Chios massacre

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The Chios massacre in 1821 ^[1], refers to when Turkish soldiers began the massacre of thousands of Greeks around the Ottoman Empire. In one of the most notorious occurrences, the Chios Massacre during 1822, about 42,000 Greek islanders of Chios were hanged, butchered, starved or tortured to death; 50,000 were enslaved; and 23,000 were exiled. Less than 2,000 managed to survive on the island. The Greek word katastrofi (which also means "destruction" or "ruin") is commonly used to describe these events. The island itself was devastated and the few survivors dispersed throughout Europe in what is now known as the Chian Diaspora. German Admiral Wilhelm Canaris claimed to have been descended from the Diaspora.

The massacre was well-documented and reported and sparked outrage in Europe. French painter Eugène Delacroix painted a masterpiece depicting the horrors that occurred.

For 2000 years, Chios merchants and ship-owners had dominated trade and diplomacy throughout the Black Sea, the Aegean and the Mediterranean. The Ottoman Empire had allowed Chios unique and almost complete control over its own affairs as Chian trade and the very highly-valued mastic plant harvested only on Chios were of great value to the Sultan. The cosmopolitan Chians were also very prominent in Constantinople. Following the massacre, the island never regained its commercial prominence.

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