Colonists

The first decree concerning the dispatch of Venetian colonists to Crete was signed in Venice on 10^th September 1211. A few months later, on 20^th March of the following year, one hundred and eighty citizens of the "Republic of St. Mark" embarked for Crete. These were the first of approximately 10 000 colonists who settled on the island during the first century of Venetian rule (1211 - 1310). The state granted the colonists tracts of land as military fiefs, dividing them into two categories: the milites (knights), whose fiefs were known as cavalarie, and infantry soldiers, who received less extensive tracts.