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Location:
Europe,
Greece, Zakynthos / Zante
Category:
Famous Landmark
Description:
View of the port on the Ionian
island of Zakynthos, Zante, Greek
Islands
Location Information:
Zakynthos was inhabited from the
Neolithic Age, as some
archaeological excavations have
proved.
The famous ancient Greek poet and
writer, Homer, first mentioned the
island in his masterpieces, the
Iliad and the Odyssey, stating that
the first inhabitants of it were the
son of King Dardanos of Troy called
Zakynthos and his men and that they
first came on the island around
1500-1600 BC
The island was then conquered by the
Great Imperial King Arkeisios of
Kefalonia. The famous Ulysses
(Odysseus in Greek) from Ithaca was
the next King to conquer the island.
Later on, a treaty was signed that
made Zakynthos an independent
democracy, the first established in
the Hellenic area, and that lasted
more than 650 years.
Zakynthos, along with the rest of
the Ionian islands, spent centuries
as a subject of the Republic of
Venice and other Italian
principalities. Italian rule
protected the island from Ottoman
domination but in its place it put a
feudal oligarchy. The cultural
influence of Italy (and of Italian
on local dialect) was considerable.
The wealthy made a habit of sending
their sons to Italy to be educated.
A good example is Dionysios Solomos,
a native of Zakynthos and Greece's
national poet
Local
Weather:
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