For about 900 years, frequent pirate invasions were the main feature of the island’s history. They were in full swing in the Aegean Sea, particularly in the 7th century and after. Saracens, Arabs and Slavs have left their traces on the island (as evidenced by many toponyms by the sea) and condemned it to introversion and oblivion.
The only inhabited part of the island that could be seen from the sea at that time was the rock of (today called) Ano Syra very close to the densely populated ancient city. The establishment of this naturally protected settlement from the Syros people persecuted by invaders is believed to have taken place in the early 9th century AD. Being part of the Byzantine domains of the Aegean Sea, Syros was under the rule of Diosece of Delos, then of Athens. and finally from Kea – Thermia – Serifos.
After the fall of the Byzantines to the Franks, Syros is subject to Venetian rule and is included along with most of the Cyclades islands in the Dutch Aegean Sea, in 1207.
The Venetians attempted to impose a feudal financial and administrative system, but to no avail. At the same time, residents officially established and recognized Catholicism, while both the Greek language and Greek customs remained equally alive and unchanged. Numerous place names, the preservation of Orthodox worship ceremonies, the Eastern church calendar, as well as a large number of contemporary historical sources written almost exclusively in Greek are representative of the preservation of national identity.
Venetian domination was marked by constant conflicts between various Frankish rulers for dominance of the islands. Typical of this was the siege of Syros by the Duke of Tinos, Bartholomew Gizis, in 1286. Pirate invasions throughout the Aegean Sea also affected Syros, although the island was under the protection of Western powers and the Church. Roman Catholic especially. During all this time, Syros was part of the Aegean Dutch, but with its own governor assigned primarily to collect taxes. The Catholic clergy were politically and economically powerful on the island.
Turkish domination in the Aegean Sea grew steadily and in the middle of the 16th century in the Cyclades the Turkish-Venetian clashes turned on the Turkish side. In 1537 Syros is conquered by the Turks. The Turkish government was limited to paying taxes while the local government began to develop.
The residents (about 300 at the time) suffered from constant raids by Frankish pirates, who were in conflict with the Turks. Quite often the locals were compromised by such conflicts, the hottest part being the beheading of the (Catholic) Bishop of Syros Andreas Kargas by Captain Ali Passas in October 1617. The Pasha considered the islanders under the orders of his bishop as conspirators against Turkish domination.
Meanwhile, pirate raids had caused the depopulation of many islands in the Aegean Sea. This is also attested in a Venetian report from 1563, according to which of the 16 islands of the Netherlands in the Aegean Sea, only 5 were still inhabited, Syros being one of them. The population number reached a new low after the calamity of 1617, as shown in the report of the Catholic bishop Marengo of June 27, 1626. The two Turkish-Venetian wars that followed caused new suffering to the island.
In 1633 the Capuchin monks settle in Syros. Towards the end of the 17th century, both the administration (local decisions, taxes, etc.) and legal decisions turned in favor of Syros. The local administration was promulgated: the assembly of the people, the delegates and the elders. In the first, all men over 30 participated. The assembly gradually acquired the power to legislate. The delegates were elected by the assembly for one year with power of administration, whose mere ratification corresponded to the Sublime Porte. The elders were old delegates, also elected by the assembly, who contributed to local administration and judicial decisions.
In 1680 the Community of Syros exempted the port of the island from all taxes and thus laid the foundations for the development of trade. The island was under the jurisdiction of the Chief Justice of the Turkish Supreme Court who resided on Andros. There were no Turks on the island and the bishop was appointed by the Pope. A growing French influence contributed to the earlier development as France had obtained a number of privileges on behalf of the local clergy from the Turks. The signs of security as well as the economic development of the residents resulted in a population growth and in the second half of the 18th century more than 2,500 people inhabited the island (according to the testimony of a local Abbot Della Roca), all of them Catholics. . except for a few Orthodox families. The island began to be intensively cultivated. Young people were sent to Italian universities for education under the auspices of the Pope. That progress was interrupted by a cholera epidemic in 1728.
During the Russo-Turkish war (in 1771, the Russian fleet seized the entire Cyclades), Syros was ruled by three commanders with emergency powers. At that time, taxation was dual (in money and goods). Meanwhile, a large number of local antiquities were looted with the active participation of the Russian admiral.
After Captain Pasha recaptured the islands, reprisals were avoided thanks to the positive contribution of Stephanos Mavrogenous, an interpreter for Pasha of Paros (later ruler of Wallachia). Syros between 1779 and 1803 was directly subject to the sultan’s niece, who instituted tax reduction and encouraged local institutions (elders, etc.).
In 1814, the privilege of appointing wealthy people to key positions of power was canceled after a popular uprising and representatives of the lower class were appointed in the local administration instead.
Sea routes in the eastern Mediterranean became safe again around 1800 and later after the decline of piracy and its associated dangers in the Aegean Sea. Consequently, Syros has a key geographical position, constant support from Western powers, and self-government is rapidly developing into a maritime center and its port is revived. At that moment the Greek War of Independence begins.