Everyday Life

For ordinary people, everyday life did not improve significantly when compared to the previous period. High-handedness by state officials, the callous exploitation of destitute peasants by tax collectors, repression at the hands of beys and aghas, epidemics and natural disasters remained the torments people on the island suffered in their day-to-day existence.

The situation was only exacerbated by inability on the part of the Ottoman state to secure the conditions and infrastructure necessary for progress and prosperity. The Cretans often protested against shortcomings and weaknesses in the areas of justice, education, public works and state services. Though not always reliable, the descriptions given by foreign travellers are often hair-raising, focusing as they do on the poverty, wretchedness and illiteracy typical of everyday life on the island.