In avoiding the civil war, Crete was able to set about reconstruction some way in advance of the rest of Greece, and since 1945 it has become one of the most prosperous and productive regions of the nation. The realty spectacular changes, however, date from the last 25 years, fuelled above all by a tidal wave of tourism.

Politically, post-war Crete remains a place deeply mistrustful of outside control, even from Athens- At the local level above all, loyalties are divided along clan and patronage lines rather than party political ones, and leaders are judged on how well they provide for their areas and their followers. This was exemplified by Kostas Mitzotaki*. former head of the right-wing Nea Dhimokratia |ND) party and prime minister until his defeat by PASOK (the socialist party) in the 1993 election: a Cretan, many islanders respected his ability to get things done on Crete even if his party was not much liked.

Cretan politicians at the local level (there is no overall island government, only a regional administration controlled by appointees from Athens) continue to take an almost universal joy in standing up to central authority. In one famous incident the mayor of Iraklion organized a sit-in at the Archaeological Museum to prevent artworks being taken abroad for an exhibition: fifty thousand turned out to support him, and though President Karamanlis ordered his arrest, the national government was eventually forced to back down. Rivalries within Crete are fierce, too, most notably between Hania, the traditional capital, and upstart Iraklion which nowadays is richer and politically more important. This factionalism results in all sorts of anomalies and compromises: symptomatic was the thoroughly impractical decision to spread the University of Crete across three campuses, at Iraklion, Rethimnon (which has always considered itself the most cultured town in Crete) and Hania.

In national politics, the island presents a more unified front as the upholder of Venizelos liberal tradition. After the overthrow of the Colonels in 1974, Crete voted heavily against a restoration of the monarchy and for a republican system; in the presidential election which followed, support for the right-winger Karamanlis was less than half as strong on Crete as it was in the rest of Greece. This has been an abiding pattern. Pasok has consistently polled twice as many Cretan votes as ND.

Increasingly, however, the hold of the powerful old families (Mitiotakis is a member of one such long-established clan) and traditional loyalties are crumbling as their power- broking becomes less effective. The day-to-day reality of control from Athens cannot be denied even by the most fervent Cretan nationalist. It first flexed its muscles under the Colonels, when the major tourist developments were got underway, brushing aside local qualms over planning or the desirability of mass tourism. Now a days the EU. through directives and grants, has also started to affect Crete, above all her farmers. But central power - and the increasing importance of issues over personalities - perhaps manifests itself most clearly with regard to NATO.

In June 1981 a massive demonstration, supported among others by Iraklions mayor and bishop, blockaded Soudha with people and slow-moving vehicles. Andreas Papandreous Pasok, which won sixty percent of the total Cretan vote in 1985, promised that all US bases in Greece would be closed by 1988. In 1993 the base at Gournes shut down but there seems little prospect of all the bases closing: too much has been invested. Around $1000 million annually in rent and military aid is hard to give up, to say nothing of the other pressures applied. Above all is the fear that if they were thrown out. both bases and aid would,simply be transferred to Turkey. But at least plans for expansion seem to have been shelved: there was to have been another base on the Messara plain, possibly at Timbaki where the Germans had a big wartime base and where new barracks have been built but never occupied-

In the late Eighties and early Nineties Crete shared in the Greek and European economic downturn as a split developed between state employees (two-thirds more than in any other EU country) and the Mitzotakis government armed with a Thatcherism austerity programme to cut public expenditure. Strikes and mass protests ended with Nea Dhimokratias crushing defeat in the general election of October 1993, and the return to power of a Pasok government still led by the ageing and ailing Andreas Papandreou. The austerity programme of Mitzotakis was halted (an election promise) but there are as yet no answers as to how the nation with the lowest productivity, highest inflation and largest external debt in the EU will raise its living standards, another election promise. At the end Kostas Simitis elected to lead PASOK ant with a fabulous program and with a lot of work change everything.

Today Greece have the highest productivity in all Europe, and is a part of EURO economy.Also Athens prepared to make the Olympic games of 2004.

In Crete itself the age of mass market tourism is beginning to pall as the attractions of sun, beach, the Mediterranean cuisine and little more along much of the coast attract mainly younger holidaymakers who will move on when prices rise.

As tourist numbers decline, efforts to build a market in "green tourism" are in their infancy, held back by an indifference to environmental concerns by politicians, farmers and a populace who have yet to realise that environmentally organized tourism - for which the island with its rich variety of flora and fauna is an ideal location - can be enormously profitable. The island has faced up to invaders throughout its history, but the tourist invasion presents it with a new dilemma: to submerge its traditional ways in the pursuit of ever greater numbers or to try to raise the quality of development and at the same time preserve Cretes unique character. How the island tackles this challenge wiil significantly determine the economic and social future as Crete enters the new millennium-

..... out in the dark blue sea there lies a land called Crete, a rich and lovely land, washed by the waves on every side, Densely peopled and boasting ninety cities. Each of the several races of the island has its own language .....

Homer, the "Odyssey"

A number of internationally famous people were born here as Domenikos Theotokopoulos (El Greco), Nikos Kazantzakis, Vinzentsos Kornaros, Eleftherios Venizelos and some more....