Aegina

Nowadays an island with a lot of tourist traffic, Aegina has an extremely rich and centuries-old past, whereby the sea has played a decisive role . The dynamic, everlasting engagement of the Aeginetans with water is attributed to the location of the island in the centre of the Saronic Gulf, at a distance of 10 .5 and 12 nautical miles from Piraeus and the coast of Epidaurus respectively, while shorter distances separate it from Salamis to the north, Poros to the south and Angistri to the east . Apart from its strategic location on a busy sailing network, particularly conducive to the development of seafaring and other searelated activities, was the coastal morphology of Aegina, which consists of extensive smooth shores, but also sloping coves, small or large . This is particularly the case in the island’s western section, which is dominated by the Marathonas bay, as well as the modern port and the largest settlement of the island . This is where the ancient city of Aegina, as well as the extensive facilities of the ancient port were located . In contrast, the northern and eastern coasts are rockier and more ragged, with the exception of the large bay of Agia Marina . Aegina has several arable lands inland, mainly in the large plain in its western part, where the famous pistachios are produced, but also grapes, olives, figs and almonds . Until modern times and the establishment of pistachio cultivation, the island was self-sufficient . Nevertheless, the Aeginetans were always looking towards the sea .

The first traces of human presence in Aegina date back to the Neolithic period, whereas during the Early Bronze Age an important settlement had been established in Kolona, at a site 12 metres above sea level, which offered safety and control of sea routes . The inhabitants, actively involved in the maritime exchange network that had developed in the Aegean during the 3rd millennium, had contacts with the Argolid, the Cyclades, Crete, but also the north-eastern Aegean and the Near East . The settlement continued to prosper during the Late Bronze Age .

In the area of Kolona and below modern Aegina one can find the ruins of the Iron Age city . On the coast that extends to the south of Kolona Cape and is known as “Karantina”, the sunken remains of the jetties and the boathouses from the town’s naval base, also known as the “hidden harbour” can be found . During the Archaic period and until the beginning of the 5th century BC, Aegi-

Old anchor in the port of Aegina

na developed into a strong force in maritime trade with its products, mainly ceramics and metal objects, becoming popular all over the Aegean . Coming into contact with other peoples, the Aeginetans were introduced to coin transactions and were the first in Greece to mint coins . Apart from the archeological remains, the naval superiority of Aegina in antiquity is also attested in references in ancient sources, the earliest being the one in the Iliad (B 562) . In the “Catalogue of Ships”, it is mentioned specifically that Aegina participated in the Trojan campaign with 80 ships .

In the first Byzantine centuries, Aegina continued to flourish, while in the 9th and 10th, the Arab invasions caused the population to diminish and retreat inland, where they built Paliachora in a naturally fortified site . In the following centuries Aegina served as a base for pirates, whose crews had been joined by several of its inhabitants . In 1204 it came under the rule of the Venetian Republic, where it remained until 1540, when it passed to the hands of the Sultan . A little over a hundred years later, Francesco Morosini, in his campaign against piracy in the Aegean, looted the island and almost destroyed Paliachora .

At the beginning of the 19th century, habitation began to move to the coastal zone and the Aeginetans turned, once again, to maritime activities, gradually creating a fleet . The shipbuilding zone was located in the area of Kolona,

“Entrance to the where boatyards can be found, even today . On old port of Aegina” March 23, 1821, in alliance with the Poriots and (Wordsworth 1871, the Salamians, they rebelled against the Sultan, 187) having converted their merchant ships into warships . During the Revolution, Aegina, thanks to its strategic location, became a naval supply base, while it was a safe haven of many hundreds of refugees from other areas, such as Psara, after its sack in 1824 . Liberation found the Aeginians settled in the coastal area of the ancient centre of the island, which, after about a thousand years of desolation and abandonment, was to play a leading role as the capital of the new Greek state, during 1828-1829 . On January 11/24, 1828 the English ship “Warspite”, carrying the governor Ioannis Kapodistrias and accompanied by two warships, one French and one Russian, entered the port of Aegina . A new era of development was starting for the island, which at that time had a population of 40,000 . Nevertheless, after Athens became the new Greek capital, this number decreased drastically . Shortly after the arrival of Kapodistrias, the first lighthouse of the newly established Greek state was built, which was lit in 1829 or 1830 in the port of Aegina, in the small church of St Nickolas Thalassinos . This lighthouse has not survived as it was later destroyed for unknown reasons . In 1881 the lighthouse was built in Plakakia, in the southern part of the island, next to the small church of the Holy Apostles .

In the late 19th-early 20th century, the inhabitants of Aegina got seriously involved in trade, sponge fishing and processing, activities that drove economic growth along with the production of ceramics and the exploitation of the local poros stone . Sponge processing stopped during the German Occupation and started again after the war, until the 1970s, when the Aeginetans stopped engaging in this activity . The visitors of the island can learn more about the Aegina spongers, who had travelled from as far from Bengal to Tarpon Springs, but also the fishermen, at the Folklore Museum of Aegina, which is housed in a neoclassical building from 1828 . In one of the two rooms on the ground floor there is an exhibition entitled “The Fisherman’s House” with exhibits related to fishing and sponge fishing .

Under Metaxas, naval forts had been built at Perdika, at the south-west end of the island, and at Tourlos, in the north, which, together with the naval fort of Phleves and the artillery of Pounta and Keramos in Attica, formed part of the coastal defense known as “Saronic Sea Forts” . In 1940, the Navy mined in the sea zones of Tourlos-Fleves and Moni of Aegina-Agios Georgios of Methana with the aim of creating a protected front . In the following year, German aircrafts bombed Aegina three times causing considerable damage to the port, while a few weeks later German troops landed at the forts of Tourlos and Perdika . In January 1942 the German submarine U 133 was sunk by a mine off Tourlos .

Although sponge fishing had almost been abandoned by the 1970s, in 1971 it was estimated that fishermen made up 40% of the Aeginean workforce . Fishing activity remains high to this day: the island’s port is used for unloading fish and by 239 professional fishing boats . In addition, there are two fishing harbors (Aegina port, Perdika), and two professional fishing associations . However, the economy of modern Aegina is primarily focused on tourism, which is particularly favoured by the short distance that separates the island from the Greek capital, with which it is connected by numerous sea routes . [AL]

Shipyard in Aegina, 1940s