This historical photo shows the first Executive Committee of the autonomous Cretan State in 1898. This five-member committee acted as the provisional government of Crete, managing the island’s administration following the departure of Ottoman forces and prior to the arrival of Prince George of Greece as High Commissioner.
The individuals pictured, from left to right, are:
- Manousos Petichakis
- Eleftherios Venizelos
- Andronikos Michelidakis (President of the committee)
- Emmanouil Logiadis
- Charilaos Platakis
This committee was crucial in establishing the framework for the new Cretan State, which eventually led to the island’s union with Greece in 1913 after the Balkan Wars.
Crete gained autonomy under Prince George of Greece, and in 1908, Cretan deputies declared union with Greece. After the Balkan Wars, this union was internationally recognized in 1913. Eleftherios Venizelos, a prominent Cretan politician, played a crucial role in the island’s unification with Greece and became a leading figure in modern Greek politics.
Important note: the villages and their population are still updated, so not all the villages of Crete are in the map and of course not all the years of the existing villages are updated yet.
Also, the major cities of Crete (Heraklion, Chania, Rethymno, Agios Nikolaos, Ierapetra, and Siteia) are excluded from the visualization. This is done for normalization purposes and to better showcase the population of smaller settlements in the interior of the island.