History

Tenedos (Greek: Τένεδος, Tenedhos), also called Bozcaada (Turkish: Bozcaada or Bozca ada), is a small island in the Aegean Sea, part of the Bozcaada district of Çanakkale province in Turkey. As of 2010, Tenedos has a population of about 2,354. The main industries are fishing and tourism. The island has been famous for its grapes, wines and red poppies for centuries. The population is mostly Turkish but there are still about 30 ethnic Greeks on the island

Antiquity
Tenedos was already an established sanctuary of Apollo in the 8th century BC, as shown by the Homeric formula for the god: “Lord Supreme of Tenedos” (”Iliad” I).

According to Greek mythologY, the name “Tenedos” is derived from the eponymous hero [[Tenes]], who ruled the island at the time of the Trojan War and was killed by Achilles. In Virgil’s ”Aeneid”, Tenedos is described as the island in whose bay the Achaeans (Homer)Achaeans hid their fleet near the end of the Trojan War in order to trick the Troy Trojans into believing the war was over and allowing the Trojans to take the Trojan Horse within their city walls.

In Ancient Greece ancient Greek history, there was an Aeolians Aeolian settlement on Tenedos; it was conquered by the Persian Empire, and became independent again in the time of Alexander the Great. Later, there was a naval battle between Gaius Valerius TriariusC. Valerius Triarius and Mithridates VI of Pontus Mithridates ‘ fleet off the island. In Pausanias geographer Pausanias’ time, Tenedos was subject to Alexandria Troas.

Athenaeus remarks on the beauty of the women of Tenedos, and on its marjoram; the Greeks Greek poet Pindar wrote an ode in honour of Theoxenus of Tenedos in the mid 5th century BC.

Late Middle Ages

During the civil war between the Byzantine Emperors John V Palaeologus and his father-in-law John Cantacuzene , or John VI, John V took refuge on Tenedos during the winter of 1352-3, when Cantacuzene held most of the rest of the Empire, or what was left of it. John V won the war in 1354, and spent most of the rest of his long reign begging from the West.

In 1362, the Republic of Venice Venetians offered to pay the Emperor’s debts and lead an alliance against the Turks in exchange for Tenedos, but John V refused to cede the island which had been loyal to him. In 1370, however, he travelled to Italy to appeal to the Pope and Amadeus VI, Count of Savoy ; he found himself broke in Venice, and agreed to cede Tenedos this time, in exchange for his debts, more money, and the Byzantine crown jewels, which had already been pledged; but his eldest son, Andronicus IV Palaeologus Andronicus , regent in İstanbul during his absence, refused to give up the island. His second son, Manuel II Palaeologos Manuel , paid off his creditors next year.

In 1376, this time from Constantinople , John V sold Tenedos to the Venetians again; in the meantime Andronicus had rebelled against his father and been defeated, imprisoned, and blinded in one eye. The Republic of Geno Genoese freed Andronicus, and he deposed his father this time, becoming Andronicus IV; he then sold Tenedos to the Genoese. The garrison of Tenedos refused to go along with this, and sold Tenedos to the Venetians. This provoked the War of Chioggia between John V and Venetians, on one side, and Andronicus and the Genoese on the other.

The war ended in a draw, in 1381; John was to be Emperor, and Andronicus his heir. Pope Urban VI mediated between the two cities, and decided that Tenedos would belong to neither, but be laid waste;The Spanish traveller Ruy Gonzáles de Clavijo Clavijo visited the island in 1401, and wrote that it was deserted, but he found many vineyards, fruit trees, rabbits and the ruins of a great castle.< Another Spanish traveller, Pero Tafur, visited the island in 1437 and found it deserted, with many rabbits, the vineyards covering the island still uncultivated, but the port well-maintained. He mentions frequent Turkish attacks on shipping in the harbor, now that the Castle no longer existed..

Ottoman period

In the middle of 15th century, during the reign of Mehmet II, the Ottoman navy used the island as a supply base. The Venetians, realizing the strategic importance of island, deployed forces on it. In 1464, Ottoman Admiral Mahmud Pasha recaptured the island. During the Ottoman regime, the island was repopulated (by granting a tax exemption) and reengaged with its traditional economic activities. Ottoman traveller [[Evliya Çelebi]] wrote in the 16th century that the finest wines in the world were being produced in Bozcaada.

The Venetians were able to control the island for a brief period once more. After the Battle of the Dardanelle] in 1657, the Ottoman Empire took it back. In the 19th century Russians repeatedly captured Tenedos during the Russo-Turkish Wars and they used it as their military base to achieve the victories at Battle of the Dardanelles (1807)|the Dardanelles and Battle of Athos Athos; but they could not hold it.

Between Turkey and Greece

The island is close to Anatolia the Asia n mainland, and it had been ethnically divided between Greeks and Turkish peopleTurks since the 14th century.

Because of their strategic position near the Dardanelles, the western powers, particularly United Kingdom Britain, insisted at the end of the Balkan Wars in 1913 that the Ottoman Empire retain the islands of Tenedos and Imbros although the Empire would cede the other Aegean islands to Greece .

In 1920, following the World War I, the Treaty of Sèvres with the defeated Ottoman Empire granted the island to Greece, who joined the war in Allies’ side in May 1917. The new Turkish Government of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, based in Ankara , which was not party to the treaty, overthrew the Ottoman government, which signed but did not ratify the treaty. After the Turkish War of Independence ended in Greek defeat in Anatolia , and the fall of David Lloyd George Lloyd George and his Middle Eastern policies, the western powers agreed to the Treaty of Lausanne with the new Turkish Republic, in 1923. This treaty made Tenedos and Imbros part of Turkey, and it guaranteed a special autonomous administrative status there to accommodate the Greeks. The treaty excluded the Greeks on the two islands from the Population exchange between Greece and Turkey population Exchange that took place between Greece and Turkey, as they constituted a majority of the population there.

The treaty also provided for the rights of Greeks remaining in Turkey, and declared such rights fundamental laws unalterable by Turkish law or administrative decree, an international matter, to be amended only with the consent of a majority of the Council of the League of Nations. However shortly after the Civil law legal system Civil Law legislation of 17 February 1926 (Medeni Kanun), the rights accorded to minorities in Turkey were revoked, in violation of the Lausanne

One well known islander born in the modern times is 19th century Ottoman Naval Minister Bozcaadalı Hasan Hüsnü Pasha, who founded the Naval Museum of Istanbul, built a library and a mosque and a hammam for women in Istanbul.