Sitia and Its Surrounding Area, 1870–1970, Economy and Society – Eleftherios P. Perrotis

After three years of detailed archival research at the municipality, in the communities, in churches, schools, and elsewhere—as well as three years of collaboration with many residents of Sitia, under the guidance of Professor L. Papastefanaki and with funding from the Vitsentzos Kornaros Cultural Center— the work of researcher and Ph.D. candidate Mr. E. Perrotis has been published as a book.
All those who collaborated and contributed to this effort—and there are many—are welcome to stop by the Foundation to pick up a copy.
The book launch will take place this summer.

From the book’s back cover:
“This book examines Sitia, Lasithi—an Ottoman and, at the same time, modern city—over the course of approximately one century, from 1870 to 1970, through the thematic lenses of economy and society. It is a historical study of the general trends and changes that took place in the urban space of a Mediterranean city—a port in eastern Crete—which, to a certain extent, also influenced the development of the province of the same name, the province of Sitia.
However, the aim here is not to reconstruct the history of the entire provincial region, but rather that of the city and its surrounding area, as a distinct subject of a comprehensively documented historical study which, drawing on a variety of archival sources and evidence, attempts a holistic and synthetic approach to the functions of the city itself and its people.
In this context, the chronology is not based on local events, but on developments in broader national history, with a temporal division that, although rooted in political history, is nonetheless linked to the themes of the economy and society, which are intertwined with other aspects of the local context.
Thus, the examination of other historical fields of research, such as local government, demographics and settlement patterns, urban transformation, infrastructure projects, commercial activity, cultural life, health, and tourism, is facilitated by their integration into this framework.
The transformations that have taken place in these sectors have a significant distinctive feature, highlighting the unique character of Sitia and its surrounding region, which does not strictly follow the course of general political developments.”