The southern spur of Mount Taygetos extends between the Messenian and Laconian golfs, to form a promontory which ends in Cape Matapan (Akrotiti Tainaron), the southernmost point of the Greek mainland and the legendry entrance to Hades. This is the Mani Peninsula, a barren windswept landscape.
According to archeological excavations in the area, Mani has been inhabited since the Paleolithic era as evidenced by findings from human skeletons and human tools. At that time the whole peninsula was covered by sparse forests inhabited by dwarf elephants, rhinos, and hippos. Caves of the time, such as Alepotrypa Dirou, were inhabited by people in the 6th millennium BC and evolved into organized settlements. For the first time we find references to cities in the area (Kardamili, Oitylo, Gythion etc.) by Homer and the first inhabitants, according to the traveler Pausanias, were the Leleges who were enslaved to the Achaeans around 1600 BC. For the next centuries the history of Mani was identified with Sparta and its inhabitants were considered Lacedaemonians.
In the Byzantine years, during the colonization of the Slavs in the Peloponnese in the 7th AD. century, Slavs settled around Mani and mainly on the slopes of Taygetos. With the passage of time, with the influence of the Christian religion and mainly with the communication and mixing of the Slavic villages with the Greek inhabitants, after the Christianization, their Hellenization took place. The region became part of the Byzantine empire and after its decline the peninsula was fought over by the Byzantines, the Franks, and the Saracens. After the Fourth Crusade in 1204 AD, the Franks occupied the Peloponnese and created the Principality of Achaea. The area came under Byzantine rule again in 1262 AD, forming part of the Despotate of the Morea. In 1460 AD, after the fall of Constantinople, the Despotate came under Ottoman rule, but Mani was not subdued militarily, and retained its self-government in exchange for an annual tribute — although this was only paid once. Local chieftains or “beys,” governed Mani on behalf of the Ottomans.
The remoteness of Mani meant it was always a place of escape or refuge, and the families who settled here after the 15th century became very clan-like, fighting bitterly for the best areas of land sometimes confronting one on another in vendettas. In the absence of another policy of administrative unity, the state of Mani was feudal, and the number of fighting men listed by each family raised it to the social hierarchy. Every area had its leader and were hereditary, but whenever the male members of the clan were significantly reduced the title was passed in another clan and not always in a peaceful way.
These disputes explain why the houses and even the fields were fortified. Today there are about 800 Manion towers, some dating from the 17th century. Each belonged to a family and defended not only them, but from the whole clan, who usually lived in the surrounding houses. Guarding and rebuilding them, was the duty of the whole clan and it was never inherited by women, but by the closest male relatives. They are stone constructions, of average dimensions 5×5 meters, height from 10 to 20 m and have four to 5 floors. Depending on their size, they might be the entire house or just the fortified part, which rises through the walled courtyard. It was forbidden for the towers or the houses of the villages to have a door that was leading directly to the main square or an alley, for security reasons of both the owner and the passers-by. In order to enter the main entrance of the tower you had to know the way,through a labyrinthine network of walls. The doors were low and the windows non-existent on sides that someone could see inside the tower from the outside.
After the middle of the 16th century many Greeks practiced piracy on a local basis. The Mani pirates also appeared during this period. In 1570 AD they revolted against the Ottoman Empire and in addition to the Turkish castles which occupied, they also started piracy against Turkish merchant ships that were passing near their shores. It is reported by travelers that at night they tried to make misleading signals with lanterns on the passing ships in order to crash on their shores and loot them. Piracy was considered bravery and even the priests were supported it and benefiting financially. In the 17th century they were multiplied and more organized. They even hired Venetian ships, in order to be able to deal effectively with the Turks. In 1637 AD, the first incident of Mani pirates to travel to the southern Ionian Sea and practice piracy was recorded. After the middle of the 17th century, the people of Mani were a real scourge in the waters of the southern Peloponnese. Even the priests followed them in raids and spent a tenth of the booty for the church. Oitylo had become a place of sale of pirate booty and was called ‘Greater Algiers’ due to the frequency of pirates coming there. After 1673 AD the Turks managed to limit the Mani, when the migration of hundreds of families to Corsica and Tuscany began.
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