CANDIA, in Turkish, "Kutm'," called in the most ancient times kltra, afterwards CAA, one of the largest islands of the Mediterranean, is situated at the entrance of the archipelago, in long. 23° 40' to 26° 40' e., lat. 34° 50' to 35° 55' north. It is very irregular in form, its length being about 160 m., and its breadth varying from 6 to 35 miles. The history of C. commences with Greek mythology, and historians and poets say that it was governed by its own kings, among whom were Saturn, Jupiter, and Minos, 1300 years before Christ. C. was conquered by the Romans under Metellus, who, on that account, had the title of "Creticus;" on the division of the empire, it fell to the share of the eastern monarchs. In 823 A.D., it was conquered by the Saracens, who built the city of C. on the ruins of Heraclea. In 1204, it was sold by pope Boniface--,to whom Baldwin I. gave it—to the Venetians. In 1645, the Turks besieged Canea, and in 1669 conquered the island, after a war, which lasted 24 years. The Cretans sigh for a union with Greece, and have repeatedly risen in insurrection against Turkish rule, notably in 1866. At the Berlin congress in 1878, the porte engaged scrupulously to carry out in C. the reformed system a government drawn up in 1868.
The island of C. is for the most part mountainous, the mountains being chiefly com posed of freestone or marble, which is either gray or white. Towards the s. side of the western part of the island, there is a chain of high mountains, extending in length about 374- in. which, from their appearing white, especially at their w. end, were anciently called L g Leuci. Mt. Ida, now called by the natives Upsilorites, is one in a chain of mountains extending to the n.w. of the island almost to Retinw; the mountain is of
gray marble, and the surface loose stones: there 'is no verdure on it except a few small shrubs. Jupiter is said to have passed great part of his youth amongst these mountains in the exercise of hunting and drawing the bow.
The island abounds in springs and fountains, which are found even by the sea-side; most of the rivers are dry in summer, but in winter many of them are very dangerous torrents. The island does not produce any minerals of importance. The soil of C. is fertile, and produces wheat in abundance. The exports, which consist chiefly of oil, wool, linseed, and fruit, amount in annual value to above 4-'400,000, and the imports to about £440,000.
C. had once, according to Homer in his Odyssey, 90 cities; there are now only 3 principal towns: Megala Rastron, or Candia, pop 15,000, of which 5,000 are Christians; Retimo or Rhithymnos, pop. 6,000, of which 2,000 are Christians; Caneaor Khania, pop. 12,000 of which 8,000 are Christians. The total pop. of the island now numbers little more than 900,000—less than half its amount at the outbreaking of the Greek revo lution in 1821.
The population is for the most part of Greek descent; there are only about 70,000 Turks, with a few Arabs and Armenians, in the island. There are, however, many Greek Moslems in C., the worldly advantages which used to result from embracing Islamism having induced whole districts to abandoh the faith of their forefathers; but their change of religious faith was unaccompanied by any change of language.