Θάσος πληροφορίες για Μουσεία ,Ιστορία, Αξιοθέατα, Ήθη και Έθιμα, Φύση, Παραλίες, Διαμονή, Διασκέδαση, thassos, thasos

The occupation of Thasos by the Turks happened in 1455,two years after the fall of Constantinople. Mohamed the 2nd organised a campaign and sent ten battleships against the islands of Thasos,Samothraki and Imvros.In retaliation, Papas Kalistos the 3rd planned a crusade to retake the isles from the Sultan. In 1457 the Venetians,after intense siege,managed to take over Thasos. In 1459 the Sultan retook the island and most of its population was deported to Constantinople.
At the end of 17th and the beginning of the 18th century, piracy in the Aegean Sea escalated and the people of Thasos faced great difficulties. The pirates that scourged the Aegean were mostly Europeans and even Greeks. They kept favourable relationships with kings and individuals into high places,who provided them with every kind of help,given the right amount of money... Finally, in 1813, the Sultan gave away Thasos to the vizier of Egypt Mehmet Ali, as a reward. The vizier had been born in Kavala and was raised by a greek family in a village of Thasos.

During the rebelion in 1821 Thasos lived a short break of freedom when the greek rebels took over the isle. The Turks were defeated and were forced to leave to Kavala. At the end of 1821, the people of the isle troubled with the assaults of the pirates signed a treaty with the Pasha of Thessaloniki. It is estimated that during the rebelion,more than 1000 people were slaughtered and tortured without remorse and many more lost their properties. Thasos was finally freed in the 8th of October in 1912 from the greek army and fleet and since then it is part of the Greek Republic. Temporary governor of the isle was appointed Constantine Melas (brother to the famous Macedomachos Paulos Melas). He once wrote in a letter to Penelope Delta, characteristically saying: “ Thasos is the most beautiful greek isle, a heaven full of pure Greeks, strong patriotes and sensitive people”.

During the time of the mid-war,refugees arrived from Asia Minor and the region of Thrace due to the destruction of 1932. The same period,after the initiative of the parliament member Augoustos Theologitis, part of the estates of the Holy Mount Athos were expropriated and shared amongst the people of the isle. During the 2nd World War, Thasos was occupied(as the rest of Greece)by the Germans who then gave it to the Bulgarians. The Bulgarian military and political occupational authorities treated the local greek population with unheard cruelty and brutality. The isle was freed in 1945.
Nowadays the island of Thasos is considered to be a wonderful holiday resort. The newly constructed hotels and roads and the fast transportation with boats and flying dolphins from the harbors of Kavala and Keramoti, contribute to the long-term economic growth of the isle. With the pass of time Thasos gradually regained her ancient appeal and became again that beautiful heaven that Constantinos Melas and many other known greek and foreign poets,writers and travelers described.