Mykonos

Mykonos (Greek: Μύκονος) is one of the islands in the Cycladitic Archipelago.  Its nickname is the island of winds, and it is known worldwide for its nightlife and tourism.

Mykonos is known for its iconic windmills that sit on a hill overlooking the harbor.

Mykonos is also known for its small single chamber whitewashed churches and its pelicans who are adored by the locals and tourists alike.

Although the island was inhabited since the Neolithic period the first settlers were from Athens in the 11 century BC.  The island came under the control of the Romans and later the Byzantines until the 12^th century AD.   In 1204, after the fall of Constantinople in the Fourth Crusade, the island came under the control of Andrea Ghisi a Venetian nobleman.  In the 13^th century the Catalans ravaged the island but the Venetians retained control until 1537 when Admiral Barbarossa conquered and made Mykonos his port.  

The Ottomans under Kapudan Pasha, a title given to Barbarossa by Suleiman the Magnificent, imposed a system of self-governance.   Under the Ottoman rule Mykonos prospered and became a center of trade in the Aegean archipelago. 

When the Greeks revolted against the Ottomans in 1821 Mykonos played an important role, led by the national heroine, Manto Mavrogenous a highly-educated aristocrat who influenced by the ideas of the Enlightenment, sacrificed her family's fortune for the Greek cause.  A statue of her sits in the middle of a square that bears her name in the port of Mykonos.