History

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Turkish occupation

 Thassos was occupied by the Turks in 1455, two years after the fall of Constantinople, when Mohamed II organized an expedition against the Aenos peninsula, while at the same time he sent ten ships to Thassos, Samothrace and Imvros. This fact drove Pope Kallistos the 3^rd to call for a crusade, which aimed in reoccupying the islands from the Sultan. The ships of the crusade arrived in Thassos and in 1457 the Venetians managed to occupy the island after a rough besiege. However, the fleet of the Latin was not sufficient to keep away the sultan, who reoccupied Thassos and Samothrace in October of 1459, under the leadership of captain Zagan Pasha. This fact was rather devastating for Thassos because after the orders of Mohamed II, most of the inhabitants were banished to Constantinople, leaving the island almost deserted.

 In 1460 Thassos was given to Demetrios Palaiologos as a treason reward, but in the end of summer 1466 the island was rescued as the Venetian admiral Capello occupied Thassos, Samotrace and Imvros. However, Thassos was meant to experience greater sufferings when in the end of 17^th and the beginning of the 18^th century the piracy in Aegean Sea was fired up again. The inhabitants to protect themselves transfer the villages to mountainous areas which were safer. In the coasts remained only the “viglaria”, that is the ancient guardposts which sent warning signs with fires.

                It worth noting that the pirates were pure Europeans or even Greeks whose cruelty was even greater than those of the Saracenes. They regarded that their occupation was honest and dignified and that is why they taught it to their children. They had also relations and correspondence with highly placed persons and kings, which often helped them to organize their vacations after a good payment.

At the same time, another misfortune comes to strike the already suffering inhabitants. In 1760, Thassos was given for rent, and was obliged to pay a poll tax and various other taxes into the hands of the elder of Greek community (kotzampasis), who oppressed his compatriots. In 1770, the Greek revolution found the Thassians ready to revolt. The cause for that, was the victory of the Russian fleet against Capoudan Passa in Tsesme, which led a Thassian commity to arrange a gathering of representatives of all the islands in order to congratulate the victors. In the summer of the same year, a squadron of the Russian fleet sailed to Thassos in order to protect its timber for shipbuilding. A it is referred in the “Orlofika” (1770), the Russians cut 17000 trees in order to secure their fleet.

 After 4 years, the tragic failure of the Orlofian revolution has as a result the withdrawal of the Russians from Thassos, which falls under the Turkish rule. The consequence was an even reater rage of Sultan towards the Thassians. By the end of 18^th century, only 2500 inhabitants remained in the island, living in constant fear of pirates.

 Egyptian occupation

                 In 1813, the Sultan gave Thassos to the viceroy of Egypt Muhammad Ali, as a reward.  The viceroy was good to the people of Thassos, because he was born in Kavala and was raised in a village of the island with a Greek family. Therefore, he admitted the establishment of a special constitution with communal freedoms which lasted up to 1874. In particular, head of every community was the president of the dignitaries, the tsormpatzis, which hold the responsibility to the Egyptian authorities. The tsormpatzis of all villages were gathered to elect the bahtzormpatzi, which was the president of the entire island.

Modern History

 During the period of the 1821 revolution, Thassos breathed a short period of freedom, when the Greeks arrived to the island and the tzormpatzis was set head of the revolutionary movement. The Turks were defeated and expelled to Kavala. However, this did not last long, because the fear of pirates led the Thassians to seek help from the passa of Thessalonica. Thus, in the end of 1821 they signed a treaty with him, fact which enraged the sailmen of Psara because it led the revolution to failure. During the Greek revolution, Thassos and the rest of the islands raised the flag of revolution. More than 1000 people were cruelly butchered, others were tortured and many lost their properties.   

                The Neoturks, after the proclamation of the Turkish constitution, and when viceroy of Egypt was Ampas Hilmi Passa, they removed all privileges had been given to the island by Muhammad Ali. Thassos remained under the rule of Ampas Hilmi until the Balkan Wars and then was liberated by the Greek army and fleet (October 1912). Since then it comprises a part of the Greek Republic, as resulted from the Bucharest Treaty.  During the Turkish reoccupation (1902-1912), teachers, priests and literaries cultured the national conscience of the people. Thus, September of 1912 found the Greek people patriotically, psychologically and mentally ready to fight together with the Srbs and Bulgarian in order to shake off the Ottoman yoke from the islands and the territory around the Mountain Olympus. In June of 1912, the Bulgarians attacked the Serbs in Gevgeli and the Greeks in the liberated areas, fact that set the start of the 2nd Balkan War. That time also started the activity of the Greek fleet in Aegean Sea which in October 1912 led admiral Kountouriotis to sign the proclamation. In the 18th of the same month, the strew-cans of the fleet “lance” and “storm” together with the troopship “Pellos” occupied Thassos. After the liberation of Thassos, Constantine Mellas, brother of the famous Macedonian-fighter Paulos Mellas, is appointed as a temporary commander. In a letter that he sent to Penelope Delta, he refers to Thassos as the most beautiful Greek island, a paradise with genuine Greeks, unshakably patriots and sensitive people.

 Right after the liberation of Thassos, the professor of Athens University Georgios Sotiriades was sent there, the first Greek curator of antiquities and Christian monuments of the island.

As refers to the years between 1920-1940 period, the most important events of the island were the arrival of the refugees of the Asia Minor and Thrace after the Destroy of 1922, and the expropriation of the real estate of the Agion Oros monasteries, which was shared to the inhabitants to the island, after an initiative of the private member Augustos Theologitis.

In the 2^nd World War, Thassos and the rest of Greece was occupied by the Germans who later left their place to the Bulgarians. The Bulgarian military and political authorities treated with cruelty the Greek population. Greece was liberated in 1945.

Today, the island of Thassos is a beautiful touristic area.  The construction of hotels and roads, the frequent service with ferries and flying dolphins, contribute in the economical development of the island. Gradually, Thassos begun to regain its previous glory and once more turned into the beautiful paradise that Constantine Mellas and many Greek and foreign writers, poets and travelers have written about.

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 [ Image Map ]  [ Mythology ]   [ Ancient era ]  [ Hellenistic Era ] [ Classic Era ]  
[ Byzantine era ]  [ Frankish and Venetian rule ]
  [ Turkish occupation ]  [ Egyptian occupation ]  [ Modern History ]