RHODES

RHODES is a Greek island in the Mediterranean, located northeast of Crete, southeast of Athens and just off the Anatolian coast of Turkey. It is situated at 12 m. distant from the SW, coast of Asia Minor, area 49 m. by 21 m.; mountainous and woody; has a fine climate and a fertile soil, which produces fruit in abundance, also some grain; it is ill developed, and has a retrogressive population, most of whom are Greeks; sponges, chief export; figures considerably in ancient classic history; was occupied by the Knights Hospitallers of St. John for more than two centuries, and was taken from them by the Turks in 1523. In 1947, together with the other islands of the Dodecanese, Rhodes was reunited with Greece.