Crete (Ital. Candia, Turk. Kirit, Gr. Krētē), a Turkish island in the Mediterranean, is the most southerly portion of Europe. It is 60 miles S. of Cape Malea in Greece, 110 SW. of Cape Krio in Asia Minor, 100 SSW. of Rhodes, and 300 W. of Cyprus. Its length is 156 miles; its breadth varies from 30 to as little as 7 miles; and its area is 3326 sq. m., or twice the size of Hampshire. The climate, inferior only to that of Rhodes, is excellent, and has always been celebrated for its salubrity. The air is pure, fresh, and bracing; the rainfall about 27 inches. In July, August, and September it is hot in the plains, but the sea-breezes temper the heat, especially at night, and during the rest of the year the climate is delightful.
Crete is for the most part mountainous, especially in the west, where the White Mountains form the most important range. In the centre Mount Ida, now called Upsiloriti, the loftiest in Crete, rises to a height of 8055 feet. The east is less mountainous, and everywhere numerous small valleys are exceedingly fertile. The rivers are unimportant, being almost invariably dry in summer, and in winter and spring rushing down to the sea as torrents. The country is, however, fairly well watered, even in the dry season, as springs abound all over the island.
The coast-line, deeply indented on the north, includes some good harbours: Suda Bay, on the north, is one of the finest anchorages in the Mediterranean, and now well known by name as the resort of the British fleet at interesting political crises; and on the south is the small but well-sheltered Kaloi Limenes, or the Fair Havens, by which name it is spoken of in Acts, xxvii. 8. In the immediate neighbourhood of Crete are three islands: Clanda, the modern Gavdo, off the south-west coast, with an area of about 15 sq. m., also spoken of in Acts, has a lighthouse. Dia, north of Candia, and Grabusa, at the north-west, were fortified by the Venetians. In Homer, Crete had 'a hundred cities'; now there are but three of importance—Canea (q.v.), the chief town; Candia (q.v.); and Retimo (q.v.).
Wheat and fruit are the most important products; oranges and lemons flourish. The grapes are good, but the wine, though abundant, is of inferior quality. In the middle ages the wine made at Malevesi, near Canea, was celebrated under the well-known name of Malnsey (Fr. Malvoisie). The forests, as usual in the Levant, have almost entirely disappeared. But on the hills the cypress grows; on the plains the olive is cultivated; and chestnuts, valonia oak, and carobs also grow. The principal exports are olive-oil, soap, carobs, wool, cheese, valonia acorns, and fruits. Sheep are largely bred, but the wool is not of fine quality. Sponges are found upon the coast. The most important wild animal is the Cretan ibex. The population, numbering about 295,000, are, with the exception of a few Turks in the larger towns, almost wholly of pure Greek descent; though about 90,000 of them are Mohammedans, descendants of renegades, but they too speak Greek as their mother-tongue.
The early Cretans were seafaring Greeks, rivals of the Phoenicians. The island was the favourite resort of colonists from every part of Greece, and was celebrated at once for its climate, its laws, and its great lawgiver, judge, and king, Minos. Crete was subdued by the Romans in 67 B.C., and was held by the Greek emperors (with an interval of Saracen rule in 823–961), until the capture of Constantinople by the Crusaders (1204). A year or two afterwards the Venetians established themselves here, and kept possession till—after the terrible siege of the then capital, Candia, which lasted three years—the Turks conquered the island. The Cretans are a turbulent race, of proved and proverbial mendacity, bold, independent, and hard to govern; and, except after defeated rebellions, their subjection to the Porte was more nominal than real. They shared in the Greek rising of 1821, but were subdued by Ibrahim Pasha in 1824; and from 1830 till 1841 'the Powers' left it under the administration of the Viceroy of Egypt. A really serious rebellion against Turkish rule took place in 1866, suppressed with difficulty by Omar Pasha in 1867, Greek assistance and European sympathy prolonging the native resistance; and in 1869 a convention at Halepa, a suburb of Canea, made important concessions to the islanders, never fully carried into effect. After repeated risings and nominal concessions, a very resolute rebellion broke out in 1896, which brought the whole Eastern Question into an acute phase. The Greek intervention here led to the short but disastrous war of the Greeks with the Turks in April and May of 1897, when the Turkish victory made it difficult for the 'Concert of Europe,' hampered by international jealousy, to secure for the Cretans the promised autonomy, with a Christian prince of their own. Prodigious difficulty was experienced in keeping the peace on the island by means of a large body of men and ships belonging to the various Powers. A serious and fatal Moslem attack on a British force in Candia led to an ultimatum by Britain, Russia, France, and Italy, which was accepted by the Sultan in October 1898, and the Turkish troops were withdrawn; and in December, Prince George of Greece reached Crete as High Commissioner for Europe.
See books on Crete by Spratt (1865), Raulin (Paris, 1869), Stillman (New York, 1874), and Edwardes (1887); H. F. Tozer, The Islands of the Aegean (1890); and R. A. H. Bickford-Smith, Cretan Sketches (1898).