Lasithi

The history of Lasithi can be traced over at least three millennia.Livingston Vance Watrous, Lasithi, a History of Settlement on a Highland Plain in Crete, 1982, 89 pages The region has considerable ancient history antecedents, including the Dorian era settlement of Olous and Lato.[http://themodernantiquarian.com/site/10847/lato.html#fieldnotes C.Michael Hogan, Lato Fieldnotes, The Modern Antiquarian, Jan 10, 2008]

{{anchor|Etymology|Toponymy}}

It has been speculated that ra-su-to, found in Linear B, corresponds to an unattested ancient Lasynthos.Fred Woudhuizen, The Earliest Cretan Scripts, 2:99 There is also a Lyttian tribal name Lasynthioi, presumably reflecting the same name.Angelos Chaniotis, "The Great Inscription, its Political Institutions, and the Common Institutions of the Cretans" in E. Greco, M. Lombardo, eds., La Grande Iscrizione di Gortyna. Centoventi anni dopo la scoperta, Atti del I Convegno Internazionale di Studi sulla Messarà, Athens 2005 p. 182 and passim {{cite web|url= http://archiv.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/propylaeumdok/747/1/Chaniotis_The_great_inscription_2005.pdf|title=Chaniotis, The Great Inscription}}

Earlier proposals that it is derived from a Venetian 'la' preposed to derivatives of Lyttos (Lyttus > Tselyttuscf. Rebracketing of se- + noun > Tselethe > Xeethe > La Xeethi > Lasithi)Thomas Abel Brimage Spratt, Travels and Researches in Crete, 1865, chapter XIX, [https://books.google.com/books?id=OzMbAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA201 p. 201] or Sitia (Sitia > La Sitia > Lasithi) are unlikely, as the name Lasithi was attested as early as 1211, whereas the Venetians only first arrived in Crete in 1205. Another unlikely etymology derives it from lakkos 'hole or basin' (Lakkos > Lakkidion > Latsidi > Lasidi > Lasithi).Philip Betancourt, Hagios Charalambos: A Minoan Burial Cave in Crete 1:9, 2014 {{isbn|1623033934}}

The area was known as Laşid ({{langx|ota|الشيد}}) under Turkish rule.{{citation |url=https://www.devletarsivleri.gov.tr/varliklar/dosyalar/eskisiteden/yayinlar/genel-mudurluk-yayinlar/osmanli_yer_adlari.pdf |title=Osmanlı Yer Adları |language=tr |page=509 }}.

The regional unit Lasithi is subdivided into four municipalities. These are (number as in the map in the infobox):{{Cite web|url=http://www.et.gr/idocs-nph/search/pdfViewerForm.html?args=5C7QrtC22wGYK2xFpSwMnXdtvSoClrL8-SrPzKAEPjjtIl9LGdkF53UIxsx942CdyqxSQYNuqAGCF0IfB9HI6hq6ZkZV96FIukI0UzcPsWCK0LpLhpa7rhiWB4R5ntTnoWw7U8E1Amg.|title=ΦΕΚ A 87/2010, Kallikratis reform law text|language=el|publisher=Government Gazette}}

• Agios Nikolaos (1)
• Ierapetra (2)
• Oropedio Lasithiou (3)
• Siteia (4)

As a part of the 2011 Kallikratis government reform, the regional unit Lasithi was created out of the former prefecture of Lasithi ({{langx|el|Νομός Λασιθίου}}), which was created while Crete was still an autonomous state and was retained after the island joined Greece in 1913. The prefecture had the same territory as the present regional unit, except Viannos area that belonged to Lasithi but was annexed to Heraklion prefecture in 1932. At the same time, the municipalities were reorganised, according to the table below.

Before 2006, Lasithi was divided into 4 provinces:

• Province of Mirambelos - Neapolis
• Province of Lasithi - Tzermiado
• Province of Ierapetra - Ierapetra
• Province of Sitia - Sitia

• GR-90/E65, NW, Cen., E, NE
• GR-99, Cen., S

• Ieropotamos River
• 2021 Lasithi earthquake

{{Reflist}}

{{commonscat|Lasithi Regional Unit}}

• [https://web.archive.org/web/20041204212312/http://interisk.imbc.gr/reg_crete.html Geographical profile of Lasithi]

{{Kallikratis-Crete}}

{{Prefectures of Greece}}

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Category:Prefectures of Greece

Category:Regional units of Crete