Évvoia
[key], island, 1,467 sq mi (3,800 sq km), SE Greece, separated from
Boeotia and Attica on the Greek mainland by the Évripos strait. Khalkís is the main city and the
administrative center. Évvoia is the largest of the Greek islands
after Crete. The island is generally mountainous with fertile valleys; the
highest points are Mt. Delphi (c.5,725 ft/1,745 m) and Mt. Oche (c.4,590
ft/1,400 m). Sheep, goats, and cattle are raised, and olives, grapes, and
wheat are grown. Magnesite and lignite are mined, and marble is quarried.
The island was settled by Ionian and Thracian colonists and was divided
among seven independent cities, of which Khalkís and Eretria were the most important.
Powerful and prosperous by the 8th cent. b.c., these cities
established colonies in Macedonia, S Italy, and Sicily. The island was under
the hegemony of Athens from 506 to 411 b.c. and was taken (c.338
b.c.) by Philip II of Macedon. It was annexed by Rome in 194
b.c. and later passed under Byzantine rule. As a result of the
Fourth Crusade, it became (early 13th cent.) a colony of Venice. It was
ceded to the Ottoman Turks in 1470. The island rebelled against the Turks in
1821 and in 1830 was incorporated into Greece. Its name in the Middle Ages
was Negropont [black bridge], for the bridge connecting Khalkís with
the mainland.
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