Crete
Largest Greek island in the eastern Mediterranean Sea, 100 km/62 mi southeast of mainland Greece; area 8,378 sq km/3,234 sq mi; population (2003 est) 603,000. The capital is Iraklion (Heraklion); other major towns are Khaniá (Canea), Rethymnon, and Aghios Nikolaos. The island produces citrus fruit, olives, and wine; tourism is vital to the economy. A Cretan dialect of Greek is spoken.
Crete was home to the ancient Minoan civilization (3000–1400 BC), named after King Minos, the legendary author of Cretan institutions (see also Knossos), and was successively under Roman, Byzantine, Venetian, and Turkish rule. The island was annexed by Greece in 1913. The followers of Eleuthérios Venizelos, the leader of the Cretan movement against Turkish rule, controlled Crete during their uprising (1935) against the imminent restoration of the monarchy, but were defeated by General George Kondylis. Another revolt, in 1938, against the dictatorship of Ioannis Metaxas was also suppressed. In World War II, Crete was used as a military and naval base in 1940. In 1941 it was captured by German forces from Allied troops who had retreated from the mainland and was retaken by the Allies in 1944. In the postwar period there was some communist guerrilla activity on the island.
Crete
| City in Saline County, southeastern Nebraska, USA, on the Big Blue River, 29 km/18 mi southwest of Lincoln; population (1990) 4,800. It is a processing centre for grain, dairy products, and poultry, and has some light industry. |
| Doane College (1872) is here. |
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