Laconia

History

Ancient

Evidence of Neolithic settlement in southern Laconia has been found during excavations of the Alepotrypa cave site. Significant archaeological recovery exists at the Vaphio-tomb site in Laconia. Found there is advanced Bronze Age art as well as evidence of cultural associations with the contemporaneous Minoan culture on Crete. At the end of the Mycenean period, the population of Laconia sharply declined. In classical Greece, Laconia was Spartan territory but from the 4th century BC onward Sparta lost control of various ports, towns and areas. From the mid-2nd century BC until 395 AD, Laconia was a part of the Roman Empire.

Medieval

In the medieval period, Laconia formed part of the Byzantine Empire. In the 7th century, Slavic tribes settled in the Peloponnese. Two of them, the Melingoi and the Ezeritai, who settled in parts of Laconia, survived the subsequent Byzantine reconquest and re-Hellenization of the Peloponnese, and are attested until the late Middle Ages.

Following the Fourth Crusade, Laconia was gradually conquered by the Frankish Principality of Achaea. In the 1260s, the Byzantines recovered Mystras and other fortresses in the region and managed to evict the Franks from Laconia, which became the nucleus of a new Byzantine province. By the mid-14th century, this evolved into the Despotate of the Morea, held by the last Greek ruling dynasty, the Palaiologoi. The capital of the Despotate, Mystras, was a major site of the Palaiologan Renaissance, the last flowering of Byzantine culture. With the fall of the Despotate to the Ottomans in 1460, Laconia was conquered as well.

Modern

With the exception of a 30-year interval of Venetian rule, Laconia remained under Ottoman control until the outbreak of the Greek War of Independence of 1821. Following independence, Sparta was selected as the capital of the modern prefecture, and its economy and agriculture expanded. With the incorporation of the British-ruled Ionian Islands into Greece in 1864, Elafonissos became part of the prefecture. After World War II and the Greek Civil War, its population began to somewhat decline, as people moved from the villages toward the larger cities of Greece and abroad.

In 1992, a devastating fire ruined the finest olive crops in the northern part of the prefecture, and affected the area of Sellasia along with Oinountas and its surrounding areas. Firefighters, helicopters and planes battled for days to put out the horrific fire.

In early 2006, flooding ruined olive and citrus crops as well as properties and villages along the Eurotas river. In the summer 2006, a fire devastated a part of the Mani Peninsula, ruining forests, crops, and numerous villages.

Municipalities

The regional unit, Laconia, is subdivided into five municipalities. These are (number as in the map in the infobox):

• East Mani (Anatoliki Mani, 2)
• Elafonisos (3)
• Eurotas (4)
• Monemvasia (5)
• Sparta (1)

Prefecture

As a part of the 2011 Kallikratis government reform, regional unit Laconia was created out of the former prefecture Laconia (Greek: Νομός Λακωνίας). The prefecture had the same territory as the present regional unit. At the same time, the municipalities were reorganised, according to the table below.

Provinces

• Epidavros Limira Province – Molaoi
• Gytheio Province – Gytheio
• Lacedaemonia Province – Sparti
• Oitylo Province – Areopoli

Note: Provinces no longer hold any legal status in Greece.

Population

The main cities and towns of Laconia are (ranked by 2021 census population):

• Sparta 16,782
• Gytheio 4,070
• Molaoi 2,850
• Skala 2,813
• Neapoli 2,715

Transport

The A71 motorway is the only motorway in Laconia: the southern end is connected with a bypass around Sparta, which is part of European route E961. The national roads in the regional unit are the EO39, EO82, EO84 and EO86: there are also 37 numbered provincial roads.

Communications

Radio

• FLY FM 89,7 (Sparta).
• POLITIA 90,7 – ΠΟΛΙΤΕΙΑ 90.7 (Sparta)
• Radio Sparti – 92.7 FM (Sparta)
• Radiofonias Notias Lakonias (Southern Laconia Radio) – 93.5 (Gytheio)
• Star FM – 94.7

Television

• Ellada TV – UHF 43, Sparta
• TV Notias Lakonias – Molaoi

Newspapers

• Λακωνικός Τύπος
• Ελεύθερη Άποψη
• Νέα Σπάρτη
• Παρατηρητής της Λακωνίας