14 Facts About Chios

Chios is notable for its exports of mastic gum and its nickname is "the Mastic Island".

Chios Basin is a hydrographic sub-unit of the Aegean Sea adjacent to the island of Chios.

Ancient writer Pausanias tells us that the poet Ion of Chios believed the island received its name from Chios, the son of Poseidon by a nymph of the island, who was born amidst snowfall .

Archaeological research on Chios has found evidence of habitation dating back at least to the Neolithic era.

Chios was one of the original twelve member states of the Ionian League.

Related searches

Chios joined the Ionian Revolt against the Persians in 499 BC.

In 412 BC, during the Peloponnesian War, Chios revolted against Athens, and the Athenians besieged it.

Chios's rule was benign and effective control remained in the hands of the local Greek landowners.

Chios was able to make a substantial contribution to the imperial treasury while at the same time maintaining only a light level of taxation.

The Ottoman massacre of Chios expelled, killed or enslaved thousands of the inhabitants of the island.

Finally, Chios was not included in the modern Greek state and remained under Ottoman rule.

Remarkably, despite the terrible devastation, in the later 19th century Chios emerged as the motherland of the modern Greek shipping industry.

Chios joined the rest of independent Greece after the First Balkan War .

Present municipality Chios was formed at the 2011 local government reform by the merger of the following 8 former municipalities, that became municipal units:.