Greek War of Independence in the context of "Macedonia (Greece)"

Katharevousa (Greek: Καθαρεύουσα, pronounced [kaθaˈrevusa], literally "purifying [language]") is a conservative form of the Modern Greek language conceived in the late 18th century as both a literary language and a compromise between Ancient Greek and the contemporary vernacular, Demotic Greek. Originally, it was widely used for both literary and official purposes, though sparingly in daily language. In the 20th century, it was increasingly adopted for official and formal purposes, until minister of education Georgios Rallis made Demotic Greek the official language of Greece in 1976, and in 1982 Prime Minister Andreas Papandreou abolished the polytonic system of writing for both Demotic and Katharevousa.

Katharevousa was conceived by the intellectual and revolutionary leader Adamantios Korais (1748–1833). A graduate of the University of Montpellier, Korais spent most of his life as an expatriate in Paris. As a classical scholar credited with both laying the foundations of Modern Greek literature and a major figure in the Greek Enlightenment, he was repelled by Byzantine influence on Greek society as well as that of its successors, and was a fierce critic of the clergy and their alleged subservience to the Ottoman Empire. He held that education was a prerequisite to Greek liberation.

Pylos (UK: /ˈpaɪlɒs/, US: /-loʊs/; Greek: Πύλος), historically also known as Navarino, is a town and a former municipality in Messenia, Peloponnese, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform, it has been part of the municipality Pylos-Nestoras, of which it is the seat and a municipal unit. It was the capital of the former Pylia Province. It is the main harbour on the Bay of Navarino. Nearby villages include Gialova, Pyla, Elaiofyto, Schinolakka, and Palaionero. The town of Pylos has 2,568 inhabitants, the municipal unit of Pylos 4,559 (2021). The municipal unit has an area of 143.911 km.

Pylos has been inhabited since Neolithic times. It was a significant kingdom in Mycenaean Greece, with the remains of the so-called "Palace of Nestor" excavated nearby, named after Nestor, the king of Pylos in Homer's Iliad. In Classical times, the site was uninhabited, but became the site of the Battle of Pylos in 425 BC, during the Peloponnesian War. After that, Pylos is scarcely mentioned until the 13th century, when it became part of the Frankish Principality of Achaea. Increasingly known by its French name of Port-de-Jonc or its Italian name Navarino, in the 1280s the Franks built the Old Navarino castle on the site. Pylos came under the control of the Republic of Venice from 1417 until 1500, when it was conquered by the Ottoman Empire. The Ottomans used Pylos and its bay as a naval base, and built the New Navarino fortress there. The area remained under Ottoman control, with the exception of a brief period of renewed Venetian rule from 1685–1715 and a Russian occupation from 1770–71, until the outbreak of the Greek War of Independence in 1821. Ibrahim Pasha of Egypt recovered it for the Ottomans in 1825, but the defeat of the Turco-Egyptian fleet in the 1827 Battle of Navarino and the French military intervention of the 1828 Morea expedition forced Ibrahim to withdraw from the Peloponnese and confirmed Greek independence. The current city was built outside the fortress walls by the military engineers of the Morea expedition from 1829 and the name Pylos was revived by royal decree in 1833.

Emmanouel Pappas (Greek: Εμμανουήλ Παππάς; 1772 – 5 December 1821) was a prominent member of Filiki Eteria and leader of the Greek War of Independence in Macedonia.

Adamantios Korais or Koraïs (Greek: Ἀδαμάντιος Κοραῆς [aðaˈmandi.os koraˈis]; Latin: Adamantius Coraes; French: Adamance Coray; 27 April 1748 – 6 April 1833) was a Greek scholar credited with laying the foundations of modern Greek literature and a major figure in the Greek Enlightenment. His activities paved the way for the Greek War of Independence and the emergence of a purified form of the Greek language, known as Katharevousa. Encyclopædia Britannica asserts that "his influence on the modern Greek language and culture has been compared to that of Dante on Italian and Martin Luther on German".

Missolonghi or Mesolongi (Greek: Μεσολόγγι, pronounced [mesoˈloɲɟi]) is a municipality of 32,048 people (according to the 2021 census) in western Greece. The town is the capital of Aetolia-Acarnania regional unit, and the seat of the municipality of Iera Polis Mesolongiou (Greek: Ιερά Πόλις Μεσολογγίου, lit. 'Sacred Town of Missolonghi'). Missolonghi is known as the site of a dramatic siege during the Greek War of Independence, and of the death of poet Lord Byron.

The island of Crete (Ottoman Turkish: كریت, romanized: Girit) was declared an Ottoman province (eyalet) in 1646, after the Ottomans managed to conquer the western part of the island as part of the Cretan War, but the Venetians maintained their hold on the capital Candia, until 1669, when Francesco Morosini surrendered the keys of the town. The offshore island fortresses of Souda, Grambousa, and Spinalonga would remain under Venetian rule until 1715, when they were also captured by the Ottomans.

Crete took part in the Greek War of Independence, but the local uprising was suppressed with the aid of Muhammad Ali of Egypt. The island remained under Egyptian control until 1840, when it was restored to full Ottoman authority. After the Cretan Revolt (1866–1869) and especially the Pact of Halepa in 1878, the island received significant autonomy, but Ottoman violations of the autonomy statutes and Cretan aspirations for eventual union with the Kingdom of Greece led to the Cretan Revolt (1897–1898) and the Greco-Turkish War (1897). Despite an Ottoman victory in the war, Crete became an autonomous state in 1898 because of intervention in favour of Greece by European powers and was united with Greece after the Balkan Wars.

The vast majority of the territory of present-day Greece was at some point incorporated within the Ottoman Empire. The period of Ottoman rule in Greece, lasting from the mid-15th century until the successful Greek War of Independence broke out in 1821 and the First Hellenic Republic was proclaimed in 1822, is known in Greece as Turkocracy (Greek: Τουρκοκρατία, romanized: Tourkokratia, lit. 'Turkish rule'). Some regions, like the Ionian islands and various temporary Venetian possessions of the Stato da Mar, were not incorporated in the Ottoman Empire. The Mani Peninsula in the Peloponnese was not fully integrated into the Ottoman Empire, but was under Ottoman suzerainty.

The Eastern Roman Empire, which ruled most of the Greek-speaking world for over 1100 years, had been fatally weakened since the Fourth Crusade of 1204. Having defeated the Serbs, the Ottomans captured Constantinople in 1453 and soon advanced southwards capturing Athens in 1456 and the Peloponnese in 1460. By the early 16th century, all of mainland Greece and most of the Aegean Islands were in Ottoman hands, excluding several port cities that were still held by the Venetians (notably Nafplio, Monemvasia, Parga and Methone). The mountains of Greece remained largely untouched and were a refuge for Greeks who desired to flee Ottoman rule and engage in guerrilla warfare. The Cyclades islands were annexed by the Ottomans in 1579, although they had been under vassal status since the 1530s. Cyprus fell in 1571, and the Venetians retained Crete until 1669. The Ionian Islands were never ruled by the Ottomans, with the exception of Kefalonia (from 1479 to 1481 and from 1485 to 1500), but remained under the rule of the Venice. It was in the Ionian Islands that modern Greek statehood was born, with the creation of the Republic of the Seven Islands in 1800.