Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
History
Although inhabited since neolithic times (7000-3000 BC), Crete is most famous for be-
ing the cradle of Europe's first advanced civilisation, the Minoans. Traces of this enig-
matic society were only uncovered in the early 20th century, when British archaeologist
Sir Arthur Evans discovered the palace at Knossos and named the civilisation after its
ruler, the mythical King Minos.
Minoans migrated to Crete in the 3rd millennium BC. Their extraordinary artistic, ar-
chitectural and cultural achievements culminated in the construction of huge palace com-
plexes at Knossos, Phaestos, Malia and Zakros, which were all levelled by an earthquake
around 1700 BC. Undeterred, the Minoans built bigger and better ones over the ruins,
while settling more widely across Crete. Around 1450 BC, the palaces were mysteriously
destroyed again, possibly by a tsunami triggered by a volcanic eruption on Santorini
(Thira). Knossos, the only palace saved, finally burned down around 1400 BC.
Archaeological evidence shows that the Minoans lingered on for a few centuries in
small, isolated settlements before disappearing as mysteriously as they had come. They
were followed by the Mycenaeans and the Dorians (around 1100 BC). By the 5th century
BC, Crete was divided into city-states but did not benefit from the cultural glories of
mainland Greece; in fact, it was bypassed by Persian invaders and the Macedonian con-
queror Alexander the Great.
By 67 BC Crete had become the Roman province of Cyrenaica, with Gortyna its capit-
al. After the Roman Empire's division in AD 395, Crete fell under the jurisdiction of
Greek-speaking Constantinople - the emerging Byzantine Empire. Things went more or
less fine until AD 824, when Arabs appropriated the island. In AD 961, though, Byzanti-
ne general emperor Nikiforas Fokas (AD 912-69) won Crete back following a nine-
month siege of Iraklio (then called El Khandak by the Arabs). Crete flourished under
Byzantine rule, but with the infamous Fourth Crusade of 1204 the maritime power of
Venice received Crete as part of its 'payment' for supplying the Crusaders' fleet.
Much of Crete's most impressive surviving architecture dates from the Venetian peri-
od, which lasted until 1669 when Iraklio (then called Candia) became the last domino to
fall after a 21-year Ottoman siege. Turkish rule brought new administrative organisation,
Islamic culture and Muslim settlers. Cretan resistance was strongest in the mountain
strongholds but all revolts were put down brutally, and it was only with the Ottoman Em-
pire's disintegration in the late 19th century that Europe's great powers expedited Crete's
sovereign aspirations.
Thus in 1898, with Russian and French consent, Crete became a British protectorate.
However, the banner under which future Greek Prime Minister Eleftherios Venizelos and
other Cretan rebels were fighting was
Enosis i Thanatos
(Unity or Death) - unity with
