Ottoman Crete: Difference between revisions

| native_name = ''Eyālet-i Girīt'' <small>(1667–1867)</small> <br/> ''Vilayet-i Girit'' <small>(1867–1898)</small>

| common_name = Crete

| year_start = 1667

| image_flag = Flag of the Ottoman Empire (1844–1922).svg

| year_end = 1898

| date_start =

| date_end =

| event_start =

| event_end = [[Treaty of Constantinople (1897)|Treaty of Constantinople]]

| p1 = Kingdom of Candia

| flag_p1 = Flag of Most Serene Republic of Venice.svg

| s1 = Cretan State

| flag_s1 = Flag of Cretan State.svg

| flag_type =

| image_coat =

| image_map = Crete Vilayet, Ottoman Empire (1895).png

| image_map_caption = Crete within the Ottoman Empire in 1895

| capital = [[Heraklion|Kandiye]] (1669-18501669–1850)<br /> [[Chania|Kanea]] (1850-18981850–1898)

| coordinates = {{Coord|35|20|N|25|8|E|display=inline,title}}

| today = [[{{Flag|Greece]]}}

|stat_area1 stat_pop1 = 280,000

|stat_area2 stat_pop2 = 7800220,000

|stat_pop2 footnotes = 220,000

|leader1 year_leader1 = [[Çelebi Ismail Pasha]]1693-1695

|year_leader1 leader2 = 1693-1695Shakir Pasha

|leader2 year_leader2 = Shakir= Pasha1898

The island of [[Crete]] ({{lang-langx|ota|كریت|Girit|script=Arab}})<ref name=someprov>{{cite web|title=Some Provinces of the Ottoman Empire|url=http://www.geonames.de/coutr-ota-provinces.html|publisher=Geonames.de|access-date=25 February 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303234605/http://www.geonames.de/coutr-ota-provinces.html|archive-date=3 March 2016|url-status=dead}}</ref> was declared an Ottoman province ([[eyalet]]) in 1646, after the Ottomans managed to conquer the western part of the island as part of the [[Cretan War (1645–1669)|Cretan War]],<ref name="otm-enc"/> but the [[Republic of Venice|Venetians]] [[Siege of Candia|maintained their hold]] on the capital [[Heraklion|Candia]], until 1669, when [[Francesco Morosini]] surrendered the keys of the town.<ref name="otm-enc">{{Google books|QjzYdCxumFcC|page=157|Encyclopedia of the Ottoman Empire}} By Gábor Ágoston, Bruce Alan Masters</ref> The offshore island fortresses of [[Souda (island)|Souda]], [[Grambousa]], and [[Spinalonga]] would remain under Venetian rule until 1715, when they were also [[Ottoman–Venetian War (1714–18)|captured by the Ottomans]].<ref name="otm-enc"/>

The [[Greek War of Independence]] began in 1821, and Cretan participation was extensive. An uprising by Christians met with a fierce response from the Ottoman authorities and the execution of several bishops Whowho were regarded as ringleaders. Between 1821 and 1828, the island was the scene of repeated hostilities. The Muslims were driven 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 there. The Cretan Christians also suffered severely by losing around 21% of their population. During the great massacre of Heraklion on 24 June 1821, remembered in the area as "the great ravage" ("ο μεγάλος αρπεντές", "o megalos arpentes"), the Turks also killed the metropolite of Crete, Gerasimos Pardalis, and five more bishops.<ref>Dr. Detorakis, Theocharis [http://www.orthodoxresearchinstitute.org/articles/church_history/detorakis_brief_historical_review.htm "Brief Historical Review of the Holy Archdiocese of Crete"]</ref>

As Ottoman Sultan [[Mahmud II]], had no army of his own available, he was forced to seek the aid of his rebellious vassal and rival, [[Muhammad Ali of Egypt]], who sent an expedition to the island. In 1825, Muhammad Ali's son, Ibrahim, landed in Crete and began to massacre the majority-Greek community.<ref>Peacock, ''A History of Modern Europe'', p. 220</ref>

The [[Cretan revolt ofRevolt (1897–1898)|new uprising]] led to the dispatch of a Greek expeditionary force to the island, culminating in the [[Greco-Turkish War of 1897]] in which Greece suffered a heavy defeat. The [[Great Powers]] dispatched a multinational naval force, the [[International Squadron (Crete intervention, 1897-18981897–1898)|International Squadron]], to Crete in February 1897 and forced the Greek Army to abandon the island. It also bombarded Cretan insurgent forces, placed sailors and [[marines]] ashore and instituted a [[blockade]] of Crete and key ports in Greece, which ended organised combat on the island by late March 1897.<ref>McTiernan, pp. 13-23.</ref> Meanwhile, the International Squadron's senior admirals formed an "Admirals Council", which temporarily governed Crete pending a resolution of the Cretan uprising and eventually decided that Crete should become an autonomous state within the Ottoman Empire.<ref>McTiernan, p. 28.</ref>

Ottomans never [[population transfer|transferred colonists]] to Crete,<ref>[http://www.unm.edu/~phooper/thesis_condensed.pdf P. Hooper, Thesis, University of New Mexico] p. 27</ref><ref>Greene Molly (2000) A Shared World: Christians and Muslims in the Early Modern Mediterranean, Princeton University Press. p. 87.</ref> majority theThe Muslim ''Turkokritiki'' population of the island waswere of Cretan origin, mostly speaking exclusively the Cretan dialect.<ref>Barbara J. Hayden, ''The Settlement History of the Vrokastro Area and Related Studies'', vol. 2 of ''Reports on the Vrokastro Area, Eastern Crete'', p. 299</ref> After the Ottoman conquest of 1669, a sizeable proportion of the population gradually converted to Islam. TheyThere waswere also Black Muslim cretansCretans of sub-saharanSaharan African descent and named ''Halikoutes''<ref>{{cite web | url=https://neoskosmos.com/en/2022/05/05/sport/sport-opinion/black-cretans-and-1922/ | title=Black Cretans and 1922 | date=5 May 2022 }}</ref> and ''Turkogifti'' (Turkish Gypsies).<ref>{{cite web | url=https://ebin.pub/made-in-greece-studies-in-popular-music-1nbsped-113881198x-9781138811980-9781138489523-9781315749075.html | title=Made in Greece: Studies in Popular Music &#91;1 ed.&#93; 113881198X, 9781138811980, 9781138489523, 9781315749075 | date=17 September 0410 }}</ref> According to the 17th-century English diplomat and historian [[Paul Rycaut]], the Orthodox population welcomed Ottomans as liberators from the "oppressive rule of Roman Catholic Italians" and "began to undergo conversion to Islam in substantial numbers".<ref>{{cite book|author=Nabil Matar|author-link=Nabil Matar|title=Islam in Britain, 1558-1685|page=25|publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]]}}</ref> Contemporary estimates vary, but on the eve of the Greek War of Independence, up to 45% of the population of the island may have been Muslim.<ref>Excerpts <!--what does "excerpts" mean? If they are direct quotations, they should be in quotation marks-->from William Yale, ''The Near East: A modern history'' by (Ann Arbor, The University of Michigan Press, 1958)</ref> A smalllarge number of these were [[crypto-Christians]], who converted back to Christianity; others fled Crete because of the unrest. By the last Ottoman census in 1881, Christians were 76% of the population, and Muslims (usually called "Turks" regardless of language, culture or ancestry) only 24% of the population, but Muslims were over 60% in the three large towns on the north coast and Monofatsi. Christians were 93% of the population in 1923 of the districts of Crete. The remaining Muslims were forced to leave for Turkey in the population exchange by religion between Greece and Turkey.<ref>A. Lily Macrakis, ''Cretan Rebel: Eleftherios Venizelos in Ottoman Crete'', Ph.D. Dissertation, Harvard University, 1983.</ref>