Rhodes

For other uses, seeRhodes (disambiguation).

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

Rhodesis aGreekisland, belonging to theDodecaneseisland group. In Greek it is calledRhodos.

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 toRhodes (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 theTurkishinvasion. In 1644 the Turkish occupied Rhodes.

1912Italywon theDodecanesefrom Turkey, 1943Germanytook them over, 1945 theBritish.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 ofDorians.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 theRomans.Later it came underByzantinerule. In theMiddle Ages,it was conquered by theKnights of St. John,who werecrusaders.They built the big castles in the city of Rhodes. Later, it came underTurkishrule,Italianrule and in the year 1946 was united withGreece.