Kos
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Kos is a Greek island, belonging to the Dedokanes island group in the Aegean Sea.
About 30,000 people live on Kos, 16,000 of them in the island capital Kos-City in the west of the island. There is an international airport near Antimachia in the middle of the island and a sea harbour in Kos-City. Kos Island lives on tourism industry, about 300,000 tourists take rooms on Kos every year and a lot of tourist take a one-day trip to Kos from neighboring islands or the Turkish coast. 17 km oversea lies Bodrum/Turkey.
On Kos have lived people since 15th century BC, may be longer. Until the 4th century BC the capital of the island was in the west of it, near Kefalos. After an earthquake it moved to Kos City. Later the hellenics, then the Romans and the Bycantinians got the island. The Johannit Knights built great forts on Kos, in Kos-City and near Antimachia. The Turkish took over Kos in 1523. From 1912 to 1943 the Dedokanian islands belonged to Italy, from 1943 to 1945 the German, 1945 to 1946 the British ruled them. Since 1946 they belong to Greece.
Most important tourist attraction is the Askelepsion, an old temple for the Greek god Askelapsios. It was built between the 5th and the 1st century BC. The physician Hippokrates was from Kos.
