CHIOS HISTORY
Chios, an island in the north-east of the Aegean Sea
(Archipelagos), has a long and interesting history which is closely related to
the sea.
The people of Chios were and
still are eager to learn, to discover, they are never satisfied with what they
already know, they never stop searching. That’s why they had to “break” their barrier of water, the sea. They
had to become sailors in order to be able to
depart from their land.
According to mythology, king
Inopion arrived in Chios at about
1.500 B. C.. He was fascinated by the
beauty of the island and decided to settle here. The pre-historic inhabitants
of Chios were great sailors and merchants competing with other powerful Greek maritime forces of the time like the
inhabitants of Thraki (north-east Greece) and the Phoenicians.
The power of Chios at sea was so great that the island became a member of
Dodekapolis (Twelve-Towns) an alliance between twelve towns of the Ionian coast, Greek Asia Minor.
The power that Chios acquired via sea-trade was so great,
that it helped mobilize the island to
become a center of civilization, culture and fine arts (poetry, philosophy and
sculpture).
Chios is situated at the east edge of Europe at the border of Europe to the
east (Asia) and to the south (Africa).
This position proved to be very important not only for the Greek people but for the whole of Europe as well. It was Chios with its marine force together
with other strong Greek islands and towns, in the 5th century
B. C., kept the Persians (an Asian
tribe) from conquering Greece and making their way towards other European
countries. One hundred Chios ships
participated in the sea-fight against the Persians, who had six times the
number of Greek ships. So great was the Persian fleet that all the other Greek forces, except the Chios sailors, abandoned the sea-fight. From that point on Chios will never stop being a powerful marine island. That’s why Chios
will be an autonomous island even during the years that followed, when Athens
was the most powerful Greek town. Many ancient Greek historians such as Irodotos and Demosthenis mention the exceptional
Chios marine power. Demosthenis recognizes Chios, Rodos and
Kerkyra (Corfu) as the strongest Greek islands. Another example of the
importance of Chios’ marine
experience is that Chios sailors followed Alexander the Great to his
expeditions to Asia. This proves
that the inhabitants of the island knew sea and land routes that were very helpful to Alexander.
Even when the Romans conquered Greece they officially accepted that Chios
should be politically and administratively
autonomous.
During the Byzantine Era Chios flourishes again. It is a crossroad between
Europe, Asia and Africa. It is close to Constantinoupolis the capital of the Byzantine
Empire. The forests of Chios were pine tree forests. The wood of those forests
was used to build most of the Empires fleet,
that was transported by Chios ships. The ships also carried other
products of the island such as silk, citrus fruits and mainly mastiha to Egypt,
Arabia and elsewhere round the Mediterranean. The wealth accomplished by this kind of commerce helped the island sustain a dominant position throughout Greek history.
Another powerful marine force of the Mediterranean was the Italian city of Genova. Unfortunately, the Genova
forces conquered Chios in 1347.
However, the Italian administrators of the island, members of the famous Justiniani Family, helped Chios
continue its sea-trade. A century later when Constantinopole was besieged by the Turks, 300 Chios people under
the leadership of Ioannis Justinianni
fought against the conquerors. Unfortunately,
the Byzantine empire was conquered by the Turks but Chios continued being a
great marine island power and Chios sailors were amongst the most
experienced in the Mediterranean Sea.
That’s why in 1474 Christopher Colombus visited the island before starting his
great journey, which changed the
route of global history. He stayed on the
island for two (2) years studying navigation and profiting by the great
experience of Chios sailors, the methods they used and the routes they followed
to travel round the known world. When he left the island he took sea maps which
were drawn by Chios sailors and some very experienced sea travelers. Till today there are families in Chios that come under the surname Colomvos.
In 1566 the Turks conquered the island of Chios but the Chian people resisted, they never gave up.
They never stopped exporting their products. The trade of mastiha made it one
of the wealthiest Greek areas of the time and helped the island remain
semi-autonomous.
Chios’ fleet was one the largest in the Mediterranean but it was not the only one.
Pirates from different parts of the Mediterranean traveled around attacking
ships or seashore towns and villages stealing, burning the areas, slaughtering
the people, taking prisoners in order to sell them as slaves at the slave markets
of Smirni or Barbaria. Chios people
faced the danger in two different ways: at land and at the sea. In order the
island to be protected from the pirates it had to be fortified. The town of Chios was protected by a big fortress
which still exists.
The wealthiest villages of the island, the mastiha villages in the south
and in the middle of the island were rebuilt in such a way that the houses
formed a castle. The houses were built the one next to the other forming a
circle. There were two main iron gates which could be closed, if the pirates were to approach the villages. In the
centre of the villages there was the square and the watch tower from where a villager would watch for the enemy. Such towers were built at the capes of the island as well. If the soldier on the tower realized that the pirates were
approaching, they lit a fire so that the soldier of the next observatory could
see it and do the same to inform the next one and so on. These observatory
towers called “vigles” were recently
restored and they still stand there to remind us of the history of our island.
At sea, Chios ships had to be
equipped with cannons and sailors in
order to be able to Fight the pirates. Thus,
merchant ships were transformed into a new type of ship, a warship.
The Turks permitted this to happen
without imagining that these ships
would be used by the Greeks to fight them and free their country.
At the end of the 18th century Chios continued being a great marine force with a fleet of 150 (mainly small) ships.
There was also a “sea court” to deal with marine arguments and special sea laws, called the “Sea Order”.
In the beginning of the 19th century the pirates’ invasions and the Napoleon Wars caused great trouble to Chios marine trade. In 1821 the
Greeks organized their fight against
their conquerors the Turks. One of the most barbarian and horrendous actions of the Turks was the slaughter of Chios people in 1822. Thousands of
people were killed and the island was devastated. Europe was shocked by the
holocaust and realized what was really happening in occupied Greece and that
the whole continent was in real danger. Many artists were moved by the slaughter
and created great masterpieces of art such
as “The Chios slaughter” by Delacroix, which is exhibited in the Louvre Museum. Many people were saved again
because of the ships. Wealthy ship owners with their families and other
inhabitants of the island got aboard the ships and immigrated to other islands,
mainly to Syros. Those Chios families founded a new town there,
called Ermoupolis, now the capital of the island of Syros, which became the new marine centre of the country. In 1841
there were 1.500 sailors on the island, half of whom came from Chios. Chios sailors continued trading
with other Mediterranean ports, ports in the Black Sea, Constantinopolea, Pireus etc.
In March 1881 a terrible earthquake hit Chios but the inhabitants tried hard and finally managed to
overcome this difficulty, as well.
According to documents, kept at the “Korais” Public Library, in 1890 Chios’ fleet consisted of four steam
ships and 300 sailing boats. The first ship building companies had already been
founded and there was even a marine bank called “Archangel”. At the end of the
19thcentury steam was the new element which forced Chios ship owners to make changes and replace their old
ships with new ones. Although other marine forces didn’t realize the importance
of steam and thus became financially
destroyed, the clever and experienced
Chios ship owners organized associations
and bought steam iron ships and “conquered” the sea. At that time they founded
companies outside the Greek borders and mainly in London.
On November 11th 1912 the Turks were chased away from the
island by the Greek fleet under the
leadership of Admiral Pavlo
Kountourioti.
The greatest part of the country had been freed by then and the whole
nation was trying to rebuild the Country.
In 1922 the Greek towns of Asia Minor and especially the town of Smirni were
destroyed by the Turks and many immigrants, who were forced to leave their
houses, settled in Chios. During the
Second World War Chios people took part
in the resistance against the new conquerors and Chios became the bridge through which many politicians, artists but
also other people who were in danger, made their way to Middle East to save
themselves. Chios ships became part
of the Ally forces and fought
against the Nazi fleets.
Chios’ Marine force was completely destroyed once again. The first ship which was sunk
during the war was the Chian cargo ship “K. Hatzipateras”. More than 300 Chios
sailors never returned to the island.
When peace was restored many shipbuilders transferred their headquarters
from London to New York. The American government offered the Greeks 100 cargo
ships (liberties), as a head start
through the Marshall Plan, because of Chios offered its ships to fight for
the Allies during World War II. Those ships became the base of a new start
for Chios Maritime Industry. The “Greek miracle” as it was called, was
achieved by clever and ambitions shipbuilders such as the Chandris family, Karras, Andreadis, Pateras, Xilas,
Tsakos, Livanos and others but first of all by Chios sailors, who worked hard and
sometimes offered their own lives struggling to establish Chios’ trade around the world.
Dear friends, from Erasmus programme as you have probably realized the sea played the
most important role in our history. Travelling and trading at sea offered our
island two important things: cultural/spiritual
and economic flourishment.
Chios today is one of the wealthiest islands in Greece. The people of Chios are well educated, literate, politically and socially
alert. We believe that traveling,
coming in contact with different civilizations and exploring is what made the
inhabitants of the island acquire
the above qualities.
We feel blessed that we live near the sea and are very proud of our great
ancestors.
