Crete was under constant Turkish threat during the last years of Venetian rule. At the end of 1648 the Ottoman Emperor controlled the whole Crete except for Heraklion. This particular siege lasted twenty one years. Finally, on September 27, in 1669, Heraklion surrendered to Turkish forces.
In 1821, when the Greek Revolution broke out, the Cretan participation was extensive, but without the desired result. The great Cretan Revolution broke out in 1866 by volunteers and reinforcements from liberated Greece. Eventually, after many years of struggles the Great Powers (Britain, France, Italy and Russia) decided that Turkey could no longer maintain control of Crete and intervened. As a result the Turkish forces were expelled in 1898 and the independent Cretan Republic was proclaimed.
In the area of Minoan Plain there are few remains that have survived from this period, such as the Hani Moulefe, the first primary school at the settlement of Patsideros and the holm oak of Ismail Pasha at a certain location called “Metohi” at the settlement of Mathia.
