From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Ottoman Crete
Ottoman Crete
Gramvousa and Spinalonga, fell in the Ot-
Girit
Crete toman–Venetian War of 1714–1718.
Province (eyalet/vilayet) of the Ottoman Empire Rebellions against Ottoman rule
1646–1898 There were significant rebellions against Ottoman rule,
← → particularly in Sfakia. Daskalogiannis was a famous rebel
leader.
The Greek War of Independence began in 1821 and
Cretan participation was extensive. An uprising by Chris-
tians met with a fierce response from the Ottoman au-
thorities and the execution of several bishops, regarded
as ringleaders. Between 1821 and 1828, the island was
the scene of repeated hostilities. The Muslims were dri-
ven into the large fortified towns on the north coast and
it would appear that as many as 60% of them died from
plague or famine while there. The Cretan Christians also
suffered severely, losing around 21% of their population.
During the great massacre of Heraklion on 24 June 1821,
Crete within the Ottoman Empire in the late 19th century
remembered in the area as "the great ravage" ("ο
Capital Heraklion (Candia), Chania μεγάλος αρπεντές", "o megalos arpentes"), the Turks also
35°20′N 25°8′E / 35.333°N killed the metropolite of Crete, Gerasimos Pardalis, and
25.133°E / 35.333;
five more bishops.[2] After the Sultan’s vassal in Egypt
25.133Coordinates: 35°20′N
25°8′E / 35.333°N 25.133°E /
was sent to intervene with the Egyptian fleet on 1825,
35.333; 25.133 Muhammad Ali’s son, Ibrahim, landed in Crete and began
to massacre the majority Greek community.[3]
History As the Ottoman sultan, Mahmud II, had no army of his
- Established 1646
own available, he was forced to seek the aid of his rebel-
- Treaty of Constantinople 1898
lious vassal and rival, Muhammad Ali of Egypt, who sent
an expedition to the island. Britain decided that Crete
The island of Crete was declared an Ottoman eyalet in should not become part of the new Kingdom of Greece on
1646, after the Ottomans managed to conquer the west- its independence in 1830, evidently fearing that it would
ern part of the island as part of the Cretan War,[1] but either become a centre of piracy as it had often been in
the Venetians would not surrender the capital Candia un- the past, or a Russian naval base in the East Mediter-
til 1669, when Francesco Morosini surrendered the keys ranean. In 1832, a Greek state was established which,
of the town.[1] The island fortresses of Souda, Granbousa, however, did not include Crete; the island was admin-
and Spinalonga would remain under Venetian rule until istered by an Albanian from Egypt, Mustafa Naili Pasha
in 1715.[1] Crete became a vilayet in 1864 as a result of the (known as Mustafa Pasha), whose rule attempted to cre-
Tanzimat reforms. The autonomous Cretan State was es- ate a synthesis of Muslim landowners and the emergent
tablished in 1898. Christian commercial classes. Though subsequent Greek
nationalist historiography has portrayed the Pasha as an
History oppressive figure, as reported by British and French con-
sular observers, he seems to have been generally cau-
Main article: Cretan War (1645–1669) tious, pro-British, and to have tried harder to win the
During the Cretan War (1645–1669), Venice was pushed support of the Cretan Christians (having married the
out of Crete by the Ottoman Empire. Most of the island daughter of a priest and allowed her to remain Christian)
fell in the first years of the war, but the capital Candia than the Cretan Muslims. In 1834 however a Cretan com-
(Heraklion) held out during long siege which lasted from mittee was set up in Athens to work for the union of the
1648 to 1669, possibly the longest siege in history. The island with Greece.
last Venetian outposts, the island fortresses of Souda, In 1840, Egypt was forced by Palmerston to return
Crete to direct Ottoman rule. Mustafa Pasha angled un-
1
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Ottoman Crete
successfully to become semi-independent Prince of martial-law. This action led to international sympathy
Greece but the Christian Cretans instead of supporting for the Cretan Christians and to a loss of any remaining
rose up against him, once more driving the Muslims tem- acquiescence among them for continued Ottoman rule.
porarily into siege in the towns. An Anglo-Ottoman naval When a small insurgency began in September 1895, it
operation restored control in the island and Mustafa spread quickly, and by the summer of 1896 the Ottoman
Pasha was confirmed as the governor of the island, forces had lost military control of most of the island.
though under command from Istanbul. He remained The new uprising led to the dispatch of a Greek ex-
there until 1851 when he was summoned to Istanbul, peditionary force to the island, culminating in the Greco-
where though of relatively advanced age (his early fifties) Turkish War of 1897, in which Greece suffered a heavy
he had a successful career, becoming Grand Vizier sever- defeat. The Great Powers forced the Greek army to aban-
al times. don the island.
After Greece achieved its independence, Crete be- But the Ottoman troops too were forced to depart a
came an object of contention as the Christian part of its year later. Rural Turks and Bashibazuks (irregular Turk-
population revolted several times against Ottoman rule. ish troops), goaded by the appointment of Stylianos M.
Revolts in 1841 and 1858 secured some privileges, such Alexiou as the first Christian director of the Revenue Ser-
as the right to bear arms, equality of Christian and Mus- vice, on 25th August 1898, as the new clerks were on
lim worship, and the establishment of Christian councils their way to start work in the town customs house, at-
of elders with jurisdiction over education and custom- tacked them and the British detachment escorting them.
ary law. Despite these concessions, the Christian Cretans A Turkish mob rapidly spread throughout the town, as
maintained their ultimate aim of union with Greece, and Cretan Greek houses and shops were pillaged and build-
tensions between the Christian and Muslim communities ings were torched, particularly in the area then known as
ran high. Thus, in 1866 the great Cretan Revolt began. Vezir Çarşı, the modern-day 25th August Street. Around
The uprising, which lasted for three years, involved 700 Cretan Greeks, 17 British soldiers and the British Con-
volunteers from Greece and other European countries, sul in Crete were killed. The Great Powers ordered the
where it was viewed with considerable sympathy. De- immediate execution the Turkish ringleaders of the riots.
spite early successes of the rebels, who quickly confined In the wake of this massacre, the Great Powers were per-
the Ottomans to the northern towns, the uprising failed. suaded that all Turkish influence on Crete had to cease.
The Ottoman Grand Vizier A’ali Pasha personally as- On November 3, under the orders of the Powers, the
sumed control of the Ottoman forces and launched a me- Turkish troops started to withdraw from the island,
thodical campaign to retake the rural districts, which marking the end of 253 years of Ottoman rule.[4] Crete
was combined with promises of political concessions, no- was placed under international occupation and a new
tably by the introduction of an Organic Law, which gave Cretan State, autonomous but under the suzerainty of
the Cretan Christians equal (in practice, because of their the Sultan, was established.[5]
superior numbers, majority) control of local administra-
tion. His approach bore fruits, as the rebel leaders gradu-
ally submitted. By early 1869, the island was again under
Demographics
Ottoman control. One result of the Ottoman conquest was that a sizeable
During the Congress of Berlin in the summer of 1878, proportion of the population gradually converted to Is-
there was a further rebellion, which was halted quickly lam, with its tax and other civic advantages in the Ot-
by the intervention of the British and the adaptation of toman system. Contemporary estimates vary, but on the
the 1867-8 Organic Law into a constitutional settlement eve of the Greek War of Independence as much as 45% of
known as the Pact of Halepa. Crete became a semi-in- the population of the island may have been Muslim.[6] A
dependent parliamentary state within the Ottoman Em- small number of these were crypto-Christians who con-
pire under an Ottoman Governor who had to be a Christ- verted back to Christianity; others fled Crete because of
ian. A number of the senior "Christian Pashas" including the unrest. By the last Ottoman census in 1881, Christians
Photiades Pasha and Kostis Adosidis Pasha ruled the is- were 76% of the population, and Muslims (usually called
land in the 1880s, presiding over a parliament in which "Turks" regardless of language, culture, and ancestry)
liberals and conservatives contended for power. Disputes only 24%. Christians were over 90% of the population in
between the two powers however led to a further in- 19/23 of the districts of Crete, but Muslims were over 60%
surgency in 1889 and the collapse of the Pact of Halepa in the three large towns on the north coast, and in Mono-
arrangements. The international powers, disgusted at fatsi.[7]
what seemed to be factional politics, allowed the Ot-
toman authorities to send troops to the island and re-
store order but did not anticipate that Ottoman Sultan
Administrative divisions
Abdul Hamid II would use this as a pretext to end the Sanjaks of Ottoman Crete in the 17th century:[8]
Halepa Pact Constitution and instead rule the island by 1. Sanjak of Canea
2
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Ottoman Crete
[2] Dr. Detorakis, Theocharis "Brief Historical Review
of the Holy Archdiocese of Crete"
[3] Peacock, A History of Modern Europe, p. 220
[4] Kitromilides M. Paschalis (ed) Eleftherios Venizelos:
The Trials of Statesmanship, Edinburgh University
Press, 2008 p. 68
Administrative division of Crete until 1827 [5] Enosis: The Union of Crete with Greece
[6] Excerpts from William Yale, The Near East: A modern
history by (Ann Arbor, The University of Michigan
2. Sanjak of Retimo
Press, 1958)
3. Sanjak of Selina
[7] A. Lily Macrakis, Cretan Rebel: Eleftherios Venizelos in
Ottoman Crete, Ph.D. Dissertation, Harvard
References University, 1983.
[8] Narrative of travels in Europe, Asia, and Africa in the ...,
[1] ^ Encyclopedia of the Ottoman Empire at Google Books
Volume 1 at Google Books By Evliya Çelebi, Joseph
By Gábor Ágoston, Bruce Alan Masters
von Hammer-Purgstall
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Categories:
• States and territories established in 1646
• States and territories disestablished in 1898
• Ottoman Crete
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