Hydra (island)

Geography

General information

Hydra is only one assembly line of a score of kilometers length on 2 to 3,5 km broad. Its point highest, the Eros Mount or Vigla culminates to 593 Mr. Except three handles, the coast of the island is rock and inhospitable. The interior, mountainous is rocky and not very fertile. The gray hills often finish out of cliffs at the edge of the mer.
Water, in spite of the name of the island (Hydra or Hydréa, it “sprinkled well”) always seems to have missed. The name could be then ironic.

The island is separated from Argolide by an arm of the sea called “ Kolpos Idras ”.

Transport

Hydra is with 37 marine miles of the Pirée. One goes there in flying dolphin , of the Greek boats Hydrojet S and Hydroptère S, in flying cat or simple ferry. The ferries spend three hours to carry out the way, other half less time. The island is also connected to Égine, Poros, Spetses, Nauplie and Monemvasia.

Cities and villages

If the town of Hydra seems to be the only agglomeration of the island, it is not completely the case.

Hydra is the main port and the only city of the island. Sheltered at the bottom of a bay which one discovers only at the last time, it is staged in amphitheater around the handle. It was protected, with the entry of the port, by guns which one can still see. The historical residence of Tombazis shelters the appendix of the School of the Art schools of Athens. On the quay, the monastery of Kimissis Theotokou shelters the principal church of the island.
Kaminia with ¾ of hour to foot of Hydra towards the West is a hamlet of fishermen.
Mandraki at one hour with foot of Hydra towards the East is the port where the shipyards were with XVIIIe and XIXe centuries.

Curiosities

One finds in the vicinity there a cave giving on the sea from where one can plunge of a height of approximately 4,50 meters. The rock beach is arranged and concreted. A staircase borders the sea for those which want to learn how to plunge.

History

Hydra remained a long time in margin of the great movements of the history, of Antiquity to the Middle Ages. It really started to be made known thanks to its commercial power as from the XVIIe century. At the XIXe century, with the fact of its power, the navy hydriote counted 125 ships and more than 10.000 marins.

Prehistory, antiquity and Byzantine period

It would seem that no legend, no god, no hero, no event mythological is attached to the island of Hydra.

The presence of country habitat (farmers and shepherds) is attested in second half of the third millennium before our era on the few small invisible plains since the sea. Obsidienne coming from Milo was found on Hydra.
During the period mycénienne, Hydra would have been used as a basis naval for the continental kingdoms. Fragments of vases, tools and a head of idol were found on the Chorissa Mount. The great shift in population bringing the Doriens in Greece towards XIIe century before our era involved the depopulation of the island. It would have been repopulated by peasants and shepherds, perhaps by the continental port of Hermione, towards VIIIe century before our era.

Hérodote teaches us that towards the Life century before our era, the island belonged to Hermione which sold it with Samos which in its turn yielded it to Trézène.

It is known that the island was populated during the Byzantine period (vases and currencies discovered with the Episkopi locality). It would seem that Hydra completely depopulated at the time of the franque period of domination, mainly because of the danger Pirate. The inhabitants of the islands folded up themselves then towards the interior of the grounds, which was not possible on Hydra. It is known that the island was uninhabited in XVe century when Albanian orthodoxe fleeing the Othoman conquest found refuge there.

Commercial and naval power

The island presenting little interest, it was relatively saved by the Othoman domination . Its naval and commercial development started then. The first school of merchant navy of Hydra would have been founded towards 1645. It would seem that the first ship truly hydriote was launched in 1657.
The confrontation between Venice and the Ottoman Empire at the XVIIe century limited this rise, until in 1718 and the Traité of Passarowitz.

In first half of the XVIIIe century, Hydra built the same ships as the other islands of the Égée: the sachtouri (15 to 20 barrels) and the latinadiko (40 to 50 barrels). Hydriotes were then satisfied to sail in Égée, pushing with further until Constantinople. The great change occurred in 1757, when a ship of 250 barrels was launched. The island became an important commercial port then. In the 1771,50 ships come from all the Greece were listed at the same time in its roads. In 1781, the island armed 100 bâtiments.
But, the commercial rise of Hydra was blocked by the Ottoman Empire, on several plans. The very heavy taxes and taxes required by the Door limited inclinations of development. The freedom of trade itself was limited by the Othoman administration. The Straits (Dardanelles and the Bosphorus) giving access to the Black Sea and corn of the large plains were blocked with maritime circulation not-Othoman. The Traité of Kutchuk-Kaïnardji modified this irrefutable fact. The Russia obtained Ottoman Empire the right to protect the Orthodoxe ones from the Empire. This religious protection had a commercial corrolaire: Hydriotes sailed consequently under Russian house. The Treaty had also granted commercial freedom of movement in the Straits. Hydra extended its commercial surface: it went from the South of Russia to the Italian ports of Ancône and Leghorn. The ships hydriotes were then satisfied however to transport the marchandises.
As from 1785, the ship-owners of Hydra launched out in the commercial investment. Each ship became a commercial small company. Very quickly, the commercial exchanges of Raising depended on the ships of Hydra, but also of Spetses and Psara.

During the revolutionary wars Wars of the and Napoleonean, the tradind ships of Hydra broke the British blockade regularly to deliver corn of the Peloponnese to Marseilles. The fortune of the ship-owners of the island increased considerably then. The benefit (divided equitably between the ship-owners, the captains and the sailors) could then reach 400% of the sums invested at the beginning.

The war of Greek independence

Hydra played a determining role at the time of the Guerre of Greek independence. The scathing attacks hydriotes of Andreas Miaoulis did many damage to the fleet ottomane.
After the independence, the island reconverts itself into fishing with the sponges.

Personalities of the island

Historical personalities

Lazaros Koundouriotis which spent all its fortune to arm a fleet at the time of the war with independence
Georgios Koundouriotis, his/her brother
Andreas Miaoulis (1768-1835), admiral of the Greek fleet
Emmanuel Tombazis
Anastassios Tsamados, captain of the Arès , died with the Bataille of Sphactérie (1825), by breaking the égypto-turcque line.
Dimitrios Voulgaris

Contemporary personalities

The large Canadian poet Leonard Cohen lived this island.

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