Laconia

The word laconic is derived from the name of the region by analogy—to speak in a concise way, as the Spartans were reputed by the Athenians to do.

Ancient History

In ancient Greece, this was the principal region of the Spartan state. Throughout classical antiquity, the Spartan sphere of influence expanded to Messenia, whose inhabitants (the Helots) were permanently enslaved. Significant archaeological recovery exists at the Vaphio-tomb site in Laconia. Found here are advanced Bronze Age art as well as evidence of cultural associations with the contemporaneous Minoan culture on Crete. Laconia was at war with the Kingdom of Macedonia and saw several battles; at the end of the Mycenaean period, population of Laconia sharply declined. From the early-2nd century BC until 395, it was a part of the Roman Empire.

Medieval history

In the medieval period, Laconia formed part of the Byzantine Empire. Following the Fourth Crusade, it was gradually conquered by the Frankish Principality of Achaea. In the 1260s, however, 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 Morea, held by the last Greek ruling dynasty, the Palaiologoi. With the fall of the Despotate to the Ottomans in 1460, Laconia was conquered as well.

Modern history

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.

The Mani portion along with Gytheio became famous in Greece for filming episodes of Vendetta, broadcast on Mega Channel throughout Greece and abroad on Mega Cosmos.

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