Rhodes

For other uses, see Rhodes (disambiguation).

Palace of the Grand Master of the Kinghts of St. John

Rhodes is a Greek island, belonging to the Dodecanese island group. In Greek it is called Rhodos.

The largest cities are Rhodes City in the north and Lindos in the south-east. About 125,000 people live on Rhodes. It has an international airport in Paradisi in the north, near to Rhodes (city).

First settlement were on Rhodes at the 16th century before Christ. Rhodes was an important Fort for the Knights of St. John in their war against the Turkish invasion. In 1644 the Turkish occupied Rhodes.

1912 Italy won the Dodecanese from Turkey, 1943 Germany took them over, 1945 the British. Since 1946 the islands have belonged to Greece.

Rhodes lives mostly on tourism industry now.

History

During antiquity, Rhodes was an ancient Greek state. Rhodes' people belonged to the Greek race of Dorians. In those days there were three important towns in the island - Lindos, Kameiros and Ialysos. Later, during the fourth century B.C., Rhodes city was founded. Between the third and first century B.C. Rhodes was a powerful state.

In the first century, Rhodes was conquered by the Romans. Later it came under Byzantine rule. In the Middle Ages, it was conquered by the Knights of St. John, who were crusaders. They built the big castles in the city of Rhodes. Later, it came under Turkish rule, Italian rule and in the year 1946 was united with Greece.