Koroni
Encyclopedia
Koroni or Coroni is a town and a former municipality
Communities and Municipalities of Greece
For the new municipalities of Greece see the Kallikratis ProgrammeThe municipalities and communities of Greece are one of several levels of government within the organizational structure of that country. Thirteen regions called peripheries form the largest unit of government beneath the State. ...

 in Messenia
Messenia
Messenia is a regional unit in the southwestern part of the Peloponnese region, one of 13 regions into which Greece has been divided by the Kallikratis plan, implemented 1 January 2011...

, Peloponnese, Greece
Greece
Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....

. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Pylos-Nestoras, of which it is a municipal unit. Known as Corone by the Venetians
Republic of Venice
The Republic of Venice or Venetian Republic was a state originating from the city of Venice in Northeastern Italy. It existed for over a millennium, from the late 7th century until 1797. It was formally known as the Most Serene Republic of Venice and is often referred to as La Serenissima, in...

 and Ottomans, the town of Koroni (pop. 1,668) sits on the southwest peninsula of the Peloponnese
Peloponnese
The Peloponnese, Peloponnesos or Peloponnesus , is a large peninsula , located in a region of southern Greece, forming the part of the country south of the Gulf of Corinth...

 on the Gulf of Messinia in southern Greece 45 minutes southwest of Kalamata
Kalamata
Kalamata is the second-largest city of the Peloponnese in southern Greece. The capital and chief port of the Messenia prefecture, it lies along the Nedon River at the head of the Messenian Gulf...

. The town is nestled on a hill below an impressive Venetian castle and reaches to the edge of the gulf. The town was the seat of the former municipality of Koróni, which has a land area of 105.163 km² and a population of 5,067 (2001 census). The municipal unit's next largest towns are Charokopeió (pop. 743), Chrysokellariá (528), and Vasilítsi (488). It also includes the uninhabited offshore island of Venétiko.

History

The town was founded in ancient times. The Greek geographer Pausanias
Pausanias (geographer)
Pausanias was a Greek traveler and geographer of the 2nd century AD, who lived in the times of Hadrian, Antoninus Pius and Marcus Aurelius. He is famous for his Description of Greece , a lengthy work that describes ancient Greece from firsthand observations, and is a crucial link between classical...

 in his book "Messiniaka" reports the original location of Koroni at today's Petalidi
Petalidi
Petalidi , is a village and a former municipality in Messenia, Peloponnese, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Messene, of which it is a municipal unit. Petalidi is situated on the western shore of the Messenian Gulf...

, a town a few kilometers north of Koroni. He also reports many temples of Greek gods and a copper statue of Zeus. Because of reorderings, in the centuries that followed the town of Koroni moved to its current location where the ancient town of Asini had once stood. In the 6th and 7th centuries AD, the Byzantines
Byzantine Empire
The Byzantine Empire was the Eastern Roman Empire during the periods of Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, centred on the capital of Constantinople. Known simply as the Roman Empire or Romania to its inhabitants and neighbours, the Empire was the direct continuation of the Ancient Roman State...

 built a fortress there. In 1206, the Venetians
Republic of Venice
The Republic of Venice or Venetian Republic was a state originating from the city of Venice in Northeastern Italy. It existed for over a millennium, from the late 7th century until 1797. It was formally known as the Most Serene Republic of Venice and is often referred to as La Serenissima, in...

 occupied it, turning Koroni into an important stage on their sea routes towards the Eastern Mediterranean.

The fortress and town were captured by the Ottoman
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...

 troops of Sultan Bayezid II
Bayezid II
Bayezid II or Sultân Bayezid-î Velî was the oldest son and successor of Mehmed II, ruling as Sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1481 to 1512...

 in 1500. Apart from a short period under Habsburg Empire rule in the Siege of Coron
Siege of Coron
The Siege of Coron in 1532-1534 involved the siege and capture of the Ottoman-held fortress of Koroni in Messenia, Greece, by the forces of the Habsburg Empire, and its subsequent recapture by the Ottomans....

 in 1532-1534, when the fortress was defended by a few noble families as Baffa Trasci, Stratigò and Marchianò, as well as a short return to Venetian rule (1686-1715) after the Morean War
Morean War
The Morean War is the better known name for the Sixth Ottoman–Venetian War. The war was fought between 1684–1699, as part of the wider conflict known as the "Great Turkish War", between the Republic of Venice and the Ottoman Empire...

, they remained under the control of the Ottoman Empire
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...

 until becoming part of the modern Greek state in 1828 when it was liberated by the French General Nicolas Joseph Maison
Nicolas Joseph Maison
Nicolas Joseph Maison, 1er Marquis Maison was a Marshal of France and Minister of War.-French revolution and Napoléon:Maison was born at born in Épinay-sur-Seine, near Paris....

.

Rocket Launch Site

Near Koroni, there was between 1966 and 1989 a facility for launching sounding rockets. The first
launches performed from Koroni were done on May 207h, 1966 for investigation a total-annular solar eclipse.
These rockets reached an altitude of 114 kilometres. From 1972 to 1989 several Russian meteorological rockets
of M-100 type were launched. They reached altitudes up to 95 kilometres.
In total 371 rockets were launched.

External links

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