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 Location |
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Pano Koufonissi (Ano Koufonisi) is the smallest of the islands among the Small Cyclades, being only 3.5 square kilometers. This island is separated from Naxos only by a 200 meter straight.
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Pano Koufonissi consists of a small settlement on its south-east side of about 260 inhabitants. The main industry in fishing, and has the largest fleet in Greece, in direct proportion to the population.
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It is known that Koufinisi was inhabited from early recorded history. Tombs and artifacts have been found dating from the early Cycladic, Hellenistic and Roman periods. Unfortunately, these tombs fell prey to tomb raiders and little is left. During the Middle Ages and up to Greek statehood, these islands were fought over by the Byzantine Empire, Ottomans, Venetians and the Moors.
During the later years of the Ottoman Empire, the Small Cyclades became preying gounds for pirates. A poem written by an Amorgos resident ( c 1824) damns those "Koufonisi pirates".
In the intervening years, after the abandonment of the Turks, the island was settled mainly by people from Amorgos, under the authority of the Monastery of Hozoviotissa of Amorgos. The monastery would lease lands to the peasants who in exchange would give tribute to the monks, but eventually the land passed to the islanders themselves.
During World War II, the Small Cyclades were considered too small and insignificant to have a permanent occupying garrison by either the Germans or Italians, so the islands knew little of the ravages of war. Although, a German war plane did crash land near to the main port.
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 Religion |
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This topic is not island-specific. It applies to the nation of Greece.
Orthodox Christianity is the recognized dominant religion of Greece and it is legally protected by the state. This has caused legal discrimination against non-Orthodox Churches, and although the constitution of 1975 removed the power of most of the old laws against Protestants, problems still exist today. There is a lot of fear towards anything outside of the Orthodox Church, especially on the islands. However, repeated rulings of the European Court of Justice in favour of religious minorities in cases of discrimination have led to a relative increase of the freedoms that these religious minorities now enjoy.
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 Prayer |
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* For the Spirit of God to bring revival.
* For more Christian workers
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 Miscellaneous |
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Places of interest one should visit include:
* The beaches - there are four superb stretches of beaches within thirty minute walks of the village.
* Local fish dishes
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 Resources |
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www.greektravel.com
www.in2greece.com
www.hri.org
www.almiyachts.com
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