The Greek Revolution, A Critical Dictionary, Paschalis M. Kitromilides, Constantinos Tsoukalas, March 25, 2021

Introduction 12
and Chania. Peloponnesian Muslims, like their Christian compatriots, also fled
to British- occupied Zakynthos seeking to escape the consequences of military
confrontations.
The emergence of refugee waves and forced migration also invited relief policies.
The earliest such mea sure was taken by the provisional administration of
free Greece on April 20, 1822, in order to relieve the plight of the Chian refugees
following the massacre of Chios, which shocked international public
opinion at the time. In May 1824 a census was taken of persons in need on account
of the war, primarily widows, orphans, and people with infirmities, including
refugees. That was a step toward better- coordinated relief policies. One
of Capodistrias’s earliest mea sures as head of the government was the instruction
in January 1828 to register refugees in the Nafplio area in order to better
meet their needs. Relief was also distributed to refugees in Aigina and other
islands. Large- scale relief also arrived from the United States on repeated occasions,
on the initiative of the American Philhellenes Dr. Samuel Gridley Howe
and Peckan Milles (Andriotis 2020, 13–14).
Regardless of their origin, refugees arriving in areas under the control of
Greek authorities primarily sought relocation in towns. This was a decisive
factor in the growth of the major urban centers in the fledgling new state. In
1825, the two largest groups in the population of Nafplio, the capital city of the
new state, after those originating in vari ous localities in the Peloponnese, were
refugee groups from Asia Minor and Crete. Under Capodistrias, a special
suburb for the settlement of refugees was founded next to the capital with the
promising name Pronoia, meaning providence. In 1827, a refugee group from
Smyrna calling itself “ Free Smyrniots” requested permission from the Third National
Assembly to establish a “New Smyrna” in the area of the Isthmus of
Corinth. They had the support of Dr. Howe, and although their request was
accepted, their plans did not ultimately materialize.
The most significant and lasting result of the relocation of refugee groups
was the emergence of Ermoupolis, a major new urban center on the island of
Syros. Settled primarily by Chian survivors of the 1822 massacre but also by
large groups from Smyrna, Kydonies, and Constantinople, the new coastal town,
named in 1825 after the ancient Greek patron god of commerce, grew into the
main port and commercial city of new Greece until it was eclipsed by Pireus in
the late nineteen century. Thus, the story of forced migration and refugee movements
in the Greek Revolution also inaugurates the history of social change in
the new nation state.
A fourth historiographical issue that needs to be addressed in building a
fuller picture of the revolution is the phenomenon of civil wars. The two civil