Ottoman Greece

Greece, 1453–1833. Draft, not yet reviewed

The vast majority of the territory of present-day Greece was at some point incorporated within the Ottoman Empire. The period of Ottoman rule in Greece, lasting from the mid-15th century until the successful Greek War of Independence broke out in 1821 and the First Hellenic Republic was proclaimed in 1822, is known in Greece as Turkocracy. After the fall of Constantinople to the Ottomans in 1453, the Despotate of the Morea was the last remnant of the Byzantine Empire to hold out against the Ottomans. It fell to the Ottomans in 1460, completing the conquest of mainland Greece.

Seat of power: Athens

No rulers documented for this era yet.

Culture

• Despite losing their political independence, the Greeks remained dominant in the fields of commerce and business.
• The consolidation of Ottoman power in the 15th and the 16th centuries rendered the Mediterranean safe for Greek shipping, and Greek shipowners became the empire's maritime carriers and made tremendous profits.
• The Phanariots became prominent in the imperial capital of Constantinople as businessmen and diplomats, and the Greek Orthodox Church and the Ecumenical Patriarch rose to great power under the Sultan's protection and gained religious control over the entire Orthodox population of the empire.
• The Greeks were given some privileges and freedom, but they also suffered from the malpractices of its administrative personnel over which the central government had only remote and incomplete control.

Picture

Palamidi is a fortress in the town of Nafplio that was built by the Venetians and captured by the Ottomans in 1715, who held it until 1822.

Image: The original uploader was Brastite at English Wikipedia., CC BY-SA 3.0, file

Sources

• Ottoman Greece (Wikipedia)
• Ottoman Greece (Wikidata)
• About the picture (Wikipedia)

Text adapted from the Wikipedia articles listed as sources, CC BY-SA 4.0.