Symi
is a member of the Dodecanese group of islands and lies 24 nautical
miles to the north east of Rhodes and 255 miles from Piraeus.
Its area is 67 square kilometres (26 square miles), with many
bays and headlands. Since the island is mountainous and arid,
the majority of its inhabitants used to be employed in the sponge
industry, shipping, fishing, shepherding and very small scale
farming. Nowadays the majority are engaged in tourism, commerce
and crafts, such as carpentry and boat - building. Its climate
is dry, temperate and healthy, creating suitable conditions for
ideal holidays. The history of the island begins in ancient and
mythological times. Its ancient names were Aigli, Metapontis and
Cariki. It is postulated that its first inhabitants were the Carians
and the Leleges.  Symi
is mentioned in The Iliad: King Nireus took part in the Trojan
war with three ships. Herodotus refers to her as being a member
of the Dorian Hexapolis (6 cities).
From 480 B.C. Symi belonged to the Athenian League. In the Roman
and Byzantine epochs her fortune was closely linked to that of
Rhodes. From 1309 the island entered upon a prosperous period
with the development of shipping, commerce, the sponge trade,
boat - building and other crafts. This period also saw the beginning
of her increase in urban growth, the beauty of which remains intact
to this day. The houses began to spread out from the castle area,
and at the same time people started to abandon many of their traditional
settlements.
The majority of the churches were also built during this time.
Turkish attacks were repulsed in 1457 and 1485. In 1522, realizing
that further resistance was in vain, and attempting to preserve
as much as they could; the people offered gifts to the sultan
and gained the grant, of many special privileges. Thus they achieved
freedom of religious expression and the use of their own language.
With the resulting advances in education and crafts.
In addition to these privileges, they won sponge fishing rights
throughout all the seas of the Ottoman Empire. They supported
the national war of independence and contributed funds to the
Greek fleet over a number of years; not to mention financial assistance
to Laskarina Bouboulina, Admiral Miaoulis, Themelis and others.
In 1832 Symi unwillingly returned to Turkish control, and people
reacted most strongly to this, in 1869 there was an attempt to
abrogate the special privileges; In 1875 and 1885 there were population
censuses: in 1908 Symi won her second battle to preserve her privileges,
resulting in victory for the other islands as well. In 1912 Turkish
dominion gave way to Italian control, which lasted until September
17th, 1943. From that date the island changed hands several times
between the British and the Germans, the British taking Symi for
the third time on September 25th 1944; on which day the castle
and the surrounding quarter of town were blown up. On May 8th,1945
the German surrender of the Dodecanese was signed on Symi. On
April lst,1947 a British Military Administration handed over to
a Greek one, and on March 7th, 1948 the Dodecanese were incorporated
into the Greek state.
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