The Mani Peninsula, also long known by its medieval name Maina or Maïna, is a geographical and cultural region in the Peloponnese of Southern Greece and home to the Maniots, who claim descent from the ancient Spartans. The capital city of Mani is Areopoli. Mani is the central of three peninsulas which extend southwards from the Peloponnese. To the east is the Laconian Gulf, to the west the Messenian Gulf. The Mani peninsula forms a continuation of the Taygetos mountain range, the western spine of the Peloponnese.
The Great Turkish War, also called the Wars of the Holy League, was a series of conflicts between the Ottoman Empire and the Holy League consisting of the Holy Roman Empire, Poland-Lithuania, Venice, Russia, and the Kingdom of Hungary. Intensive fighting began in 1683 and ended with the signing of the Treaty of Karlowitz in 1699. The war was a defeat for the Ottoman Empire, which for the first time lost substantial territory, in Hungary and the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, as well as in part of the western Balkans. The war was significant also for being the first instance of Russia joining an alliance with Western Europe.
Skoutari is a village and a community of the municipality of East Mani. Before the 2011 local government reform it was a part of the municipality of Gytheio, of which it was a municipal district. The 2011 census recorded 234 residents in the village and 293 residents in the community. The community of Skoutari covers an area of 11.667 km2. According to local tradition it was founded by refugees from the Fall of Constantinople in 1453.
The Battle of Vromopigada was fought between the Ottoman Turks and the Maniots of Mani in 1770. The location of the battle was in a plain between the two towns of Skoutari and Parasyros. The battle ended in a Greek victory.
The Ottoman–Egyptian invasion of Mani was a campaign during the Greek War of Independence that consisted of three battles. The Maniots fought against a combined Egyptian and Ottoman army under the command of Ibrahim Pasha of Egypt.
Kelefa is a castle and village in Mani, Laconia, Greece. It is part of the municipal unit of Oitylo.
The Maniots or Maniates are an ethnic Greek subgroup that traditionally inhabit the Mani Peninsula; located in western Laconia and eastern Messenia, in the southern Peloponnese, Greece. They were also formerly known as Mainotes, and the peninsula as Maina.
Kastania is a village in Mesa Mani of Laconia, Greece. An independent community since 1912, it became part of the municipality Sminos in 1997, which in turn became part of the municipality East Mani in 2010.
The 1770 Ottoman Invasion of Mani was one of a series of invasions by the Ottomans to subdue the Maniots. Mani was one region of Greece that the Ottomans had not occupied due to the rough terrain and the rebellious spirit of Maniots. The Maniots caused damage to the Ottomans by allying with the Venetians whenever there was a war between Venice and the Ottomans, and also habitually engaged in piracy.
The 1815 Ottoman Invasion of Mani was one of a series of invasions by the Ottomans to subdue the Maniots. Mani was the only region of Greece that the Ottomans had not occupied due to the rough terrain and the rebellious spirit of the Maniots. The Maniots caused damage to the Ottomans by allying with the Venetians whenever there was a war between Venice and the Ottomans. They also practiced piracy.
The 1803 Ottoman Invasion of Mani was one of a series of invasions by the Ottomans to subdue the Maniots. Mani was the only region of Greece that the Ottomans had not occupied due to the rough terrain and the rebellious spirit of the Maniots. The Maniots caused damage to the Ottomans by allying with the Venetians whenever there was a war between Venice and the Ottomans; they also were pirates.
The siege of Kastania was fought in July 1780 between the Maniots and the klephts under Konstantinos Kolokotronis and Panagiotaros Venetsakis and the Ottoman Empire under Ali Bey.
Zacharias Pantelakos, nicknamed Barbitsiotis but more commonly known as Kapetan Zacharias, was a Greek klepht in the Peloponnese during the last decades of Ottoman rule over Greece. He is described by Kyriakos Kassis as the best klepht of Taygetus.
Mahmud Dramali Pasha, was an Ottoman Albanian statesman and military leader, and a pasha, and served as governor (wali) of Larissa, Drama, and the Morea. In 1822, he was tasked with suppressing the Greek War of Independence, but was defeated at the Battle of Dervenakia and died shortly after.
The Morean war, also known as the Sixth Ottoman–Venetian War, was fought between 1684–1699 as part of the wider conflict known as the "Great Turkish War", between the Republic of Venice and the Ottoman Empire. Military operations ranged from Dalmatia to the Aegean Sea, but the war's major campaign was the Venetian conquest of the Morea (Peloponnese) peninsula in southern Greece. On the Venetian side, the war was fought to avenge the loss of Crete in the Cretan War (1645–1669). It happened while the Ottomans were entangled in their northern struggle against the Habsburgs – beginning with the failed Ottoman attempt to conquer Vienna and ending with the Habsburgs gaining Buda and the whole of Hungary, leaving the Ottoman Empire unable to concentrate its forces against the Venetians. As such, the Morean War was the only Ottoman–Venetian conflict from which Venice emerged victorious, gaining significant territory. Venice's expansionist revival would be short-lived, as its gains would be reversed by the Ottomans in 1718.
The Mavromichalis family is a prominent noble family from Mani Peninsula, which played a major role in modern Greek history.
Liverios Gerakaris, more commonly known by the hypocoristic Limberakis, was a Maniot pirate who later became Bey of Mani.
The First Ottoman–Venetian War was fought between the Republic of Venice with its allies and the Ottoman Empire from 1463 to 1479. Fought shortly after the capture of Constantinople and the remnants of the Byzantine Empire by the Ottomans, it resulted in the loss of several Venetian holdings in Albania and Greece, most importantly the island of Negroponte (Euboea), which had been a Venetian protectorate for centuries. The war also saw the rapid expansion of the Ottoman navy, which became able to challenge the Venetians and the Knights Hospitaller for supremacy in the Aegean Sea. In the closing years of the war, however, the Republic managed to recoup its losses by the de facto acquisition of the Crusader Kingdom of Cyprus.
The Greek Legion, officially the Light Jäger Foot Legion, was a Jäger infantry unit in the service of the Russian-controlled Septinsular Republic. It consisted of soldiers of Greek and Albanian origin and was led by Major-General Emmanouil Papadopoulos. It was active between 1805 and 1807, taking part in the War of the Third Coalition and the Russo-Turkish War (1806–1812).
Tzanetos "Kapetanakis" Grigorakis, also known as Zanetos or Tzanibey or Zanibey or Tzanetbey or Zanetbey, was a Greek politician, general and the 3rd bey of Mani, the most prominent together with Petrobey Mavromichalis. He was the longest-ruling bey of the Maniots, serving for 16 years, from 1782 to 1798.
