Attica’s insular landscape

The aim of this publication is to concisely present the maritime tradition of the islands and the regions which, as Municipalities, constitute the Network for the Cooperation of Municipalities of the Regional Unit of Attica Islands, namely the islands of the Argosaronic Gulf (Salamis, Aegina, Angistri, Poros, Hydra, Spetses), the peninsula of Methana and Troizinia, and Cythera-Anticythera . This group, which, prior to the implementation of the Kallikratis Programme (2011), belonged to the Prefecture of Piraeus, is one of the eight units of the Attica Region . Its total area does not exceed 879 square kilometres, while its permanent population, according to the 2011 census, amounts to 74,651 inhabitants . Although, at first glance, what connects the islands and regions of the Network primarily relates to State administrative organization of the last decades, their insular/coastal character in conjunction with their geographical contiguity, is the main reason for the strong cultural ties that exist between them .

The islands of the Argosaronic are small and, therefore, do not have sufficient arable land, an element which forced their inhabitants to turn towards the sea early, thus giving a distinct insular character and remarkable extroversion to their material culture . The short distances that separate them from each other, but also from the neighbouring coasts, favoured the development of seafaring from a very early age, as evidenced by the great maritime tradition of some of them (e .g . Hydra, Spetses, Poros), during the modern era . The surrounding sea connects them both to each other and to the neighbouring lands, where important cultural-administrative centres developed, under whose influence the Argosaronic regions were also partially included . There is the Argolic Gulf, which washes the southern coastline of Argolis, and the Saronic Gulf, which is defined by the western coast of Attica and the eastern coast of Corinthia and the Argolid . Spetses, Hydra and Dokos are located in the Argolic, while Salamis, Aegina, Angistri, Poros and the Methana peninsula in the Saronic . The Argosaronic emerges from these two gulfs .

Cythera and Anticythera are located south of Laconia and Elafonisos and north of Crete, at the point where the Ionian, the Aegean and the Cretan seas meet; after their incorporation into the Greek State, they joined the Prefecture of ArgolisCorinthia, where they remained until 1929, when they came under the Prefecture of Attica-Boeotia . In 1996, after the formation of the Prefecture of Piraeus and Islands (1968), they were annexed to it . Since they are particularly distant geographically and included in the cultural spheres of Laconia and Crete, they are not directly connected to the Argosaronic islands . Nevertheless, they are included in this edition as part of the Regional Unit of the Attica Islands .

Fishing has been the first human activity in relation to the sea, as it is directly related to food and, thus, survival . As such, it has played a central role in the life of the inhabitants of the Argosaronic Sea, from ancient times to the present day . Today, fishing and aquaculture constitute key sectors in the area’s economy, with a large number of fishing harbors and unloading ports, where catches are landed or marketed for the first time, and almost half of the professional fishing fleet in the Attica Region .

Besides fishing, the following pages present various aspects of the maritime tradition of the areas of the Cooperation Network of the Regional Unit of Attica Islands; these are associated to their history, ancient, medieval, or more recent, geography, economy and traditional professions (shipwrights, merchants), their architectural character as showcased by the ports and lighthouses, but also the local traditions and customs . The aim of this project is to highlight the consistently dominant role of the sea in the history and culture of these places .