The municipality is subdivided into the following five communities (population in 2021 in parentheses ):[2] The regional capital is the town of Aegina, situated at the northwestern end of the island.

Its highest rise is the conical Mount Oros (531 m) in the south, and the Panhellenian ridge stretches northward with narrow fertile valleys on either side.

This ostensibly religious league included, besides Aegina, Athens, the Minyan (Boeotian) Orchomenos, Troezen, Hermione, Nauplia, and Prasiae.

It is usually stated on the authority of Ephorus, that Pheidon of Argos established a mint in Aegina, the first city-state to issue coins in Europe, the Aeginetic stater.

Their design was frustrated miraculously (according to the Aeginetan version, the statues fell upon their knees) and only a single survivor returned to Athens.

A critical analysis of the narrative seems to reveal little else than a series of aetiological traditions (explanatory of cults and customs), such as of the kneeling posture of the images of Damia and Auxesia, of the use of native ware instead of Athenian in their worship, and of the change in women's dress at Athens from the Dorian peplos to the Ionian style chiton.

The Athenians were preparing to make reprisals, in spite of the advice of the Delphic oracle that they should desist from attacking Aegina for thirty years, and content themselves meanwhile with dedicating a precinct to Aeacus, when their projects were interrupted by the Spartan intrigues for the restoration of Hippias.

Athens at once appealed to Sparta to punish this act of medism, and Cleomenes I, one of the Spartan kings, crossed over to the island, to arrest those who were responsible for it.

There are difficulties with this story, of which the following are the principal elements: It is probable, therefore, that Herodotus is in error both in tracing back the beginning of hostilities to an alliance between Thebes and Aegina (c. 507 BC) and in claiming the episode of Nicodromus occurred prior to the battle of Marathon.

It may be noted, in confirmation of this opinion, that the naval supremacy of Aegina is assigned by the ancient writers on chronology to precisely this period, i.e. the years 490–480 BC.

It was to Aegina rather than Athens that the prize of valour at Salamis was awarded, and the destruction of the Persian fleet appears to have been as much the work of the Aeginetan contingent as of the Athenian (Herod.

The change in Athenian foreign policy, which was consequent upon the ostracism of Cimon in 461 BC, resulted in what is sometimes called the First Peloponnesian War, during which most of the fighting was experienced by Corinth and Aegina.

By the terms of the Thirty Years' Peace (445 BC) Athens promised to restore to Aegina her autonomy, but the clause remained ineffective.

The Romaniote Jewish community erected an elaborate synagogue in rectangle form with an apse on the eastern wall with a magnificent mosaic decorated with geometric motifs, still preserved in the courtyard of the Archaeological Museum of Aegina.

[41] The island flourished during the early 9th century, as evidenced by church construction activity, but suffered greatly from Arab raids originating from Crete.

Various hagiographies, such as those of Athanasia of Aegina or Theodora of Thessalonica, record a large-scale raid c. 830, that resulted in the flight of much of the population to the Greek mainland.

[41] This is corroborated by Benedict of Peterborough's graphic account of Greece, as it was in 1191; he states that many of the islands were uninhabited for fear of pirates and that Aegina, along with Salamis and Makronisos, were their strongholds.

Antonio II Acciaioli opposed the treaty for one of his adopted daughters had married the future lord of Aegina, Antonello Caopena.

Venice still retained Aegina, Lepanto (Naupactus), Nauplia, Monemvasia, Modon, Navarino, Coron, and the islands Crete, Mykonos and Tinos.

Aegina obtained money for its defences by reluctantly sacrificing its cherished relic, the head of St. George, which had been carried there from Livadia by the Catalans.

The system of having two rectors was found to result in frequent quarrels and the republic thenceforth sent out a single official styled Bailie and Captain, assisted by two councillors, who performed the duties of camerlengo by turns.

The Bailie's authority extended over the rector of Aegina, whereas Kastri (opposite the island Hydra) was granted to two families, the Palaiologoi and the Alberti.

In 1533, three rectors of Aegina were punished for their acts of injustice and there is a graphic account of the reception given by the Aeginetans to the captain of Nauplia, who came to command an enquiry into the administration of these delinquents (vid.

The republic was to pay a bakshish to the Turkish governor of the Morea and to the voivode who was stationed at the frontier of Thermisi (opposite Hydra).

After the end of the Duchy of Athens and the principality of Achaia, the only Latin possessions left on the mainland of Greece were the papal city of Monemvasia, the fortress of Vonitsa, the Messenian stations Coron and Modon, Lepanto, Pteleon, Navarino, and the castles of Argos and Nauplia, to which the island of Aegina was subordinate.

In 1684, the beginning of the Morean War between Venice and the Ottoman Empire resulted in the temporary reconquest of a large part of the country by the Republic.

The most significant plague epidemic began in Attica during 1688, an occasion that caused the massive migration of Athenians toward the south; most of them settled in Aegina.

In 1699, thanks to English mediation, the war ended with the peace of Karlowitz by which Venice retained possession of the 7 Ionian islands as well as Butrinto and Parga, the Morea, Spinalonga and Suda, Tenos, Santa Maura and Aegina and ceased to pay a tribute for Zante, but which restored Lepanto to the Ottoman sultan.

Ottomans rule in Aegina and the Morea was resumed and confirmed by the Treaty of Passarowitz, and they retained control of the island with the exception of a brief Russian occupation Orlov Revolt (early 1770s), until the beginning of the Greek War of Independence in 1821.

The quality of "Fistiki Aeginis" (Aegina Pistachios), a name that was established as a product of Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) in 1996, is considered internationally excellent and superior to several foreign varieties, due to the special climatic conditions of the island (drought) as well as soil's volcanic characteristics.