[6] It is home to Pythagoreion and the Heraion of Samos, a UNESCO World Heritage Site that includes the Eupalinian aqueduct, a marvel of ancient engineering.

The Ampelos massif (colloquially referred to as "Karvounis") is the larger of the two and occupies the centre of the island, rising to 1,095 metres (3,593 ft).

[6] Samos is home to many species including the golden jackal, stone marten, wild boar, flamingos and monk seal.

Among the colonies the Samians founded, most of them in the sixth century BC, were Bisanthe, Perinthus, and Samothrace (northern Aegean Sea), Cydonia (Crete), Nagidos and Kelenderis (southern Anatolia), Dicaearchia (Italy), and Oasis Polis (Egypt).

[17] The feud between Miletus and Samos broke out into open strife during the Lelantine War (7th century BC), with which a Samian innovation in Greek naval warfare may be connected, the use of the trireme.

The result of this conflict was to confirm the supremacy of the Milesians in eastern waters for the time being; but in the 6th century, the insular position of Samos preserved it from those aggressions at the hands of Asiatic kings to which Miletus was henceforth exposed.

After Polycrates's death, Samos suffered a severe blow when the Persian Achaemenid Empire conquered and partly depopulated the island.

In the Delian League, Samos held a position of special privilege and remained actively loyal to Athens until 440 BC, when a dispute with Miletus, which the Athenians had decided against them, induced them to secede.

It was recovered by the Athenians in 366 after a siege of eleven months, and received a strong body of military settlers, the cleruchs, which proved vital in the Social War (357-355 BC).

[citation needed] For some time (about 275–270 BC), Samos served as a base for the Egyptian fleet of the Ptolemies; at other periods, it recognized the overlordship of Seleucid Syria.

[6] Enrolled from 133 in the Roman province of Asia Minor, Samos sided with Aristonicus (132) and Mithridates (88) against its overlord, and consequently forfeited its autonomy, which it only temporarily recovered between the reigns of Augustus and Vespasian.

Nevertheless, Samos remained comparatively flourishing and was able to contest with Smyrna and Ephesus the title "first city of lonia";[6] it was chiefly noted as a health resort and for the manufacture of pottery.

Since Emperor Diocletian's Tetrarchy, it became part of the Provincia Insularum, in the diocese of Asiana in the eastern empire's pretorian prefecture of Oriens.

After the 13th century, it passed through much the same changes of government as Chios, and, like the latter island, became the property of the Genoese family Giustiniani (1346–1566; 1475 interrupted by an Ottoman period).

Settlers, including Greeks and Arvanites from the Peloponnese and the Ionian Islands, as well as the descendants of the original inhabitants who had fled to Chios, were attracted through the concession of certain privileges such as a seven-year tax exemption, a permanent exemption from the tithe in exchange for a lump annual payment of 45,000 piastres, and a considerable autonomy in local affairs.

[21] The Treaty of Küçük Kaynarca that concluded the war contained clauses that enabled a great expansion of the commercial activities of the Ottoman Empire's Greek Orthodox population.

Under the leadership of Lykourgos Logothetis, in 1807 the Karmanioloi gained power in the island, introducing liberal and democratic principles and empowering the local popular assembly at the expense of the land-holding notables.

[22] The Samians refused to accept their re-subordination to the Sultan, and Logothetis declared Samos to be an independent state, governed as before under the provisions of the 1821 constitution.

The Samians still refused to accept this decision until an Ottoman fleet enforced it in May 1834, forcing the revolutionary leadership and a part of the population to flee to independent Greece, where they settled near Chalkis.

[6] The modern capital of the island was, until the early 20th century, at Chora, about 2 miles (3.2 km) from the sea and from the site of the ancient city.

Although other Aegean islands had been quickly captured by the Greek Navy, Samos was initially left to its existing status quo out of a desire not to upset the Italians in the nearby Dodecanese.

During the winter of 1941–42 Samos was affected by the Great Famine which killed 2,000 Samiots and forced thousands more to flee the island for the Middle East.

After the Fall of the Fascist regime in Italy on 25 July, Pietro Badoglio replaced division commander Mario Soldarelli with Lieutenant General Pierola and reinforced the Samos garrison with 1,500 Blackshirts.

Following the Italian surrender in September 1943, the Cuneo Division joined forces with ELAS in arresting local collaborationists and freeing jailed resistance fighters.

Upon the departure of the Germans, ELAS and a 120-man unit of the Sacred Band forced the remaining 1,000 Blackshirts to surrender; ending the island's occupation on 5 October 1944.

The anti-communist persecutions that came in the aftermath of the Treaty of Varkiza led many former ELAS members to create self-defence militias which gradually evolved into the Samos branch of the Democratic Army of Greece (DSE).

The Samiot DSE drew manpower from nearby Icaria which was a notable place of internal exile for Greek communists, it was also able to capture large quantities of weapons and ammunition abandoned by the Italians during World War II.

The last DSE unit surrendered in Kerkis on 26 August 1949, the defeat of the communist resistance was followed by a celebratory visit of the Greek royal family on 15 October 1949.

[31] In 2020, the Greek government announced a new closed reception centre will be built near the village of Zervou to replace the current temporary open camps by 2021.

The Samian economy depends mainly on agriculture[citation needed] and the tourist industry which was growing steadily since the early 1980s and reached a peak at the end of the 1990s.