Editing Chios (section)

===Ottoman period: economic prosperity and the Great Destruction===
{{main|Sanjak of Sakız}}
{{Further|Greek War of Independence|Chian Committee|Chios Massacre|Chian diaspora|Chios expedition}}
[[File:Scène des massacres de Scio.jpg|thumb|''[[The Massacre at Chios]]'' by [[Eugène Delacroix]]. This, and the works of [[George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron|Lord Byron]], did much to draw the attention of mainland Europe to the catastrophe that had taken place in Chios (1824, oil on canvas, {{cvt|419|x|354|cm|0}}, [[Louvre|Musée du Louvre]], Paris).]]
[[File:Lytras-nikiforos-pyrpolisi-tourkikis-navarhidas-apo-kanari.jpeg|thumb|"The blowing up of the Nasuh Ali Pasha's flagship by [[Konstantinos Kanaris]]", painted by [[Nikiphoros Lytras]] ({{cvt|143|×|109|cm|0}}. [[Averoff Gallery]]). Kanaris blew up the flagship as a revenge for the massacre.]]
[[File:Anavatos, Chios 03.png|thumb|[[Anavatos]] abandoned village]]

In April 1566, the island of Chios was captured by the [[Ottoman Empire]] after the surrender to [[Piali Pasha|Piyale Pasha]]. Subsequently, the Genoans were sent to the capital and after some time upon the request of the French ambassador they were allowed to return with a firman.<ref name="TDVIA">{{TDV Encyclopedia of Islam|title=Sakız Adası |volume=36 |pages=6–10 |first=Ali Fuat |last=Örenç |url=https://islamansiklopedisi.org.tr/sakiz-adasi}}</ref>

During Ottoman rule, the government and tax gathering again remained in the hands of Greeks and the Turkish garrison was small and inconspicuous.<ref>William St. Clair, That Greece Might Still Be Free, ''The Philhellenes in the War of Independence'', Oxford University Press, London, 1972, p.79. {{ISBN|0-19-215194-0}}.</ref>

As well as the Latin and Turkish influx, documents record a small Jewish population from at least 1049 AD.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.sephardicstudies.org/chios.html |title=The Sephardic Community of Chios |publisher=Sephardicstudies.org |access-date=22 March 2009}}</ref> The original Greek ([[Romaniotes|Romaniote]]) Jews, thought to have been brought over by the Romans, were later joined by Sephardic Jews welcomed by the Ottomans during the [[Alhambra Decree |Iberian expulsions of the late 15th century]].

The mainstay of the island's famous wealth was the mastic crop. Chios was able to make a substantial contribution to the imperial treasury while at the same time maintaining only a light level of taxation. The Ottoman government regarded it as one of the most valuable provinces of the Empire.<ref>William St. Clair, p. 79</ref>

When the [[Greek War of Independence]] broke out, the island's leaders were reluctant to join the revolutionaries, fearing the loss of their security and prosperity. However, in March 1822, several hundred armed Greeks from the neighbouring island of [[Samos]] landed in Chios. They proclaimed the revolution and launched attacks against the Turks, at which point islanders decided to join the struggle.

Ottomans landed a large force on the island consequently and put down the rebellion. The Ottoman [[Chios Massacre|massacre of Chios]] expelled, killed or enslaved thousands of the inhabitants of the island.<ref>[http://greece.org:8080/opencms/opencms/HEC_Projects/Genocide/el/2_Events Hellenic Genocide Events] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080804040759/http://www.greece.org:8080/opencms/opencms/HEC_Projects/Genocide/el/2_Events/ |date=4 August 2008 }} retrieved 19 May 2008</ref> It wiped out whole villages and affected the [[Mastichochoria]] area, the mastic growing villages in the south of the island. It triggered also negative public reaction in Western Europe, as portrayed by [[Eugène Delacroix]], and in the writing of [[George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron|Lord Byron]] and [[Victor Hugo]]. In 1825, [[Thomas Barker of Bath]] painted a fresco depicting the [[Chios Massacre]] on the walls of Doric House, [[Bath, Somerset]].<ref>YJC Cartledge, 'The Chios Massacre (1822) and early British Christian-humanitarianism', ''Historical Research'', vol. 93, no. 259 (February 2020), pp. 52-72, at pp. 60-61.</ref> Finally, Chios was not included in the [[First Hellenic Republic|modern Greek state]] and remained under Ottoman rule.

The [[1881 Chios earthquake]], estimated as 6.5 on the [[moment magnitude scale]], damaged a large portion of the island's buildings and resulted in great loss of life. Reports of the time spoke of 5,500–10,000 fatalities.<ref name="Altinok">{{cite journal |author1=Y. Altinok |author2=B. Alpar B |author3=N. Özer |author4=C. Gazioglu |year=2005 |title=1881 and 1949 earthquakes at the Chios-Cesme Strait (Aegean Sea) and their relation to tsunamis |journal=Natural Hazards and Earth System Sciences |volume=5 |issue=5 |pages=717–725 |url=http://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/docs/00/29/92/70/PDF/nhess-5-717-2005.pdf|access-date=31 July 2010 |doi=10.5194/nhess-5-717-2005|bibcode=2005NHESS...5..717A |doi-access=free}}</ref>

Remarkably, despite the terrible devastation, in the later 19th century Chios emerged as the motherland of the modern Greek shipping industry. Indicatively, while in 1764, Chios had 6 vessels with 90 sailors on record, in 1875 there were 104 ships with over 60,000 registered tonnes, and in 1889 were recorded 440 sailing ships of various types with 3,050 sailors. The dynamic development of Chian shipping in the 19th century is further attested by the various shipping related services that were present in the island during this time, such as the creation of the [[shipping insurance]] companies ''Chiaki Thalassoploia'' (Χιακή Θαλασσοπλοΐα), ''Dyo Adelfai'' (Δυο Αδελφαί), ''Omonoia'' (Ομόνοια) and the shipping bank ''Archangelos'' (Αρχάγγελος) (1863). The boom of Chian shipping took place with the successful transition from sailing vessels to steam. To this end, Chian ship owners were supported by the strong ''[[Chian diaspora|diaspora]]'' presence of Chian merchants and bankers, and the connections they had developed with the financing centers of the time (Istanbul, London), the establishment in London of shipping businessmen, the creation of shipping academies in Chios and the expertise of Chian personnel on board.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Σταύρος Γ. Λιβανός. Η Χιώτικη Ναυτιλιακή παραδοση στην κορυφή της παγκόσμιας ναυτιλίας |last=Μιχαηλίδης |first=Σταύρος Γ. |year=2014 |location=Χίος}}</ref>