Lampedusa (Sicilian: Lampidusa) is the largest island of the Italian Pelagie Islands in the Mediterranean Sea. The commune of Lampedusa e Linosa is part of the Sicilian province of Agrigento which also includes the smaller islands of Linosa and Lampione. It is the southernmost part of Italy. Tunisia, which is about 113 kilometres (70 mi) away, is the closest landfall to the islands. Sicily is farther at 176 kilometres (109 mi).
Lampedusa, which has an area of 20.2 square kilometres (7.8 sq mi), has a population of approximately 4,500 people. Its main industries are fishing, agriculture and tourism. A ferry service links the island with Porto Empedocle, near Agrigento, Sicily. There are also year-round flights from Lampedusa Airport to Palermo and Catania on the Sicilian mainland. In the summer, there are additional services to Rome and Milan, besides many other seasonal links with the Italian mainland.
Since the early 2000s, the island has become a primary European entry point for migrants, mainly coming from Africa. In 2013 Rabbit Beach, located in the southern part of the island, has been voted the world's best beach by travel site TripAdvisor, based on the reviews of millions of travelers
Historically, Lampedusa was a landing place and a maritime base for the ancient Phoenicians, Greeks, Romans and Arabs. The Romans established a plant for the production of the prized fish sauce known as garum. As a result of pirate attacks, the island became uninhabited.
The first prince of Lampedusa and Linosa was Giulio Tomasi, ancestor of the famous writer Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa, who received the title from Charles II of Spain in 1630.[citation needed] A century later, the Tomassi family began a program of resettlement. In the 1840s, the Tomassi family sold the island to the Kingdom of Naples.
In 1860, the island became part of the new Kingdom of Italy, but the new Italian government limited its activities there to building a penal colony.
In June 1943, during the Second World War, as a precursor to the Allied invasion of Sicily, the island was secured without resistance in Operation Corkscrew by the Royal Navy destroyer HMS Lookout and ninety-five men of the 2nd Battalion the Coldstream Guards. (Mussolini had given the garrison his permission to surrender because it lacked any water.) White flags had been sighted in the port, and when Lieutenant Corbett of Lookout approached the port in a motor launch, he was told that the island's garrison wished to surrender. The Governor's formal surrender was accepted in the island's underground command-post by a combined Army/Navy delegation sometime after 9:00 am on 13 June 1943. During this process, the governor handed his sword to the Coldstream company commander, Major Bill Harris. A second unofficial claim has also been made regarding the capitulation of the island, when earlier that same day elements of the garrison had also attempted to surrender in unusual circumstances when the pilot of a Royal Air Force Swordfish aircraft landed after suffering problems with his compass.
The first telephone connection with Sicily was installed only in the 1960s. In the same decade an electric power station was built.
In 1972, part of the western side of the island became a United States Coast Guard LORAN-C transmitter station. In 1979, Lt. Kay Hartzell took command of the Coast Guard base.
During the 1980s, the Mediterranean was the scene of numerous attacks. The years 1985-1986 saw an increase in tensions. On April 15, 1986, Libya fired two Scuds at the Lampedusa navigation station on the island, in retaliation for the American bombing of Tripoli and Benghazi, and the alleged death of Colonel Gaddafi's adopted daughter. However, the missiles passed over the island, landed in the sea and caused no damage.
On 4 January 1989, U.S. Navy aircraft from the carrier USS John F. Kennedy shot down two Libyan fighters approximately 200 kilometres from the island. The base commander was advised by U.S. Sixth Fleet Intelligence at La Maddalena that the Libyan president, Muammar al-Gaddafi, had threatened reprisals against the American commanders at Sigonella and Lampedusa Subsequently an Italian media frenzy followed which put the Lampedusa in the spotlight.
The NATO base was decommissioned in 1994 and transferred to Italian military control.
No comments:
Post a Comment