CHIOS TRAVEL GUIDE

CHIOS > HISTORY

HISTORY

Chios has a longtime history that starts at least at the Early Bronze Age as there is evidence that the island was inhabited for the first time at that age. The settlement of Ionians around 1100 B.C. is of great importance for the island’s history.

Chios was conquered by the Persians in the second half of the 6th century BC. After the Greek-Persian Wars, Chios joined the Athenian Alliance, but soon wanted to get out of it. Athens punished the rebellious residents in 412 BC, and forced them to stay into Athens alliance until they finally regained their independence in 354 BC.

In the 13th century, in the aftermath of the 4th Crusade, first the Venetians and then the Genoese moved in.

Chios actually prospered under the Genoese, but in 1566 the Turks took over. In 1821 Chios joined Samos in the general revolt of Greeks against the Turks, but the next year Turks singled out Chios for exempplary punishment, slaughtering an estimated 25.000 Chios residents and enslaving 80.000 others.

In 1912 it formally joined to the Greek Nation.