SYMI – facts and questions about development in population, production and living conditions. ed. 4, 2019/2024

Over the centuries, Symi gained wealth by agriculture, shipbuilding, trade, seafaring, wreck-regaining, sponge fishing. At the end of the 19th century between 22.000 and 30.000 inhabitants (different figures have been provided) earned their living in the island.

How many in each of the trades? Only partially known. Role distribution between genders? Unknown. We can see by the size of ruined houses on the waterfront and along the Kali Strata that a number of very wealthy families have dominated parts of the society.

A study (Arzu Baykara Taşkaya 2022) tells that sponge fishing has played at role in the middle age but increasingly has replaced agriculture in 18-19^th century, especially after introduction of diving-bell and diving-suit after 1860’es. The machinery gave rise to conflict: Some traditional divers destroyed moderne machinery and raided workshops for machinery. The air supply to divers made it possible to stray under water for longer time and expanded the spongefishing season to an almost round-the-year activity. Also a new technique: trawling sponges from the seabed came into use, with harmful effects on the seabed – and with government (both turkish and greek government) legislation against the use of such tools. Environment protection in 1906!

The study deals in some details with the very tight regulation of sponge-fishing and taxation – telling that the industry was profitabelt not only for those who carried it out, but to the government as well.

In the end of 19^th century 5 or 6 very rich families dominated the Symi spongefishing and sponge selling industry, whereas the spongefishermen’s families lived in poverty. The sponge fishing in summer and sponge selling abroad in the winter. The study mentions that Kalymnos had 254 and Symi 190 sponge-fishing vessels (end 19^th cent.)

The same study mentions that as early as 1716 a considerable wreck-regaining industry has existed, regaing material for the sultan’s government.

But what of the other economic classes?

Today’s view of the landscape reveals large areas of terraced mountains-slopes, where wheat, wine, olive trees and other produce can have been cultivated. The mills in Chorio tell about large scale grain-milling, probably to deliver the flour for biscuit-baking to support long distance sponge-fishing. But biscuits has not been the only meals for the sponge fishermen! Did the islanders supply salted or dried or fresh meat for their ships crews? If not – who else?

Very many wine press stones are found around Symi, and texts tell about the famous sweet and strong white wine of Symi. Was grape growing and -harvesting an activity which was compatible with summer-spongefishing and/or division of labor between home-staying women and sailing men? For which market was wine produced? And when did that industry die out?

Did the farming people live up near the fields? How many? Or – did they normally live down on the coast and walk to the fileds to work the terasses?

So – did the Symiots produce all their basic foodstuff? Or did they import smaller or larger parts of it? From where? Part of the answer may be: rich symiotes owned cultivated estates in Asia Minor, but lost those properties as consequence of Italian occupation in 1912,

It appears that Symi was an important harbour on the east-west trade in the Mediterrenean Sea, but lost importance when ironbuilt steamers with large carrying capacity substituted sailing freighters from ca 1900. At large: Which were the trade-and-exchange-relations between Symiots and the (greek-ottoman) people on the Asia Minor coast?

The famous Symi shipbuilding industry called for timber. The study mentions some timber import from Lebanon. Did the shipbuliding industry decrease because of lack of timber because of deforestation in Symi? Or because of iron replacing the role of timber in shipbuilding? If de-forestation – in which periods?

How was production and society organised? Were the mills owned by single millers, or was the mill-industry organised on a collective basis?

Were the trade ships and sponge ships owned by single ship owners or by an large-scale shipowners, with captains and crew as employees? – or by island-community? The songe-selling in Marseille and London – and the fine sponges delivered to the Sultan, as part of the sultan Suleiman the Great’s privilege – were they organised by a divers’ organisation? By a few rich merchants? or were they bought by the island community from individual sponge-shippers?

We know about the emigration and de-population, which started/accelerated after the Italian occupation in 1912. All the texts I have found say “After the Italian occupation, the population declined”.

The occupation per se seems to me a poor explanation. But policies in its wage?

But perhaps: late I was told that the Italian government banned sponge fishing out of Symi during ww I, after which Calymnos took the lead in that industry. I have not found written documentation of this – but it may have been a severe blow to Symiot’s employment. (2020)

Were the subsistence possibilities severed by a break in trade relations to the coast-people of Asia Minor because of the occupation? Because of ethnic cleansing during World War I and the following years (the 1923 “population exchange”)? Which parts of the island industries declined in which periods? Was there a decline in seamen’s employment due to change in seafaring technology, including the reduction in crews as a result of declining sailship transportation and change to steamers? How early started the change of commercial trade routes?

When did population stabilisation occur?

When did the growth in tourist industry occur? I have read that Aliki Hotel dates back to 1896 and Albatros Hotel to 1916 – which tells a bit about upper-class tourism early. Was there other, until the tourist agencies Symi Tours and Kaladoukos opent ca 1976, (2 years after the fall of military dictatorship). When did Sotiris and Triton start their service? Which others joined in when?

The broad questions apply to other Dodecanese islands as well – the decline in population in Kastellorizo is an impressive example.

My 40 years as a faithful Symi-visitor have raised quite some “Why”-questions, of which only some have as yet been answered by texts I have been able to find.

I will be grateful to those who will help me to find answers to the questions. References in Danish, English, Deutsch will be fine. Greek will be at challenge for me and Google Translator!

I assume that other Symi-friends would like to have access to such answers as well – and I intend to make such answers available – elaborating on the above article – on this homepage and wherever other people may like to reproduce them.

Lately I was tempted to put up the question: has the Greek-Turkish divide made it be too “politically inconvenient” for history-writers to say: Symi’s and other Dodekanese islands were rich due to our relations to the Ottoman Empire – and we became poor, when we were conquered out of those relations and into the West European (Italian) system in 1912. That question may carry a bit of an analogy to the present situation, dominated by “Merkel-ian” austerity.

Viggo Jonasen

retired lecturer

www.viggojonasen.dk – viggojonasen@gmail.com

0045 61712219

1) Journal of Universal History Studies (JUHIS) • 5(1) • June • 2022 • An Island Skilled in Sponge Hunting “Symi”(1786 -1909) Arzu Baykara Taşkaya Dumlupınar University, Social Sciences Vocational School, Kütahya, Turkey. The study tels that second to Kalymnos (254 boats) Symi (190 boats) is the largest in sponge hunting island.

2) Cuinet,Vital (1892), LaTurquieD’AiseParis,Volume1,E.Leroux,Paris

3) opslag Harani shipyard (2008) ca 1900: Symi flåde 600 skibe. Og: They were also excellent sponge divers and created companies based in Symi, with branch offices in London, Paris, Minor Asia and Egypt.

4) Carry On Up The Kali Strata, more thoughts from a Greek island by James Collinshttps://symidream.com/other/history.htm

Between 1994 and 1995, local author Sarantis Kritikos personally rebuilt eleven of these wine presses. In his book, ‘The stone wine presses of Symi’ Sarantis mentions some interesting information:
There are more than 130 stone wine presses on Symi. In Homeric times it was known that Symi produced wine. The ‘Byzantine’ wine presses, as they are called locally, are found in the cypress forests in the southern lowland (Ambeli) around Sotiri tou Magalou and stretch across to Kourkouniotis. There are approximately 47 here but only one or two are still standing.

The ‘must’ was transferred from here in a small vessel to a larger one. This collection point (according to the author’s source, Yiorgos Zouroudis) was called the ‘linos’. ‘Linos’ was also a word used in the context of wine presses in ancient times. ‘Linea’ festivals honoured Dionysius.

Cristofero Buondelmonti (who visited in 1420) mentions the ‘very good’ wine made on the island.l