Stamps from Crete catalogue

133 items

Crete is a Greek island on the Aegean Sea, in the eastern Mediterranean. After an uprising in the Turkish autonomous state of Crete, followed by a Greek invasion, the island was occupied in 1897 by Italian, British, Russian and French troops. In 1898 Crete became a de facto independent state under the leadership of a Greek commissioner, who officially still belonged to the Ottoman Empire. The Cretan State itself issued stamps from 1900 onwards. Before that, British and Russian occupation stamps were used.

In the spring of 1905, rebels from the village of Theriso near Chania on Crete proclaimed union with Greece. The Greek commissioner at the head of the Cretan State and the British, French, Russian and Italian occupiers threatened military action but waited. The revolutionary government issued its own stamps, which were hardly used or not at all. In the summer, the legitimate government of Crete approved most of the reforms proposed by the rebels and the commissioner resigned, ending the rebellion.

In 1908 the Autonomous Cretan State, which was still officially part of the Ottoman Empire, unilaterally joined Greece. The British, French, Russian and Italian occupiers withdrew their troops. Crete now issued its own “Greek” stamps. In 1913, the Cretan affiliation with Greece was officially recognized by Greece, the Ottoman Empire and the international powers.

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Number of stamps

133

Number of related items

Oldest item

Figure (1898)