Editing Peloponnese (section)

===Ottoman conquest, Venetian interlude and Ottoman reconquest===
{{See also|Ottoman Greece|Morea Eyalet|Morean War|Kingdom of the Morea}}
The Venetian fortresses were conquered in a series of [[Ottoman-Venetian Wars]]: the [[Ottoman-Venetian War (1463-1479)|first war]], lasting from 1463 to 1479, saw much fighting in the Peloponnese, resulting in the loss of [[Argos, Peloponnese|Argos]], while [[Methoni, Messenia|Modon]] and [[Koroni|Coron]] fell in 1500 during the [[Ottoman-Venetian War (1499-1503)|second war]]. [[Koroni|Coron]] and [[Patras]] were captured in a crusading expedition in 1532, led by the Genoese admiral [[Andrea Doria]], but this provoked [[Ottoman-Venetian War (1537-1540)|another war]] in which the last Venetian possessions on the Greek mainland were lost.<ref name="EI2-239">Bées & Savvides (1993), p. 239</ref>

[[File:Venetian lion spears Moreas.jpg|thumb|The Venetian [[Lion of Saint Mark]] and halberds from the time of the [[Kingdom of the Morea]] in the [[National Historical Museum, Athens]]]]
[[File:Panagiotis Kefalas by Hess.jpg|thumb|"Commander Panagiotis Kephalas plants the flag of liberty upon the walls of Tripolizza", [[Siege of Tripolitsa]], by [[Peter von Hess]].]]
[[File:Greek Revolution flag.svg|thumb|left|The flag of the revolutionaries in the Peloponnese raised by the Kolokotronis family during 1821, and commonly (though unofficially) associated with the Peloponnese region]]

Following the Ottoman conquest, the peninsula was made into a province (''[[sanjak]]''), with 109 ''[[ziamet]]s'' and 342 ''[[timar]]s''. During the first period of Ottoman rule (1460–1687), the capital was first in Corinth (Turk. ''Gördes''), later in [[Leontari, Arcadia|Leontari]] (''Londari''), [[Mystras]] (''Misistire'') and finally in Nauplion (Tr. ''Anaboli''). Sometime in the mid-17th century, the Morea became the centre of a separate ''[[eyalet]]'', with [[Patras]] (''Ballibadra'') as its capital.<ref name="EI2-238">Bées & Savvides (1993), p. 238</ref><ref name="Provinzen">Birken (1976), pp. 57, 61–64</ref> Until the death of [[Suleiman the Magnificent]] in 1570, the Christian population (counted at some 42,000 families c. 1550<ref name="EI2-239"/>) managed to retain some privileges and Islamization was slow, mostly among the Albanians or the estate owners who were integrated into the Ottoman feudal system.

Although they quickly came to control most of the fertile lands, Muslims remained a distinct minority. Christian communities retained a large measure of self-government, but the entire Ottoman period was marked by a flight of the Christian population from the plains to the mountains. This occasioned the rise of the ''[[klepht]]''s, armed brigands and rebels, in the mountains, as well as the corresponding institution of the government-funded ''[[armatoloi]]'' to check the ''klephts''{{'}} activities.<ref name="EI2-238"/>

With the outbreak of the "[[Great Turkish War]]" in 1683, the Venetians under [[Francesco Morosini]] [[Morean War|occupied the entire peninsula]] by 1687, and received recognition by the Ottomans in the [[Treaty of Karlowitz]] (1699).<ref>Bées & Savvides (1993), pp. 239–240</ref> The Venetians established their province as the "[[Kingdom of the Morea]]" (It. ''Regno di Morea''), but their rule proved unpopular, and when the Ottomans [[Ottoman-Venetian War (1714-1718)|invaded the peninsula]] in 1715, most local Greeks welcomed them. The Ottoman reconquest was easy and swift, and was recognized by Venice in the [[Treaty of Passarowitz]] in 1718.<ref name="EI2-240">Bées & Savvides (1993), p. 240</ref>

The Peloponnese now became the core of the [[Morea Eyalet]], headed by the ''Mora valesi'', who until 1780 was a [[pasha]] of the first rank (with three [[tugh|horsetails]]) and held the title of [[vizier]]. After 1780 and until the [[Greek War of Independence]], the province was headed by a ''[[muhassil]]''. The pasha of the Morea was aided by several subordinate officials, including a Christian translator (''[[dragoman]]''), who was the senior Christian official of the province.<ref name="EI2-240"/> As during the first Ottoman period, the Morea was divided into 22 districts or [[Anatolian beyliks|beyliks]].<ref name="EI2-240"/> The capital was first at Nauplion, but after 1786 at [[Tripoli, Greece|Tripolitza]] (Tr. ''Trabliçe'').<ref name="EI2-238"/>

The Greeks of the Peloponnese rose against the Ottomans with Russian aid during the so-called "[[Orlov Revolt]]" of 1770, but it was swiftly and brutally suppressed by bands of Muslim Albanian mercenaries hired by the Ottomans. Referred to by the local Greek populace as "[[Turk-Albanians]]", those forces had also destroyed many cities and towns in [[Epirus]] during the 1769–70 revolt there.<ref name="KaphetzopoulosFlokas2000">{{cite book|author1=Ioannis Kaphetzopoulos|author2=Charalambos Flokas|author3=Angeliki Dima-Dimitriou |title=The struggle for Northern Epirus|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KxlXAAAAYAAJ|year=2000|publisher=Hellenic Army General Staff, Army History Directorate|isbn=978-960-7897-40-4|pages=12, 32}}</ref> The Peloponnese suffered more than any other Greek inhabited area by irregular Albanian gangs during the decades following.<ref name=Anscombe>{{cite book |last1=Anscombe |first1=Frederick F. |title=State, Faith, and Nation in Ottoman and Post-Ottoman Lands |date=17 February 2014 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1-107-72967-4 |page=67 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=066kAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA67 |language=en |quote=No area suffered more than the Morea, which was pillaged regularly by Albanian gangs over the decades after 1770, despite Istanbul's repeated strictures against Albanians setting foot on the peninsula.}}</ref> In [[Patras]] nearly no one was left alive after the Turkish-Albanian invasion.<ref>{{cite book|author=Constantine David|title=In the Footsteps of the Gods: Travellers to Greece and the Quest for the Hellenic Ideal|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KxlXAAAAYAAJ|year=2011|publisher=Tauris Parke Paperbacks|isbn=9780857719478|page=169|quote= ...when the Turks and Albanians reasserted themselves they were merciless; recapturing Patras, they left scarcely anyone alive.}}</ref> The city of [[Mystras]] was left in ruins and the metropolitan bishop Ananias was executed despite having saved the life of several Turks during the uprising. A great number of local Greeks were killed by the Albanian groups, while children were sold to slavery.<ref>{{cite book|author= Steven Runciman|title=Lost Capital of Byzantium: The History of Mistra and the Peloponnese|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UBsBAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA119|year=2009|publisher=Tauris Parke Paperbacks|isbn=9780857718105|page=118}}</ref> It is estimated that 20,000 local Greeks were captured during those nine years of devastation by those Albanian mercenaries and sold to slave markets. Also an additional of 50,000 Greeks left Peloponesse: around one-sixth of the pre-1770 population.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Brewer |first1=David |title=Greece, the Hidden Centuries: Turkish Rule from the Fall of Constantinople to Greek Independence |date=16 April 2012 |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing |isbn=978-0-85772-167-9 |page=192 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eBCMDwAAQBAJ |language=en}}</ref>

The Ottoman government was unable to pay the wages the Albanian mercenaries demanded for their service, causing the latter to ravage the region even after revolt had been put down.<ref>{{cite book|author= Steven Runciman|title=Lost Capital of Byzantium: The History of Mistra and the Peloponnese|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UBsBAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA119|year=2009|publisher=Tauris Parke Paperbacks|isbn=9780857718105|page=119}}</ref> 1770-1779 was a prolonged period of devastation and atrocities committed by Albanian irregulars in the Peloponnese.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Kostantaras |first1=Dean J. |title=Infamy and Revolt: The Rise of the National Problem in Early Modern Greek Thought |date=2006 |publisher=East European Monographs |isbn=978-0-88033-581-2 |page=28 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CNYDAQAAIAAJ |language=en |quote=The 1770 revolution ended not only in failure but a prolonged period of devastation and atrocity in the Peloponnesus, committed by Albanian irregulars}}</ref> In 1774 the [[Russo-Turkish War (1768–1774)|Russo-Turkish War]] ended with the [[Treaty of Küçük Kaynarca]] which granted general amnesty to the population. Nevertheless, attacks by Muslim Albanian mercenaries in the region continued not only against the Greek population but also against Turks.<ref>{{cite book|author=Kaligas Haris|title=Monemvasia: A Byzantine City State|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xpqCAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA92|publisher=Tauris Parke Paperbacks|isbn=9781134536030|year=2009|page=92}}</ref> The extensive destruction and lack of control in the Peloponnese forced the central Ottoman government to send a regular Turkish military force to suppress those Albanian troops in 1779,{{sfn|Jelavich|1983|p=78}} and eventually drive them out from Peloponnese.{{sfn|Stavrianos|2000|p=189}} As a result of the invasion by those mercenary groups the local population had to found refuge in the mountains of Peloponnese to avoid persecution. The total population decreased during this time, while the Muslim element in it increased.<ref name="EI2-240"/>

As such Greek resistance in the peninsula was reinforced and powerful groups of [[klepht]]s were formed under the clans of Zacharias, Melios, Petmezas and Kolokotronis. Klephtic songs of that era describe the resistance activities.<ref>{{cite thesis|last1=Nikolaou| first1=Georgios|title=Islamisations et Christianisations dans le Peloponnese (1715- 1832)| journal=Didaktorika.gr| date=1997| doi=10.12681/eadd/8139| hdl=10442/hedi/8139|publisher=Universite des Sciences Humaines - Strasbourg II| hdl-access=free|page=192}}</ref> Nevertheless, through the privileges granted with the [[Treaty of Kuchuk-Kainarji]], especially the right for the Christians to trade under the Russian flag, led to a considerable economic flowering of the local Greeks, which, coupled with the increased cultural contacts with Western Europe ([[Modern Greek Enlightenment]]) and the inspiring ideals of the [[French Revolution]], laid the groundwork for the [[Greek War of Independence]].<ref name="EI2-240"/>