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[[File:Knossos bull leaping fresco.jpg|thumb|400px|right|The [[Bull-Leaping Fresco]] from [[Knossos]] showing [[bull-leaping]], c. 1450 BC; probably, the dark skinned figure is a man and the two light skinned figures are women]]
The '''history of Crete''' goes back to the [[7th millennium BC]], preceding the ancient [[Minoan civilization]] by more than four millennia. The Minoan civilization was the [[first civilization]] in Europe.<ref>{{Cite web |title=DNA analysis unearths origins of Minoans, the first major European civilization |url=https://www.washington.edu/news/2013/05/14/dna-analysis-unearths-origins-of-minoans-the-first-major-european-civilization/ |access-date=2025-01-11 |website=UW News |language=en}}</ref>

During the [[Iron Age]], [[Crete]] developed an [[Ancient Greece]]-influenced organization of [[city-state]]s, then successively became part of the [[Roman Empire]], the [[Byzantine Empire]], the [[Venetian Republic]], the [[Ottoman Empire]], an autonomous state, and the modern state of [[Greece]].<ref>Chris Moorey,  ''A History of Crete'' (Haus, 2019).</ref>

==Prehistoric Crete==
{{More citations needed section|date=March 2021}}
[[File:Steatopygous Goddess, clay, Crete, 5300-3000 BC, AMH, 144506.jpg|thumb| Goddess clay figurine. [[Neolithic]], 5300–3000 BC. Pano Chorio, Ierapetra region, Crete. Archaeological Museum of Heraklion]]
Excavations in South Crete in 2008–2009 revealed stone tools at least 130,000 years old, including bifacial ones of [[Acheulean]] type. This was a sensational discovery, as the previously accepted earliest sea crossing in the Mediterranean was thought to occur around 12,000 BC. This suggests that the island may have been visited by [[archaic humans]] during the [[Middle Pleistocene]].<ref name=":0">T.F. Strasser, E. Panagopoulou, C.N. Runnels, P.M. Murray, N. Thompson, P. Karkanas, F.W. McCoy, K.W. Wegmann [http://www.ascsa.edu.gr/pdf/uploads/StoneAgeSeafaringintheMedHesp79_2_145-190.pdf Stone Age seafaring in the Mediterranean: evidence from the Plakias region for Lower Palaeolithic and Mesolithic habitation of Crete] ''Hesperia'', 79 (2010), pp. 145-190</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Howitt-Marshall |first1=Duncan |last2=Runnels |first2=Curtis |date=June 2016 |title=Middle Pleistocene sea-crossings in the eastern Mediterranean? |url=https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0278416516300058 |journal=Journal of Anthropological Archaeology |language=en |volume=42 |pages=140–153 |doi=10.1016/j.jaa.2016.04.005|url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Tourloukis |first1=Vangelis |last2=Harvati |first2=Katerina |date=February 2018 |title=The Palaeolithic record of Greece: A synthesis of the evidence and a research agenda for the future |url=https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S1040618216310011 |journal=Quaternary International |language=en |volume=466 |pages=48–65 |doi=10.1016/j.quaint.2017.04.020|bibcode=2018QuInt.466...48T |url-access=subscription }}</ref> During the [[Late Pleistocene]], the island was ecologically isolated, and only inhabited by a few mammal species, including deer belonging to the [[Endemism|endemic]] genus ''[[Candiacervus]],'' a lineage of mice (''Mus bateae'', ''[[Mus minotaurus|M. minotaurus]]''), a [[dwarf elephant]] (''[[Palaeoloxodon creutzburgi]]''), the [[Cretan otter]] (''Lutrogale (Isolalutra) cretensis''), and the [[Cretan shrew]] (''Crocidura zimmermanni''),<ref name=":1" /> as well as the large terrestrial [[Cretan owl]] (''Athene cretensis'') all of which but the shrew are now extinct.<ref name=":1">{{Citation |last1=Lyras |first1=George A. |title=The Fossil Record of Insular Endemic Mammals from Greece |date=2022 |url=https://link.springer.com/10.1007/978-3-030-68442-6_25 |work=Fossil Vertebrates of Greece Vol. 2 |pages=661–701 |editor-last=Vlachos |editor-first=Evangelos |access-date=2023-04-30 |place=Cham |publisher=Springer International Publishing |language=en |doi=10.1007/978-3-030-68442-6_25 |isbn=978-3-030-68441-9 |last2=Athanassiou |first2=Athanassios |last3=van der Geer |first3=Alexandra A. E.|s2cid=239841623 |url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref>M. Pavia, C. Mourer-Chauviré An overview of the Genus ''Athene'' in the Pleistocene of the Mediterranean Islands, with the Description of ''Athene trinacriae'' n.sp. (Aves: Strigidae) Z. Zhou, F. Zhang (Eds.), Proceedings of the 5th Symposium of the Society of Avian Paleontology and Evolution, Beijing Science Press (2002), pp. 13-27</ref>

Stone tools indicate that the island was inhabited by [[Mesolithic]] hunter gatherers during the Early Holocene.<ref name=":0" /> The [[Neolithic]] begins on Crete around 9000 years [[Before Present]] /7000 BC.<ref>{{Citation |last=Day |first=Jo |title=Crete, Archaeology of |date=2018 |url=http://link.springer.com/10.1007/978-3-319-51726-1_1434-2 |encyclopedia=Encyclopedia of Global Archaeology |pages=1–18 |access-date=2023-05-08 |place=Cham |publisher=Springer International Publishing |language=en |doi=10.1007/978-3-319-51726-1_1434-2 |isbn=978-3-319-51726-1|url-access=subscription }}</ref> In the [[Neolithic period]], some of the early influences on the development of [[Crete|Cretan]] culture arise from the [[Cyclades]] and from [[Egypt]]; cultural records are written in the undeciphered script known as "[[Linear A]]". The archaeological record of Crete includes [[Minoan palaces]], houses, roads, paintings and sculptures. [[Early Neolithic]] settlements in Crete include [[Knossos]] and [[Trapeza, Crete|Trapeza]].

For the earlier times, [[radiocarbon dating]] of organic remains and charcoal offers some dates. Based on this, it is thought that Crete was inhabited from about 130,000 years ago, in the [[Lower Paleolithic]],<ref>Hemingway, Seán, '' Art of the Aegean Bronze Age'', p. 25, ''The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin'', Spring 2012 Volume LXIX, Number 4</ref> perhaps not continuously, with a Neolithic farming culture from the [[7th millennium BC]] onwards.  The first settlers introduced [[cattle]], [[sheep]], [[goat]]s, [[pig]]s, and [[dog]]s, as well as domesticated cereals and [[legume]]s.

Remains of a settlement found under the Bronze Age palace at [[Knossos]] date to the 7th millennium BC.  Up to now, Knossos remains the only [[aceramic]] site. The settlement covered approximately 350,000 square metres. The sparse animal bones contain the above-mentioned domestic species as well as deer, badger, marten and mouse: the extinction of the local megafauna had not left much game behind.

Neolithic pottery is known from Knossos, Lera Cave and [[Gerani, Rethymno|Gerani]] Cave.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Almyrida 2024 - Almyrida 2024 |url=https://www.almyrida.gr/index.php/component/content/article?id=40 |access-date=2025-01-11 |website=www.almyrida.gr | date=7 January 2025 }}</ref> The [[Late Neolithic]] sees a proliferation of sites, pointing to a population increase. In the late Neolithic, the donkey and the rabbit were introduced to the island; deer and [[agrimi]] were hunted. The [[Kri-kri]], a feral goat, preserves traits of the early domesticates. Horse, fallow deer and hedgehog are only attested from Minoan times onwards.

==Minoan civilization and Mycenaean Period==
{{Unreferenced section|find=search keyword(s)|date=March 2021}}
{{Main|Minoan civilization}}
Crete was the centre of Europe's most ancient civilization, the [[Minoan civilization|Minoans]]. Tablets inscribed in [[Linear A]] have been found in numerous sites in Crete, and a few in the Aegean islands. The Minoans established themselves in many islands besides [[Ancient Crete]]: secure identifications of Minoan off-island sites include [[Kea Island|Kea]], [[Kythera]], [[Milos]], [[Rhodes]], and above all, [[Santorini|Thera]] (Santorini).

Because of a lack of written records, estimates of the [[Minoan chronology]] are based on well-established [[Minoan pottery]] styles, which can at points be tied to Egyptian and [[Ancient Near Eastern]] chronologies by finds away from Crete and clear influences.  Archaeologists ever since [[Sir Arthur Evans]] have identified and uncovered the palace-complex at [[Knossos]], the most famous Minoan site. Other palace sites in Crete such as [[Phaistos]] have uncovered magnificent stone-built, multi-story palaces containing drainage systems,<ref>[http://themodernantiquarian.com/site/10857/phaistos.html#fieldnotes C.Michael Hogan, ''Phaistos Fieldnotes'', The Modern Antiquarian (2007)]</ref>  and the queen had a bath and a flushing toilet. The expertise displayed in the hydraulic engineering was of a very high level. There were no defensive walls to the complexes. By the 16th century BC pottery and other remains on the Greek mainland show that the Minoans had far-reaching contacts on the mainland. In the 16th century a major earthquake caused destruction on Crete and on Thera that was swiftly repaired.

==Iron Age and Archaic Crete==
{{Main|Greek Dark Ages|Archaic Greece}}
The collapse of the Mycenaean civilization was followed by the appearance of the first Greek [[city-states]] in the 9th century BC and the epics of [[Homer]] in the 8th century BC. Some of the Dorian cities that prospered on Crete during those times are [[Kydonia]], [[Lato]], [[Dreros]], [[Gortyn]] and [[Eleutherna]].

==Classical and Hellenistic Crete==
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In the [[Classical Greece|Classical]] and Hellenistic period Crete fell into a pattern of combative city-states, harboring pirates. In the late 4th century BC, the aristocratic order began to collapse due to endemic infighting among the elite, and Crete's economy was weakened by prolonged wars between city states. During the 3rd century BC, [[Gortyn]], Kydonia ([[Chania]]), [[Lyctus|Lyttos]] and [[Polyrrhenia]] challenged the primacy of ancient Knossos.

While the cities continued to prey upon one another, they invited into their feuds mainland powers like [[Macedon]] and its rivals [[Rhodes]] and [[Ptolemaic Egypt]]. In 220 BC the island was tormented by a [[Lyttian War|war between two coalitions of cities]]. As a result, the Macedonian king [[Philip V of Macedon|Philip V]] gained [[hegemony]] over Crete which lasted to the end of the [[Cretan War (205–200 BC)|Cretan War]] (205–200 BC), when the [[Rhodes|Rhodians]] opposed the rise of Macedon and the [[Roman Republic|Romans]] started to interfere in Cretan affairs. In the 2nd century BC Ierapytna ([[Ierapetra]]) gained supremacy on eastern Crete.

== Roman, Byzantine, and Arab Crete ==
{{Main|Classical antiquity}}
{{Further|Crete and Cyrenaica|Byzantine Crete|Emirate of Crete}}
[[File:Crete and Cyrenaica, part of Tabula Peutingeriana.jpg|thumb|Crete (''Insula Cretica'') in [[Tabula Peutingeriana]]]]
[[File:View of Temenos fortress.jpg|thumb|Temenos fortress was built by the Byzantines after the reconquest of the island from the Arabs]]
[[Mithridates VI Eupator]], ruler of the [[Kingdom of Pontus]] in northern [[Anatolia]], waged war against the [[Roman Republic]] in the year 88 BC in order to halt the advance of Roman [[hegemony]] in the [[Aegean Sea]] region. Mithridates VI sought to dominate [[Asia Minor]] and the [[Black Sea]] region, waging several hard-fought but ultimately unsuccessful wars (the [[Mithridatic Wars]]) to break Roman dominion over Asia and the [[Hellenic world]].<ref>"[https://www.britannica.com/biography/Mithradates-VI-Eupator Mithradates VI Eupator]", ''[[Encyclopædia Britannica]]''</ref> He has been called the greatest ruler of the Kingdom of Pontus.<ref>{{cite book|last=Hewsen|first=Robert H.|title=Armenian Pontus: The Trebizond-Black Sea Communities|year=2009|publisher=Mazda Publishers, Inc.|location=Costa Mesa, CA|isbn=978-1-56859-155-1|pages=41, 37–66|editor=Richard G. Hovannisian|chapter=Armenians on the Black Sea: The Province of Trebizond}}</ref>

Since 133 BC western and central Anatolia had been under [[Romanization of Anatolia|Roman control]], but [[Hellenistic culture]] remained predominant. On the pretext that [[Knossos]] was backing Mithridates VI, [[Marcus Antonius Creticus]] attacked Crete in 71 BC and was repelled. Rome sent [[Quintus Caecilius Metellus Creticus|Quintus Caecilius Metellus]] with three legions to the island. After a ferocious three-year campaign, Crete was conquered by the [[Roman army]] in 69 BC, earning the commander Metellus the ''[[Victory titles|agnomen]]'' "Creticus". At the archaeological sites, there seems to be little evidence of widespread damage associated with the transfer to Roman power: a single palatial house complex seems to have been razed. Gortyn seems to have been pro-Roman and was rewarded by being made the capital of the joint [[Roman province]] of ''[[Crete and Cyrenaica]]''.

Further annexations by Rome, in particular of the Kingdom of Pontus by [[Pompey]], brought all of Anatolia under [[Romanization of Anatolia|Roman control]], except for the southeastern frontier with the [[Parthian Empire]], which  would remain unstable for centuries, causing a series of military conflicts that culminated in the [[Roman–Parthian Wars]] (54 BC – 217 AD). [[Gortyn]] was the site of the largest Christian [[basilica]] on Crete, the Basilica of [[Saint Titus]], dedicated to the first Christian bishop in Crete, to whom the [[Apostle Paul]] addressed one of his epistles. The church [[Christianity in the 1st century|was founded in the 1st century AD]]. The island of Crete continued to be a [[Byzantine Crete|province of the Eastern Roman Empire]], otherwise known as the [[Byzantine Empire]], a quiet cultural backwater, until it fell into the hands of [[Al-Andalus|Andalusian Muslims]] under [[Abu Hafs (pirate)|Abu Hafs]] in the years 820s AD, who established a [[Emirate of Crete|piratical emirate]] on the island. The archbishop Cyril of Gortyn was killed and the city so thoroughly devastated it was never reoccupied. Candia (Chandax, modern [[Heraklion]]), a city built by the Andalusian Muslims, was made capital of the island instead.

The [[Emirate of Crete]] became a center of [[Barbary pirates|Muslim piratical activity]] in the Aegean Sea, and a thorn in Byzantium's side. Successive campaigns to recover the island failed until the Byzantine reconquest of Crete in 961 AD, when the [[Byzantine Emperor]] [[Nikephoros II Phokas]] defeated and expelled the Muslim Arabs and Berbers from Crete for the Byzantine Empire, and made the island into a [[Crete (theme)|theme]].<ref name=intro>Panagiotakis, Introduction, p. XVI.</ref>

The [[Byzantine Greeks]] held power over the island until the [[Fourth Crusade]] (1204). In its aftermath, possession of the island was disputed between the Italian [[maritime republics]] of [[Republic of Genoa|Genoa]] and [[Republic of Venice|Venice]], with the latter eventually solidifying their control by 1212. Despite frequent revolts by the native population, the Venetians retained the island until 1669, when the Ottoman Empire [[Cretan War (1645–1669)|took possession]] of it.

(The standard survey for this period is I.F. Sanders, ''An archaeological survey and Gazetteer of Late Hellenistic, Roman and Early Byzantine Crete'', 1982)
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20040822145132/http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1373/is_n11_v45 Annette Bingham, "Crete's Roman past: excavations yield antiquities from the Roman period," ''History Today'', November 1995]

==Venetian Crete (1205–1669)==
[[Image:MBoschini Il regno tutto di Candia.jpg|thumb|150px|Venetian propaganda during the Siege: ''Il regno tutto di Candia'', [[Marco Boschini]], 1651]]
{{Main|Kingdom of Candia}}
In the partition of the Byzantine empire after the capture of [[Constantinople]] by the armies of the [[Fourth Crusade]] in 1204, Crete was eventually acquired by [[Republic of Venice|Venice]], which held it for more than four centuries (the "[[Kingdom of Candia]]").

The most important of the many rebellions that broke out during that period was the one known as the [[revolt of St. Titus]]. It occurred in 1363, when indigenous Cretans and Venetian settlers exasperated by the hard tax policy exercised by Venice, overthrew official Venetian authorities and declared an independent Cretan Republic. The revolt took Venice five years to quell.

During Venetian rule, the Greek population of Crete was exposed to [[Renaissance]] culture. A thriving literature in the Cretan dialect of Greek developed on the island. The best-known work from this period is the poem ''[[Erotokritos]]'' by [[Vitsentzos Kornaros]] (Βιτσένζος Κορνάρος). Another major Cretan literary figures were [[Marcus Musurus]] (1470–1517), [[Nicholas Kalliakis]] (1645–1707), [[Andreas Musalus]] (1665–1721), and other [[Greek scholars in the Renaissance|Greek scholars and philosophers]] who flourished in [[Italy]] in the 15–17th centuries.<ref>{{cite book |author1=Rose, Hugh James |author2=Rose, Henry John |author3=Wright, Thomas |title= A new general biographical dictionary, Volume 5 |publisher= T. Fellowes |year= 1857 |page=425|oclc=309809847 |quote=CALLIACHI, (Nicholas,) a native of Candia, where he was born in 1645. He studied at Rome for ten years, at the end of which time he was made doctor of philosophy and theology. In 1666 he was invited to Venice, to take the chair of professor of the Greek and Latin languages, and of the Aristotelic philosophy; and in 1677 he was appointed professor of belles-lettres at Padua, where he died in 1707. }}</ref>

[[Georgios Hortatzis]] was author of the dramatic work ''[[Erophile]]''. The painter [[Domenicos Theotocopoulos]], better known as [[El Greco]], was born in Crete in this period and was trained in Byzantine iconography before moving to Italy and later, Spain.<ref>{{cite book |author=Lathrop C. Harper |title= Catalogue / Harper (Lathrop C.) inc., New York, Issue 232|publisher= Lathrop C. Harper, Inc |year= 1886 |page=36 |oclc=11558801|quote= Calliachius (1645–1707) was born on Crete and went to Italy at an early age, where he soon became one of the outstanding teachers of Greek and Latin. }}</ref>

==Ottoman Crete (1669–1898)==
[[File:Girit'in Fethi.jpg|thumb|Ottoman siege of Candia]]
[[Image:Crete-Johnston-1861.png|thumb|right|300px|{{center|Crete or Candia in 1861}}]]
{{Main|Ottoman Crete}}
During the [[Cretan War (1645–1669)]], Venice was pushed out of Crete by the [[Ottoman Empire]], with most of the island lost after the [[siege of Candia]] (1648–1669), possibly the longest siege in history. The last Venetian outpost on the island, [[Spinalonga]], fell in 1718, and Crete was a part of the Ottoman Empire for the next two centuries. There were significant rebellions against Ottoman rule, particularly in [[Sfakia]]. [[Daskalogiannis]] was a famous rebel leader. One result of the Ottoman conquest was that a sizeable proportion of the population gradually converted to Islam, with its tax and other civic advantages in the Ottoman system. Contemporary estimates vary, but on the eve of the Greek War of Independence as much as 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>

Some Muslim converts were [[crypto-Christian]]s, 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 [[Cretan Turks]] only 24%. Christians were over 90% of the population in 19 out of 23 of the districts of Crete, but Muslims were over 60% in the three large towns on the north coast, and in Monofatsi.<ref>A. Lily Macrakis, ''Cretan Rebel: Eleftherios Venizelos in Ottoman Crete'', Ph.D. Dissertation, Harvard University, 1983.</ref>

=== Greek War of Independence (1821) ===
The [[Greek War of Independence]] began in 1821, with extensive Cretan participation. An uprising by Christians met with a fierce response from the Ottoman authorities and the execution of several bishops, regarded as ringleaders. Sultan [[Mahmud II]] granted rule over Crete to Egypt's ruler [[Muhammad Ali of Egypt|Muhammad Ali Pasha]] in exchange for his military support. 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 while there. The Cretan Christians also suffered severely, losing around 21% of their population in the 1830s.<ref>Panagiotis Krokidas, and Athanasios Gekas, "Public Health in Crete under the rule of Mehmed Ali in the 1830's." ''Égypte/Monde arabe'' 4 (2007): 35-54 [https://journals.openedition.org/ema/1751 online].</ref>

Crete was subsequently left out of the new Greek state established under the [[London Protocol of 1830]]. Its administration by Muhammad Ali was confirmed in the [[Convention of Kütahya]] of 1833, but direct Ottoman rule was re-established by the [[Convention of London (1840)|Convention of London]] of 3 July 1840.

The island's Christians revolted [[Cretan Revolt (disambiguation)#Under Ottoman rule|several times against Ottoman rule]]. Revolts in [[Cretan Revolt (1841)|1841]] and [[Cretan Revolt (1858)|1858]] secured some privileges, such as the right to bear arms, equality of Christian and Muslim worship, and the establishment of Christian councils of elders with jurisdiction over education and [[customary law]]. Despite these concessions, the Christian Cretans maintained their ultimate aim of union with Greece, and tensions between the Christian and [[Cretan Muslims|Muslim]] communities ran high. Thus, in 1866 the great [[Cretan Revolt (1866–1869)|Cretan Revolt]] began.

[[Image:Arkadi_assaut.jpg|thumb|150px|Ottomans attacking Arkadi Monastery, 1867]]
The uprising, which lasted for three years, involved volunteers from Greece and other European countries, where it was viewed with considerable sympathy, particularly after the [[Cretan revolt (1866–1869)#Arkadi|Arkadi Holocaust]]. Despite early successes of the rebels, who quickly confined the Ottomans to the northern towns, the uprising failed. The Ottoman [[Grand Vizier]] [[Mehmed Emin Âli Pasha|A'ali Pasha]] personally assumed control of the Ottoman forces and launched a methodical campaign to retake the rural districts, which was combined with promises of [[concession (politics)|political concessions]], notably by the introduction of an Organic Law, which gave the Cretan Christians equal (in practice, because of their superior numbers, majority) control of local administration. His approach bore fruits, as the rebel leaders gradually submitted. By early 1869, the island was again under Ottoman control.

During the [[Congress of Berlin]] in the summer of 1878, there was a further rebellion, which was halted quickly by the intervention of the British and the adaptation of the 1867-8 Organic Law into a constitutional settlement known as the [[Pact of Halepa]]. Crete became a semi-independent parliamentary state within the Ottoman Empire under an Ottoman Governor who had to be a Christian. A number of the senior "Christian Pashas" including Photiades Pasha and [[Kostis Adosidis Pasha]] ruled the island in the 1880s, presiding over a parliament in which liberals and conservatives contended for power.

Disputes between the two powers led to a further insurgency in 1889 and the collapse of the Pact of Halepa arrangements. The international powers, disgusted at what seemed to be factional politics, allowed the Ottoman authorities to send troops to the island and restore order but did not anticipate that Ottoman Sultan [[Abdul Hamid II]] would use this as a pretext to end the Halepa Pact Constitution and instead rule the island by martial law. This action led to international sympathy for the Cretan Christians and to a loss of any remaining acquiescence among them to continued Ottoman rule. When a small insurgency began in September 1895, it spread quickly, and by the summer of 1896 the Ottoman forces had lost military control of most of the island.

A new [[Cretan Revolt (1897–1898)|Cretan insurrection]] in 1897 led to the Ottoman Empire declaring war on Greece. However, the [[Great Power]]s ([[Austria-Hungary]], [[France]], the [[German Empire]], the [[Kingdom of Italy]], the [[Russian Empire]] and Great Britain) decided that the Ottoman Empire could no longer maintain control and intervened, dispatching a multinational naval force, the [[International Squadron (Crete intervention, 1897-1898)|International Squadron]], to Cretan waters in February 1897. The squadron's senior admirals formed an "Admirals Council" which temporarily governed the island. The International Squadron bombarded Cretan insurgents, placed sailors and marines ashore, and instituted a blockade of Crete and key ports in Greece, bringing organized combat on the island to an end by late March 1897. Soldiers from the armies of five of the powers (Germany refused to participate) then occupied key cities in Crete during late March and April 1897.<ref>McTiernan, pp. 13–23.</ref> Eventually, the Admirals Council decided to establish an autonomous state within the Ottoman Empire on Crete.<ref>McTiernan, p. 28.</ref> After a violent riot by Cretan Turks on 6 September 1898 (25 August according to the [[Julian calendar]] then in use on Crete, which was 12 days behind the modern [[Gregorian calendar]] during the 19th century), the admirals also decided to expel all Ottoman troops from Crete, which was accomplished on 6 November 1898. When [[Prince George of Greece and Denmark|Prince George of Greece]] arrived in Crete on 21 December 1898 (9 December according to the Julian calendar) as the first [[High Commissioner]] of the autonomous [[Cretan State]], Crete effectively was detached from the Ottoman Empire, although it remained under the Sultan's [[suzerainty]].<ref>McTiernan, pp. 35–39.</ref>

==Modern Crete==
===Cretan State===
{{Main|Cretan State}}
{{needs more citations section|date=July 2024}}
[[File:Flag of Cretan State.svg|thumb|200px|Flag of the Cretan State (1898–1908)]]
After the expulsion of Ottoman forces in November 1898, the autonomous Cretan State (Official Greek name: {{lang|el|Κρητική Πολιτεία}}), headed by Prince George of Greece and Denmark, was founded under Ottoman [[suzerainty]] in December 1898.

Prince George was replaced by [[Alexandros Zaimis]] in 1906, and in 1908, taking advantage of domestic turmoil in Turkey as well as the timing of Zaimis's vacation away from the island, the Cretan deputies declared union with Greece.<ref>Ion, Theodore P., "The Cretan Question," ''The American Journal of International Law'', April, 1910, pp. 276–284</ref>  But this act was not recognized internationally until 1913 after the [[Balkan Wars]] when, by the [[Treaty of London (1913)|Treaty of London]], Sultan [[Mehmed V]] relinquished his formal rights to the island.

In December, the Greek flag was raised at the Firkas fortress in Chania, with [[Eleftherios Venizelos]] and [[Constantine I of Greece|King Constantine]] in attendance, and Crete was unified with mainland Greece. The [[Cretan Turks]] minority of Crete initially remained on the island but was later relocated to Turkey under the [[Population exchange between Greece and Turkey|general population exchange]] agreed upon in the 1923 [[Treaty of Lausanne (1923)|Treaty of Lausanne]] between Turkey and Greece.

One of the most important figures to emerge from the end of Ottoman Crete was the liberal politician [[Eleftherios Venizelos]], probably the most important statesman of modern Greece.{{according to whom?|date=July 2024}} Venizelos was an Athens-trained lawyer who was active in liberal circles in Chania, then the Cretan capital. After autonomy, he was first a minister in the government of Prince George and then his most formidable opponent.

In 1910 Venizelos transferred his career to Athens, quickly became the dominant figure on the political scene and in 1912, after careful preparations for a military alliance against the Ottoman Empire with Serbia, Montenegro, and Bulgaria, allowed Cretan deputies to take their place in the Greek Parliament. This was treated as grounds for war by Ottoman Empire but the Balkan allies won a series of sweeping victories in the hostilities that followed  (see [[Balkan Wars]]).  Ottoman Empire was effectively defeated in the ensuing war and were forced out of the Balkans and Thrace by the Alliance, except for the borders which Turkey continues to hold to this day.

===World War II===

====Battle of Greece====
{{Main|Battle of Greece}}
In 1939, the United Kingdom guaranteed military aid to Greece if its territorial integrity was threatened.<ref name="Dalegre20">Joëlle Dalègre, op. cit., p.20</ref> The priority of the United Kingdom was to prevent Crete from falling into enemy hands, because the island could be used to defend Egypt, the Suez Canal and the route to India.<ref>Van Creveld, op. cit., p. 67.</ref> British troops landed on Crete with the consent of the Greek Government from 3 November 1940, in order to make the 5th Greek Division of Crete available for the Albanian front.

The invasion of mainland Greece by the Axis powers began on 6 April 1941 and was complete within a few weeks despite the intervention of the armies of the Commonwealth along with Greece. King George II and the Government of Emmanouil Tsouderos were forced to flee Athens and took refuge in Crete on April 23. Crete was also the refuge of Commonwealth troops that fled from the beaches of Attica and the Peloponnese to Crete to organize a new front of resistance.

====Battle of Crete====
{{Main|Battle of Crete}}
After the conquest of mainland Greece, Germany turned to Crete and the last stage of the Balkans campaign. After a fierce and bloody conflict between [[Nazi Germany]] and the [[Allies of World War II|Allies]] (United Kingdom, New Zealand, Australia, and Greece) that lasted ten days (between the 20 and 31 May 1941), the island fell to the Germans.

On the morning of 20 May 1941, Crete was the theater of the first major airborne assault in history. The Third Reich launched an airborne invasion of Crete under the code name of "Operation Mercury". 17,000 paratroopers under the command of General Kurt Student were dropped at three strategic locations with airfields: [[Maleme]], [[Heraklion]], and [[Rethymnon]]. Their goal was the capture and control of the three airfields to allow the arrival of reinforcements airlifted by the Luftwaffe from mainland Greece to bypass the Royal Navy and the Hellenic Navy who still controlled the seas.

On 1 June 1941 the Allies completely evacuated the island of Crete. Despite the victory of the German invaders, the elite [[Fallschirmjäger (Nazi Germany)|German paratroopers]] suffered such heavy losses, from the resistance of the Allied troops and civilians, that [[Adolf Hitler]] forbade further airborne operations of such large scale for the rest of the war.<ref name=Beevor231>Beevor, op. cit., p. 231</ref>

====The Cretan Resistance====
{{Main|Cretan Resistance}}
[[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 101I-166-0527-04, Kreta, Kondomari, Erschießung von Zivilisten.jpg|thumb|right|Murder of Greek civilians in Kondomari by German paratroopers in 1941]]
From the first days of the invasion, the local population organized a [[Cretan resistance|resistance]] movement, participating widely in guerrilla groups and intelligence networks. The first resistance groups formed in the Cretan mountains as early as June 1941. In September 1943, a memorable battle between the troops of occupation resistance fighters led by "Kapetan" Manolis Bandouvas in the region of Syme resulted in the deaths of eighty-three German soldiers and another thirteen were taken as prisoners. There were [[reprisal]]s for resistance, German officers routinely used firing squads against Cretan civilians and razed villages to the ground. Standing out amongst the atrocities, are the holocausts of [[Holocaust of Viannos|Viannos]] and [[Holocaust of Kedros|Kedros]] in [[Amari Valley|Amari]], the destruction of [[Razing of Anogeia|Anogeia]] and [[Razing of Kandanos|Kandanos]] and the [[massacre of Kondomari]].<ref>Beevor, Antony. ''Crete: The Battle and the Resistance'', John Murray Ltd, 1991. Penguin Books, 1992. {{ISBN|0-14-016787-0}}.</ref>

==== Liberation ====
By late 1944 German forces were withdrawing from Greece to avoid being cut off by the advancing Russian army moving west across Europe. By the end of September, German and Italian troops began withdrawing from Crete. A small force of British troops landed on Crete on October 13, and both Rethymno and Heraklion were liberated as the occupying forces were withdrawn to the Chania area.

Following [[VE Day]] British SOE officer [[Dennis Ciclitira]] arranged for ''[[Generalmajor]]'' [[Hans-Georg Benthack]] to formally surrender all German forces on the island to Major-General [[Colin Callander]].<ref name="IWM">{{cite web |url=http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/30109356 |title=Head Shawl (Seraki) |work=Imperial War Museum |year=2016 |accessdate=10 February 2016}}</ref> On May 9, 1945, Benthack signed an unconditional surrender at the Villa Ariadne at [[Knossos]] to Callander, effective "10 o'clock Greenwich Mean Time on the tenth day of May 1945"<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.shealtiel.com/shealtiel/thereunions/speech_mamalakis.pdf |title=Constantin E. Mamalakis. Crete during the Second World War. Speech at the Historical Museum of Crete 25 June 2009 |access-date=14 October 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131016061036/http://www.shealtiel.com/shealtiel/thereunions/speech_mamalakis.pdf |archive-date=16 October 2013 |url-status=dead |df=dmy-all }}</ref>

===Civil War===
In the aftermath of the [[Dekemvriana]] in Athens, Cretan leftists were targeted by the right wing paramilitary organization National Organization of Rethymno (EOR), which engaged in attacks in the villages of Koxare and Melampes, as well as Rethymno in January 1945. Those attacks did not escalate into a full scale insurgency as they did in the Greek mainland and the Cretan [[ELAS]] did not surrender its weapons after the [[Treaty of Varkiza]]. The Cretan branch of the [[Greek Communist Party]] (KKE) was well aware that the island was unsuitable for a long scale insurgency due to its isolation from the mainland and the popularity of [[Venizelism]] and conservative politics among its population. The presence of numerous bandits, escaped convicts and armed deserters in the countryside further complicated the situation. An uneasy truce was maintained until 1947, with a series of arrests of notable communists in Chania and Heraklion. This was followed with the mass arming of right leaning villagers and creation of the first Cretan {{Interlanguage link|Rural Security Units{{!}}MAY|el|3=Μονάδες Ασφαλείας Υπαίθρου}} units which were led by Bandouvas in Heraklion and "Kapetan" Gyparis in Chania. Encouraged by orders from the central organization in Athens, KKE launched an insurgency in Crete; marking the beginning of the [[Greek Civil War]] on the island. In eastern Crete the [[Democratic Army of Greece]] (DSE) struggled to establish its presence in [[Dikti]] and [[Psilorites]], after continuously clashing with local bandits, armed peasants and army units. The summer season severely limited the number of available water sources for the rebels, further limiting the space available for their maneuvers. On 1 July 1947, the surviving 55 fighters of DSE were ambushed south of Psilorites during an attempt to relocate to [[Mount Kedros]]. Commander Giannis Podias was killed and decapitated, the few surviving members of the unit managed to join the rest of DSE in [[Lefka Ori]].<ref>Margaritis, pp. 441–447.</ref>

The Lefka Ori region in the west offered more favorable conditions for DSE's insurgency. In the summer of 1947 DSE raided the [[Maleme Airport]], looting its warehouses and abducting 100 aircraftmen of the Royal [[Hellenic Air Force]], 12 of whom joined the rebels. On 4 July 1947, DSE struck a former German motor depot at Chrysopigi on the outskirts of Chania. DSE abducted the depot's guards, looted the warehouse and set it aflame; resulting in a big explosion that led to the mobilization of government troops across the island. Following the destruction of the DSE units in the east, Cretan DSE numbered around 300 fighters. Crop failure during 1947 had created food shortages in Crete which were much more severe among the rebels who lacked access to the cities. The communists resorted to [[Cattle raiding|cattle rustling]] and confiscated 70,000 [[Oka (mass)|okades]] of potatoes from the village of [[Lakkoi]]. This solved supply shortages only temporarily and the communists struggled to enforce discipline on their recruits or dislodge the mountain bandits residing in the areas under their nominal control. In the autumn of 1947, the Greek government offered generous amnesty terms to Cretan DSE fighters and mountain bandits, many of whom opted to abandon armed struggle or even defect to the nationalists. On 4 July 1948, government troops launched a large scale offensive on [[Samariá Gorge]]. Many DSE soldiers were killed in the fighting while the survivors broke into small armed bands. In October 1948, the secretary of the Cretan KKE Giorgos Tsitilos was killed in an ambush. By the following month only 34 DSE fighters remained active in Lefka Ori. The insurgency in Crete gradually withered away, with the last two hold outs surrendering in 1974, 25 years after the conclusion of the war in mainland Greece.<ref>Margaritis, pp. 447–452.</ref>

==Other notable historical events==
===Cretan School of Art===
{{Main|Cretan School}}
An important school of [[icon]] painting, under the umbrella of post-Byzantine art with Latin influences, which flourished while [[Crete]] was under [[Republic of Venice|Venetian]] rule during the late [[Middle Ages]], reaching its climax after the [[Fall of Constantinople]], becoming the central force in Greek painting during the 15th, 16th and 17th centuries.

===Cretan literature===
{{Main|Cretan literature}}
Due to the economic and intellectual growth observed in Crete during the Venetian era, Cretan literature was rich in quantity and quality and important for the subsequent course of Modern Greek literature. The peaceful living and contact with a developed intellectual and cultural people were the factors that contributed to the cultivation of education and literature and the emergence of remarkable literary production.

===The Black Death===
As a result of plagues of the [[Black Death]], many Cretans migrated overseas during difficult periods on the island, some acquiring great fortune abroad, such as [[Constantine Corniaktos]]<ref>{{cite book| author=Vasylʹ Mudryĭ, Naukove tovarystvo im. Shevchenka, Shevchenko Scientific Society (U.S.)|title =Lviv: a symposium on its 700th anniversary|publisher=New York|year=1962|page=175|oclc=3999247| quote=Foreign merchants who chose Lviv as their second home, repaid the city a hundredfold: the Greek from Crete, called Koreto de Candia, whose name was popularly abbreviated into Korniakt, was the most prominent Ukrainian patrician leader in Lviv in the late 16th and early 17th century, erected a beautiful bell-tower on the pattern of Renaissance campaniles attached to the church of Assumption.}}</ref> (c. 1517–1603) who became one of the richest people in Eastern Europe.<ref>{{cite book|author=I︠A︡roslav Dmytrovych Isai︠e︡vych|title=Voluntary brotherhood: confraternities of laymen in early modern Ukraine|publisher=Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies Press|year= 2006|page=47|isbn=1-894865-03-0|quote=...the Greek merchants Constantine Korniakt and Manolis Arphanes Marinetos are added. This second redaction appeared no earlier than 1589, as wealthy Greeks began to join the confraternity at a later date, once it had expanded its activities. Korniakt was actually the wealthiest man in Lviv: he traded in Eastern, Western, and local goods, collected customs duty on behalf of the king, and owned a number of villages.}}</ref>

==See also==
* [[Cretan Revolt (disambiguation)|Cretan Revolt]]
* [[History of Greece]]
** [[Neolithic Greece]]
* [[List of rulers of Crete]]

==References==
===Notes===
{{Reflist|35em}}

===Bibliography===
* {{cite book |last=Margaritis|first=Giorgos|title=Ιστορία του ελληνικού εμφυλίου πολέμου 1946-1949|trans-title=History of the Greek Civil War 1946-1949|volume=II|publisher=Vivliorama|language=el|location=Athens|year=2006|isbn=9608087139}}
* Moorey, Chris. ''A History of Crete'' (Haus, 2019) [https://www.amazon.com/History-Crete-Chris-Moorey/dp/1912208539/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1590635387&sr=1-1 excerpt]
* {{cite book | first = Theocharis E. | last = Detorakis | title = Ιστορία της Κρήτης | trans-title = History of Crete | location = Athens | year = 1986 | language = el | oclc = 715204595 }}
* [https://www.academia.edu/10428584/A_Very_Bad_Place_Indeed_For_a_Soldier._The_British_involvement_in_the_early_stages_of_the_European_Intervention_in_Crete._1897_-_1898 McTiernan, Mick, ''A Very Bad Place Indeed For a Soldier. The British involvement in the early stages of the European Intervention in Crete. 1897 – 1898,'' King's College, London, September 2014.]
* {{cite book| last=Panagiotakis | first=Nikolaos M. | chapter= Εισαγωγικό Σημείωμα ("Introduction") | pages=XI–XX |editor-first=Nikolaos M. |editor-last=Panagiotakis | title=Crete, History and Civilization| volume=I | publisher=Vikelea Library, Association of Regional Associations of Regional Municipalities |year=1987|language=el}}

==Further reading==
* Hopkins, Adam ''Crete : its past, present and people'' Faber 1977 {{ISBN|0-571-10411-8}}
* McKee, Sally ''Uncommon Dominion : Venetian Crete and the Myth of Ethnic Purity'' University of Pennsylvania Press 2000 {{ISBN|0-8122-3562-2}}
* [https://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/16/science/16archeo.html?em On Crete, New Evidence of Very Ancient Mariners] by John Wilford, ''[[The New York Times]]'', February 15, 2010

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