Prines (Greek : Πρινές) is a local community of the municipality of Rethymno within Rethymno regional unit, Crete, Greece. Before the "Kallikratis Project" it belonged to the municipality of Nikiforos Fokas (Νικηφόρος Φωκάς).
Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages, native to Greece, Cyprus and other parts of the Eastern Mediterranean and the Black Sea. It has the longest documented history of any living Indo-European language, spanning more than 3000 years of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the major part of its history; other systems, such as Linear B and the Cypriot syllabary, were used previously. The alphabet arose from the Phoenician script and was in turn the basis of the Latin, Cyrillic, Armenian, Coptic, Gothic, and many other writing systems.
Rethymno is one of the four regional units of Crete, Greece. Its capital is the city of Rethymno. Today its main income is tourism. The countryside is also based economically on agriculture and herding.
Crete is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the 88th largest island in the world and the fifth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after Sicily, Sardinia, Cyprus, and Corsica. Crete and a number of surrounding islands and islets constitute the region of Crete, one of the 13 top-level administrative units of Greece. The capital and the largest city is Heraklion. As of 2011, the region had a population of 623,065.
It lies 5 km W-SW of the town of Rethymno and consists of the village Prines, with 851 inhabitants and the settlement Vederoi with 33 inhabitants (2011 census). [1] Together, the two settlements have been classified as "preservable traditional settlements" thus retaining their traditional style and character.
Before World War II, Prines, was the capital of a commune consisting of the nearby villages Prines, Vederi and Gerani.
World War II, also known as the Second World War, was a global war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. The vast majority of the world's countries—including all the great powers—eventually formed two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis. A state of total war emerged, directly involving more than 100 million people from over 30 countries. The major participants threw their entire economic, industrial, and scientific capabilities behind the war effort, blurring the distinction between civilian and military resources. World War II was the deadliest conflict in human history, marked by 50 to 85 million fatalities, most of whom were civilians in the Soviet Union and China. It included massacres, the genocide of the Holocaust, strategic bombing, premeditated death from starvation and disease, and the only use of nuclear weapons in war.
Gerani is a local community of the Rethymno Municipality in the Rethymno of the region of Crete established by Kallikratis reform. Previously, it was part of municipality of Nikiforos Fokas. Capital of the new municipality is Rethymno.
Prines used to be an important place during the Venetian occupation of Crete (1204-1669 AD). According to local traditions, its name derives either from a Venetian lord (that the locals used to call "Prince") who lived there or after a very common bush called "Prinos" or "Prinari" that flourishes in the area. The village church, dedicated to St. Nikolaos, dates from the 13th century.
The Republic of Venice or Venetian Republic, traditionally known as La Serenissima was a sovereign state and maritime republic in northeastern Italy, which existed for over a millennium between the 7th century and the 18th century from 697 AD until 1797 AD. It was based in the lagoon communities of the historically prosperous city of Venice, and was a leading European economic and trading power during the Middle Ages and the Renaissance.
The majority of the local products are related to agriculture (mainly olives and olive-oil) and stock-breeding but there are also some small factories which employ a number of the inhabitants.
