Hania city and the old Venetian fortress at Crete island in Greece
Chania (Venetian: Canea, Ottoman Turkish: خانيه Hanya) is the second largest city of Crete and the capital of the Chania regional unit. It lies along the north coast of the island, about 70 km (43 mi) west of Rethymno and 145 km (90 mi) west of Heraklion. The official population of the municipal unit (the former municipality) is 55,838, while its metropolitan area has 108,310 (2011) inhabitants. This consists of the city of Chania along with 7 towns and villages: Mournies (pop. 6,390), Souda (pop. 5,330), Nerokouros (pop. 4,175), Daratsos (pop. 3,287), Perivolia (pop. 3,065), Galatas (pop. 2,131) and Vamvakopoulo (pop. 1,769). The city of Chania lies around 40 km (25 mi) from the west end of Crete. By road, the distance is approximately 52 km (32 mi) Chania is the site of the Minoan settlement the Greeks called Kydonia, Greek for quince. It appears on Linear B as ku-do-ni-ja.[4] Some notable archaeological evidence for the existence of this Minoan city below some parts of today's Chania was found by excavations[5] in the district of Kasteli in the Old Town. This area appears to have been inhabited since the Neolithic era. The city reemerged after the end of the Minoan period as an important city-state in Classical Greece, one whose domain extended from Chania Bay to the feet of the White Mountains. The first major wave of settlers from mainland Greece was by the Dorian Greeks who came around 1100 BC. Kydonia was constantly at war with other Cretan city-states such as Aptera, Phalasarna and Polyrrinia and was important enough for the Kydonians to be mentioned in Homer's Odyssey (). In 69 BC, the Roman consul Caecilius Metellus defeated the Cretans and conquered Kydonia to which he granted the privileges of an independent city-state. Kydonia reserved the right to mint its own coins until the third century AD.
Size: 4722px × 3121px
Location: Hania city, Crete island, Greece
Photo credit: © PANAGIOTIS KARAPANAGIOTIS / Alamy / Afripics
License: Royalty Free
Model Released: No
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