentum, who accepted the protection of Venice in 1215; and after 1225 it was held along with Santa Maura and Zante by a succession of five counts of the Tocco family at Naples. Formally made over to Venice in 1350 by the prince of Tarentum, it was afterwards captured by the Turks in 1479; but the Hispanico-Venetian fleet
Cordova effected their expulsion in 1500, and the island continued in Venetian possession till the fall of the republic. For some time it was administered for the French government, but in 1809 it was taken by the British under Cuthbert, Lord Collingwood. Till 1813 it was in the hands of Major de Bosset, a Swiss in the British service, who displayed an industry and energy in the repression of injustice and development of civilization only outdone by the despotic vigour of Sir Charles Napier, who held the same office for the nine years from 1818 to 1827. During the British protectorate the island made undoubted advances in material prosperity, but was several times the scene of political disturbances. It retained longer than the sister islands traces of feudal influence exerted by the landed proprietors, but has been gradually becoming more democratic. Under the Venetians it was divided into eight districts, and an elaborate system of police was in force; since its annexation to Greece it has been broken up into twenty demarchies, each with its separate jurisdiction and revenues, and the police system has been abolished.End of Article: CEPHALONIA (Ital. Cefalonia, ancient and modern official Greek Cephallenia, KeaXMvia) If you wish, you can link directly to this article.
<a href="http://jcsm.org/StudyCenter/Encyclopedia/CAU_CHA/CEPHALONIA_Ital_Cefalonia_anci.html"> CEPHALONIA (Ital. Cefalonia, ancient and modern... </a> |
|
|
(Previous) CEPHALIC INDEX |
(Next) CEPHALOPODA |
|
Sponsored Advertisements