Thanks to its beaches and its mild climate year-long, Lasithi attracts many tourists. Mass tourism is served by places like Vai, Agios Nikolaos and the island of Chrissi. More off-beat tourism can be found in villages on the south coast like Myrtos, Makrys Gialos or Makrigialos, Xerokambos and Koutsouras.
The history of Lasithi can be traced over at least three millennia.[2] The region has considerable ancient history antecedents, including the Dorian era settlement of Olous and Lato.[3]
Name
It has been speculated that ra-su-to, found in Linear B, corresponds to an unattested ancient Lasynthos.[4] There is also a Lyttian tribal name Lasynthioi, presumably reflecting the same name.[5]
Earlier proposals that it is derived from a Venetian 'la' preposed to derivatives of Lyttos (Lyttus > Tselyttus[6] > Tselethe > Xeethe > La Xeethi > Lasithi)[7] or Sitia (Sitia > La Sitia > Lasithi) are unlikely, as the name Lasithi was attested as early as 1211, whereas the Venetians only first arrived in Crete in 1205.[8] Another unlikely etymology derives it from lakkos 'hole or basin' (Lakkos > Lakkidion > Latsidi > Lasidi > Lasithi).[8]
As a part of the 2011 Kallikratis government reform, the regional unit Lasithi was created out of the former prefecture of Lasithi (Greek: Νομός Λασιθίου), which was created while Crete was still an autonomous state and was retained after the island joined Greece in 1913. The prefecture had the same territory as the present regional unit, except Viannos area that belonged to Lasithi but was annexed to Heraklion prefecture in 1932. At the same time, the municipalities were reorganised, according to the table below.[10]
^Fred Woudhuizen, The Earliest Cretan Scripts, 2:99
^Angelos Chaniotis, "The Great Inscription, its Political Institutions, and the Common Institutions of the Cretans" in E. Greco, M. Lombardo, eds., La Grande Iscrizione di Gortyna. Centoventi anni dopo la scoperta, Atti del I Convegno Internazionale di Studi sulla Messarà, Athens 2005 p. 182 and passim"Chaniotis, The Great Inscription"(PDF).