Kastellórizo

Kastellórizo

Kastellórizo, Italian Castelrosso, officially Megísti, easternmost of the Dodecanese (Modern Greek: Dodekánisa) group of islands in the Aegean Sea, Greece, lying on the edge of the Aegean, where it meets the Levantine Sea, just off the southwestern coast of Turkey. Kastellórizo has an area of 3 square miles (7.3 square km). Its present name is a corruption of Château-Roux (”Red Castle”), given it by the medieval Knights of Rhodes and inspired by its red rocks. Some grapes and olives are grown on the island, but sponge fishing is the chief economic activity. The coastline is precipitous and accessible only on the east side, site of the one village, Kastellórizo. The island was occupied successively by the Knights of St. John, the sultan of Egypt, and the king of Naples. The Turks occupied it from 1512 except for brief intervals until 1915. It was the only Dodecanese island not ceded to Turkey in 1918, but it was captured by the French during World War I and given to Italy under the treaties of Sèvres and Lausanne (1923). Since 1920 it has shared the fortunes of the Dodecanese.