Duchy of the Archipelago

The Duchy of the Archipelago, also called the Duchy of Naxos, was a maritime state founded in 1207 by the Venetian nobleman Marco Sanudo in the aftermath of the Fourth Crusade. Sanudo captured Naxos with eight galleys borrowed from the Venetian Arsenal and soon brought most of the Cyclades under his rule, except Mykonos and Tinos. He acknowledged the authority of the Latin Empire rather than becoming a vassal of Venice, and divided the islands into fiefs among his followers. The duchy was centred on Naxos and Paros and became a base of Western rule and Catholic dioceses in the Aegean. A Venetian duke continued to govern the islands under Ottoman suzerainty after 1537, and the local archbishopric of Naxos long remained Catholic. In 1537 it became a tributary of the Ottoman Empire, and it was annexed by the Ottomans in 1579; Christian rule survived on Sifnos until 1617 and on Tinos until 1715. The capital was Naxos.