Sporades

Template:For Template:Infobox Greece place The (Northern) SporadesTemplate:Efn are an archipelago along the east coast of Greece, northeast of the island of Euboea,<ref name=EBskyr>"Skyros - Britannica Concise" (description), Britannica Concise, 2006, webpage: EB-Skyros notes "including Skiathos, Skopelos, Skyros, and Alonnisos."</ref> in the Aegean Sea. They consist of 24 islands, four of which are permanently inhabited: Alonnisos, Skiathos, Skopelos and Skyros.<ref name=EBskyr/> They may also be referred to as the Thessalian Sporades (Template:Lang).

Etymology

"Sporades" means "those scattered" (compare with "sporadic").<ref>Pomponius Mela, Chorographia, 2.111</ref> From Classical Antiquity the name has referred to the Aegean island groups outside the central archipelago of the Cyclades.

Geography

File:Aegean Sea with island groups labeled.gif

The Sporades within the Aegean Sea

File:Nördliche Sporaden topo.png

Northern Sporades

In modern geographical parlance, there are five different Sporades groups:

• Thessalian Sporades (Template:Lang) or Northern Sporades. Since Template:Circa 1960, the term "Sporades" refers mainly to these islands:
  • Skopelos
  • Alonnisos
  • Skiathos
  • Skyros
  • Kyra Panagia
  • Peristera
  • Gioura
  • Skantzoura
  • Piperi
  • Tsougria
• Saronic Islands or Western Sporades(Template:Lang): Salamis, Aigina, Poros, Hydra, Spetses, and the other islands of the Saronic Gulf and the Myrtoan Sea.
• Southern Sporades (Template:Lang), i.e. the Dodecanese, to which group Samos and Ikaria are sometimes appended.
• Eastern Sporades or Anatolic Sporades (Template:Lang), i.e. the islands of the eastern and northeastern Aegean, near the coast of Asia Minor: Samos, Ikaria, Lesbos, Chios, Tenedos, Psara, Oinousses and smaller island groups.
• Thracian Sporades (Template:Lang): Thasos, Samothrace, Imbros, Lemnos and Agios Efstratios.

The two latter groups together form the North Aegean islands.

Administration

As part of the 2011 Kallikratis government reform, the Sporades Regional Unit (Template:Lang) was created out of part of the former Magnesia Prefecture, region of Thessaly. The regional unit is subdivided into 3 municipalities. These are:<ref name=Kallikratis>Template:Cite web</ref>

• Skiathos (1)
• Skopelos (3)
• Alonnisos (2)

The island of Skyros and a few uninhabited islets in its area are part of the Euboea regional unit and the administrative region of Central Greece.

See also

• List of islands of Greece

Sources

• "Skyros – Britannica Concise" (description), Britannica Concise, 2006, webpage: EB-Skyros.

External links

• Skiathos Villas Template:In lang
• Sporades The Official website of the Greek National Tourism Organisation
• Skopelos island Travel Guide since 1999
• Alonnisos island Travel Guide

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