Cyclades

Cyclades or Kikladhes, group of islands, southeastern Greece, in the Aegean Sea, southeast of Athens. The islands form both a geographical division and a department of Greece. In ancient times the Cyclades comprised the islands of Ándros, Delos, Mílos, Náxos, Páros, Kéa, Kíthnos, Míkonos, Sérifos, Sífnos, Síros, and Tínos. This group was regarded as forming a circle, with the island of Delos, considered sacred, at its center. The present-day Cyclades group includes, as well as the above, Ios, Amorgós, Thíra, Anáfi, and about 200 smaller islands, some of which were formerly grouped with the Sporades. The capital of the Cyclades is Ermoúpolis, on the island of Síros.

Wines, fruits, olive oil, wheat, and tobacco have been major agricultural products of the Cyclades. Mineral products have included marble, granite, pumice, fuller’s earth, emery, sulfur, and manganese and iron ores. The islands are mountainous, and with the exception of Náxos, the largest of the group, they are generally scantily watered and sparsely wooded. Delos, Mílos, and Thíra contain numerous ancient remains, many of which have been excavated by archaeologists. About 479 bc the Cyclades entered the federation of city-states that would become the Delian League as an Athenian dependency. In the 13th century ad the islands formed a major part of the Venetian duchy of the Archipelago. The Ottoman Empire succeeded in conquering the Cyclades in 1566, and the islands came under the control of Greece in 1829.