HYDRA, an island of Greece, is situated off the eastern shore of the Peloponnesus (now the Morea), about 5 in. distant from the coast of the department of Argolis and Corinth. It is about 13 m. long and 3 m. broad, and has an area of 38 sq. miles. The shores are rocky and steep, and the interior, rising to about 1800 ft. in height, is desti tute of vegetation and of water. On the n.w. coast is the town and seaport of Hydra, the white, flat-roofed houses of which, ascending from the harbor, climb up the side of a hill. The streets, owing to the irregularity of the site, are steep and uneven, but remarkably clean. This town, the only one in the island, is one of the most beautiful in the whole of Greece. Pop. '71, 11,684, who are chiefly employed in cotton and silk weaving, in tanning, and in commerce.
The island of Hydra was uninhabited in ancient times. The nucleus of the town
was formed by a few fishermen and peasants, who, suffering from the oppression of the Turks, crossed over from the neighboring mainland, and were afterwards followed by crowds from Albania, Argolis, and Attica, in the 15th and 16th centuries. In the Grecian war of independence the Hydriotes took a most active part; and none were more liberal in their contributions to the patriotic cause. In 1825 the population was estimated at 40,000, and about that time the islanders were considered the richest in the archipelago. They possessed exclusively the carrying-trade of the Black sea and the Mediterranean, and traded to England, the Baltic, and even America. Since the revo lution, however, more accessible ports have risen to be the centers of Greek commerce, and Hydra has considerably declined.