The Dodecanese (or Southern Sporades) are islands scattered off the south-west coast of Asia Minor; though called the "twelve islands" they come to more, on most of the varied enumerations. Travellers seldom visit others than Patmos, Kos and Rhodes, though there are less well-known islands that well repay exploration. This group of islands was taken from Turkey by Italy in 1912; the islanders believed that it was a step towards their immediate liberation, but the Italians definitely established themselves there, and in the later years of the Fascist regime their rule became extremely oppressive. The Dodecanese achieved union with Greece in 1948.
One is continually impressed by the entirely Hellenic character of these islands. They were occupied for centuries by the Turks, until 1912, long after most of the Greek islands were free; Kos and Rhodes still have Turkish minorities, who enjoy full cultural and religious liberty, and live in friendship and harmony with the islanders-they even join in each other's feasts. The Italian occupation, at first benevolent, became in the later years of Fascism vain and tyrannical-a few ugly buildings, beautiful gardens and good roads remain, otherwise it is as if it had not been.
The islanders had always kept up their connection with their brethren in free Greece, and they have the same buildings, dance the same dances, and-with some regional differencesare an integral part of Aegean Greece.