Leukas,

Leukas, LEUCADIA, or SANTA MAURA, one of the Ionian Islands, lies close to the west coast of Greece; about 660 B.C. the Corinthians cut through the peninsula that joined it to the mainland. It resembles the Isle of Man in shape, and is 20 miles long by 8 wide, with an area of 110 sq. m. The backbone of the island is a ridge of white limestone; hence the name (leukos, 'white'). Wine, olive-oil, and currants are the principal products. The island is much subject to earthquakes. Pop. 25,000, chiefly Greeks. The west coast is bold and precipitous, and terminates south in the abrupt headland (200 feet) known to the ancients as the Leucadian rock, on which stood a temple to Apollo, and from which once a year a criminal was hurled into the sea by way of sacrifice. It was from the same point that Sappho, the poetess, and Artemisia of Halicarnassus threw themselves into the waves. —The capital, Amaxichi or Leukas, on the east coast, is the seat of an archbishop, and has a population of 3800. It was nearly destroyed by an earthquake in 1825. Venice was mostly mistress of this island from 1684 to 1800; it was occupied by Britain in 1810. See IONIAN ISLANDS; also an account of the island by Partsch in Ergänzungsheft, 95, to Petermann's Mitteilungen (1889).