Editing Hydra (island) (section)

== History ==

=== Pre-history, antiquity, Byzantine and Venetian era ===
There is evidence of farmers and herders from the second half of the third millennium BCE on the small, flat areas that are not visible from the sea. [[Obsidian]] from [[Milos]] has also been found. During the [[Helladic period]], Hydra probably served as a maritime base for the kingdoms on the Greek peninsula. Fragments of vases, tools, and the head of an idol have been found on Mount Chorissa. There is also evidence of Mycenean-era aqueducts, supplying ships with water.

The large-scale [[Dorian invasion]] of Greece around the 12th century BCE appears to have depopulated the island. Hydra was repopulated by farmers and herders, perhaps sailing from the mainland port of [[Ermioni]], in the 8th century BCE. [[Herodotus]] reports that toward the 6th century BCE, the island belonged to Ermioni, which sold it to [[Samos]]. Samos, in turn, ceded it to [[Troezen|Troizina]].

For much of its existence, Hydra stayed on the margins of history. The population was very small in ancient times and, except for the brief mentions in Herodotus and Pausanias, left little or no record in the history of those times.

It is clear that Hydra was populated during the [[Byzantine]] era, as vases and coins have been discovered in the area of Episkopi. However, it appears that the island again lost its population during the [[Latin Empire]] of Constantinople as its inhabitants fled the [[pirate]] depredations. On other islands, inhabitants moved inland, something that was essentially impossible on Hydra.

==== Arvanite community ====

Among local [[Arvanites]], the first account about their settlement was written by Antonis Miaoulis, son of admiral [[Andreas Miaoulis]], after the end of the Greek war of independence (1830). According to this local narrative, the Arvanite Hydriots descend from the Albanians who directly left Albania as refugees in the 1460s due to persecution by the Ottoman Sultan [[Mehmed II]]. Historiographical research shows that the Albanians didn't settle in Hydra directly from Albania in the 15th century, but from the Peloponnese ([[Ermionida]]) due to conflicts in the region with the Venetians and the Ottomans.<ref name="Jochalas 1971" /> This first Albanian settlement occurred in the early 16th century and likely involved members of the same 1-2 clans.{{sfn|Jochalas|2006|p=40}} They created the modern town port and their presence was evident until the mid-20th century, when, according to T. Jochalas, the majority of the island's population was composed of immigrants from outside of Peloponnesus.<ref name="Jochalas 1971">Jochalas, Titos P. (1971): Über die Einwanderung der Albaner in Griechenland: Eine zusammenfassene Betrachtung ["On the immigration of Albanians to Greece: A summary"]. München: Trofenik.</ref>{{page needed|date=September 2021}} In the 16th century, the island began to be settled also by refugees from the warfare between the Ottomans and Venetians.<ref>Vanderpool, Catherine (1980) ''Hydra,'' Athens Lycabettus Press, pp. 3-4.</ref> In the early 18th century, a last Arvanite movement from nearby areas settled in the island. [[Arvanitika]] was a language spoken by all Hydriotes. By the 19th century, men had learned to speak Greek too, while women and children often didn't speak Greek. One of the reasons why Arvanitika was so enduring in Hydra as opposed to other islands which were part of the Arvanite Aegean settlements was that the language was spoken and favored by the newly emerging Hydriot urban-merchant class.{{sfn|Jochalas|2006|p=76}} Even in the 20th century families of the local magnates like the [[Koundouriotis]] spoke Arvanitika in Hydra.{{sfn|Jochalas|2006|p=140}} Hydra was also an island where church liturgy was often held in local Arvanitika, which is a rare case as in most Orthodox Albanian communities Greek was the language of liturgy even up to the early 20th century.{{sfn|Jochalas|2006|p=140}} The Arvanite community is still found on the island.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1252736820 |title=Modern Greece |date=2022 |others=Elaine Cotsirilos Thomopoulos |isbn=978-1-4408-5492-7 |location=Santa Barbara, California |page=4 |oclc=1252736820}}</ref> Nowadays they are fully assimilated.

=== Ottoman era: period of commercial and naval strength ===
{{Further|Ottoman Greece}}
[[File:Hydra island - panoramio - dims321.jpg|thumb|Traditional houses]]

Hydra was relatively unimportant during much of the period of Ottoman rule. At the end of the sixteenth century, there was a wave of migration consisting of big families from the Hellenic and Asia Minor regions to the island. Due to the infertile ground, the inhabitants turned to the sea.<ref>{{cite book |editor1=Vicky Katsoni |editor2=Ciná van Zyl |date=21 June 2021 |title=Culture and Tourism in a Smart, Globalized, and Sustainable World: 7th International Conference of IACuDiT, Hydra, Greece, 2020 |publisher=Springer Nature |pages= |isbn=978-3-030-72469-6 |oclc=1258664982 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=c1w0EAAAQBAJ}}</ref> Its naval and commercial development began in the 17th century, and its first school for mariners was established in 1645.<ref>''Iles grecques'', Guide Bleu, Hachette, 1998. p. 185.</ref> Apparently, the first truly Hydriot vessel was launched in 1657. However, the conflict between the [[Republic of Venice]] and the Ottoman Empire limited the island's maritime development until after 1718 and the [[Treaty of Passarowitz]]. From the 17th century on, Hydra began to take on a greater importance because of its trading strength.

During the first half of the 18th century, Hydra built the same kind of vessels as were built in the other [[Aegean Islands]]: the ''sachtouri'' of 15 to 20 tons, and the ''latinadiko'' of 40 to 50 tons. The Hydriots contented themselves with trading in the Aegean, going as far as [[Constantinople]]. A great change occurred in 1757 after they launched a vessel of 250 tons. The larger boats enabled Hydra to become an important commercial port. By 1771, there were up to 50 vessels from throughout Greece in the [[Roadstead|roads]]. Ten years later, the island had fitted out 100 vessels.<ref>Georgios Voyatis, ''Le Golfe Saronique'', p. 164.</ref>

However, the Ottoman Empire and its policies constrained Hydra's economic success. Heavy tariffs and taxes limited the speed of development. The Ottoman administration limited free trade, permitting only Ottoman vessels to navigate the [[Dardanelles]] and the [[Bosphorus]], and hence to have access to the [[Black Sea]], its ports, and the trade in grain from their hinterlands. The [[Treaty of Küçük Kaynarca]] changed all this. [[Russia]] gained from the Ottoman Empire the right to protect the Empire's Orthodox Christians. The religious protection had a commercial corollary: the Hydriots began to sail under the Russian flag. The treaty also provided for free passage between the Aegean and the Black Sea. Hydra entered its commercial era. Hydriot vessels carried goods between Southern Russia in the east and the Italian ports of [[Ancona]] and [[Livorno]] in the west. From 1785 on, the Hydriot shippers began to engage in commerce, not just transport. Each vessel became its own small commercial enterprise, and trade with the [[Levant]] quickly began to depend on Hydra's vessels, though not without competition from those of [[Spetses]] and [[Psara]].

The plague of 1792 killed a large part of the population, and many people moved away. As a result, the town was almost completely abandoned for a while. By the end of the 18th century, Hydra had again become quite prosperous, with its vessels trading as far as France, Spain, and even the Americas. [[Napoleon]] presented the island with the huge silver chandelier in the cathedral as a gesture of gratitude for the Hydriots' role in running the British blockade and so bringing food to France.

=== Greek War of Independence ===
{{Further|Greek War of Independence|Antonis Oikonomou|Andreas Miaoulis}}
[[File:Statue of Andreas Vokos Miaoulis.jpg|thumb|180px|left|Statue of [[Andreas Miaoulis]], admiral during the [[Greek War of Independence]].]]
[[File:Peter von Hess Antonis Oikonomou Ydra.jpg|thumb|180px|''[[Antonis Oikonomou]] starts the revolution in Hydra'' by [[Peter von Hess]].]]
[[File:1821 Flag of Hydra.svg|thumb|right|180px|Flag of Hydra during the [[Greek War of Independence]], displaying the Spartan maxim "Η ΤΑΝ Η ΕΠΙ ΤΑΣ".]]

In the 19th century, Hydra was home to some 125 boats and 10,000 sailors. The mansions of the sea captains that ring the harbor are a testament to the prosperity that shipping brought to the island, which, at the time of the [[Greek Revolution]], had 16,000 inhabitants.

To begin with, Hydriots were far from unanimous in joining the [[Greek War of Independence]]. In April 1821, when [[Antonis Oikonomou]] expelled the Ottoman governor Nikolao Kokovila and proclaimed Hydra's adherence to the independence struggle, he met strong opposition from island leaders who were reluctant to lose the relatively privileged position they had under Ottoman rule. Oikonomou was imprisoned, hounded off the island and eventually his opponents sent assassins to chase and kill him in December 1821.

Still, Hydra eventually did join the cause of independence, and Hydra's contribution of some 150 ships, plus supplies, to fight against the Turks played a critical role. The Greek admiral [[Andreas Miaoulis]], himself a settler on Hydra, used Hydriot [[fire ships]] to inflict heavy losses on the Ottoman fleet. Eventually the fleet of Hydra – along with those of the other two naval islands of [[Psara]] and [[Spetses]] – were able to wrest control of the eastern [[Aegean Sea]] from the Ottoman Empire.

The Albanian-speaking seamen of Hydra and Spetses provided the core of the Greek fleet and leading members of the Greek government, among them a one wartime president. They in some cases used Albanian with each other to prevent others on their side from reading their correspondence.<ref>{{cite book |author=Mark Mazower |title=The Greek Revolution and the Making of Modern Europe |page=44 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=T4spEAAAQBAJ&q=alien+concept |year=2021 |publisher=Penguin Press |isbn=978-0-698-16398-0 |quote=On the Greek side, there were the Christian Albanian Souliot bands, hardened mountain fighters based around clan leaders who gradually became integrated into the national war effort. There were also the Albanian-speaking seamen of Hydra and Spetses who provided not only the core of the Greek fleet but also leading members of the Greek government – including one wartime president – who occasionally used Albanian among themselves to prevent others on their own side from reading their correspondence.}}</ref>

=== Modern history ===
With the end of the revolution and the creation of the Greek state, the island gradually lost its maritime position in the Eastern Mediterranean, igniting an economic crisis that led to a period of hardship and unemployment. The main reason was that with the creation of the Greek state, Hydra's fleet lost the privileges that the Treaty of Küçük Kaynarca and the use of the Russian flag had given it. Another reason was that the traditional families who owned the majority of the fleet failed to foresee the benefits of participating in the [[steam ship]] revolution, which significantly cut shipping operational costs through reduced crew and independence of the winds, putting them at a disadvantage vis-á-vis the new shipping companies of [[Piraeus]], [[Patras]], and [[Syros]]. A third reason was that the new conditions made illegal activities such as piracy impossible. Once again, many inhabitants abandoned Hydra, leaving behind their large mansions and beautiful residences, which fell into ruin. The mainstay of the island's economy became fishing for [[sponge]]. This brought prosperity again until 1932, when Egypt forbade fishing along its coast.

Between 1941 and 1943, during the [[Axis occupation of Greece during World War II]], there was famine on Hydra. It is estimated that some eight per cent of the population died of starvation. By the end of the [[World War II]], the Hydriots were again leaving the island; many of them went abroad.

On 21 June 2024, the only pine forest on the island was burned. The fire was caused by fireworks launched from a yacht. The Greek authorities arrested thirteen people in relation to the incident, all of whom were crew members of the yacht.<ref>{{Cite news |agency=Agence France-Presse |date=22 June 2024 |title=Thirteen arrested after fireworks from yacht spark forest fire on Greek island |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/jun/22/thirteen-arrested-after-fireworks-spark-forest-fire-on-greek-island |access-date=23 June 2024 |work=[[The Observer]] | language=en-GB |issn=0029-7712}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last1=Wertheimer |first1=Tiffany |last2=Aeberhard |first2=Danny |date=23 June 2024 |title=Crew arrested after yacht fireworks spark Greece blaze |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c722p1ljlk9o |work=[[BBC News]] | language=en-GB}}</ref>