Today we do not have precise scientifically validated data on when olive cultivation reached Messinia.

However, we know that during the Mycenaean period, some 3,200-3,600 years ago, olive oil was already one of the primary products of the agricultural economy of that era in Messinia. Excavations at the Palace of Nestor in Upper Englianos confirm this.

With the decline of Mycenaean civilization and the upheaval in the Greek Middle Ages that followed, it was necessary to reach the Greek Renaissance, marked by the creation of cities and the peak of classical Greek culture, to find historical evidence of olive cultivation and oil production in the Peloponnese and Messinia, as well as throughout Greece.

This does not mean that olive cultivation ceased during the period of the Greek Middle Ages.

Historians state that during the Classical and Hellenistic periods, olive oil production in the Peloponnese and Messinia showed a continuous increase within the context of the times. However, there was a decline during the millennium of the late Roman and early Byzantine periods.

The change in political and socio-economic conditions after the 10th century AD was accompanied by a stable and significant increase in olive cultivation and oil production in Messinia.

From the 11th century onwards, with the development of Italian maritime empires, Koroni and Methoni became ports from which Italian merchants exported significant quantities of olive oil to the West, among other goods.

In the 12th century (1191), the English chronicler Abbot Benedict of Peterborough mentioned that in the vicinity of Koroni, “there were so many olive trees that in his opinion, there was no other place in the world with such abundance of oil.”

Similarly, in other areas of Messinia, there was developed olive cultivation, as evidenced by the “Chronicle of Morea” from the same period, referring to the conflict in the olive groves of Koundoura in the Messinian plain, where the Crusaders defeated the Byzantines and prevailed in Messinia.

There are abundant historical records from the 11th and 12th centuries attesting to the interest of Italian maritime empires in the olive oil trade from the ports of Koroni and Methoni.

After their arrival in Messinia in the early 13th century, the Venetians implemented an agricultural policy to strengthen olive cultivation in the occupied areas.

Thus, by the 14th century, Messinia became the most olive-growing region of the Peloponnese.

Historical testimonies confirm that the increased demand for olive oil, driven by the development of Italian maritime empires and the proto-capitalist period that accompanied it, continued into the last century (the 15th century) of the first Venetian rule, resulting in further growth of olive cultivation in Messinia and the establishment of Koroni and Methoni (later along with Navarino) as the largest commercial and export centers of the Peloponnese (the eyes of the Galenotates).

After the handover of the Peloponnese from Demetrius Palaeologus (1460) to the Ottoman Empire, the next decades were under its control, including the territories of Venetian dominance and, together with them, a significantly developed olive cultivation in Messinia, which the Ottomans utilized, reinforcing its developmental trend under the pressure of ever-increasing European demand.

In the two centuries of the first Turkish rule (16th and 17th centuries), Koroni and Methoni remained almost exclusive centers of trade and export of olive oil, which, with the cessation of the Venetian monopoly, opened to other European countries (England and France).

During the same period, olive cultivation must have expanded in the rest of Messinia at the expense of other crops: wheat, etc.

In the second half of the 16th century, the most olive-producing regions of the Peloponnese (the olive groves of Methoni, Koroni, and Mystras) were joined by the olive grove of Kalamata.

It is noteworthy that Suleiman the Magnificent dedicated a special article in his tax law to exploit and strengthen the olive cultivation of Methoni, which had a significant oil production.

Thus, with the recapture of the Messinian castles from Morosini (1686), the Venetians found a relatively flourishing olive cultivation in Messinia.

To such an extent that in the province of Koroni, they distributed, from the confiscated properties of the Turks, 107,000 olive trees (compared to 22,000 in Nafplion), among which were two olive groves with a total of 2,760 trees in Charakopio (Nani archive).

Venetian chronicler Marin Michiel reports that in the area of Koroni there were abundant olive groves producing “exceptionally high-quality oil.”

He also mentions that he counted 112 olive presses in all of Venetian-controlled Peloponnese. While other contemporary sources mention that only in the province of Koroni there were active 70-72 olive presses. This indicates the spread of intensive olive cultivation in southern Messinia and the appreciation of the quality of its oil.

There are plentiful historical sources from the second Venetian rule (1686-1715) certifying both the increased dimensions of olive oil production in Messinia during the first Turkish rule, as well as the developmental olive agricultural policies of the Venetians.

From the Nani archive, we learn that in 1704, olive oil production in Venetian Messinia amounted to 16,139 barrels (perhaps around 1,000 tons), compared to the total Peloponnesian production of 19,159 barrels.

Even more importantly, from the 16,139 barrels, production in Koroni amounted to 8,000, Methoni to 3,012, Navarino to 2,007, Kyparissia to 1,820, and Zarnata to 1,300 barrels.

Thus, it confirms the weight that the region of Koroni and Methoni had, with 70% of the production, in the olive cultivation of Messinia in the early 18th century.

This explains the reasons for the development and spread of the Koroneiki variety of olive.

This is also a testament to human experience, skill, and the longstanding culture of the region, expressed in all phases of the olive oil production chain: cultivation, olive oil pressing, storage, and trade.

It is no coincidence that in the same region of the eastern Messinian coast, until the 1950s, the skill of traditional pottery (whose roots date back to the Mycenaean period) for the production of containers intended for olive oil storage, developed and remained. This too is an important evidence of the existence of a long-standing socio-economic fabric based on olive culture.

The British, after their departure in 1715, left in Modon an olive-growing plantation based on monoculture.

During this period, Venetian agricultural policy caused the booming of olive cultivation in the Peloponnese, centered heavily around the regions of Koroni and Methoni, and its spread to the rest of Messenia, up to Kyparissia according to historical sources.

With the beginning of the second Turkish rule, olive oil trade once again fell into the hands of other European countries, particularly the English and French.

During this phase, southern Messenia maintained its leading role in olive cultivation and trade. Indeed, in the mid-18th century, many commercial houses settled in Koroni, Methoni, and Navarino, dealing in oil, of which only around fifteen were French.

The growth of textile production in Europe during the proto-industrial capitalist phase required soap production, significantly boosting the demand for oil and thus commercial competition.

Thus, in 1729, local Turks established a powerful trading company in Koroni that bought all the oils of the region. Greek merchants also joined in. By the late 18th century, intense local competition significantly reduced the role of French traders.

This event prompted the reaction of French diplomatic circles operating in the region against the attempt by Sarandos Papadopoulos to establish a soap factory in Koroni, supported by French industrialists. This was because it would raise the price of oil in the region. The attempt failed.

An increase in the price of oil also occurred in Crete with the development of local soap-making.

It should be noted that this event led to the relocation of French interests to the Peloponnese, particularly Koroni.

Oil exports from the Peloponnese interested all Europeans: Venetians, Ionian Greeks, English, French, Ragusans, Croats, etc.

The Croats were the first to settle in Kalamata in the second half of the 18th century and specialized in the oil of Mani, which they exported to Germany.

Thus began the role of Kalamata and its port in the oil trade, which prevailed in the Messenian region, only after about a century, with the creation of the Greek State.

According to an anonymous French document from 1796, total oil production in the Peloponnese amounted to 43,400 barrels. Of these, Messenia produced 32,000 barrels, of which 13,500 barrels came from Koroni alone, 8,000 from Mani, 4,000 from Kyparissia, 3,000 from Kalamata, 2,000 from Methoni, and 1,500 from Navarino.

In the first half of the 19th century, southern Messenia held the scepter of oil production. It is no coincidence that Ibrahim’s anger erupted there to quell the revolution by burning over 60,000 olive trees.

The industrial revolution that followed spread throughout Europe, significantly increasing the demand for agricultural raw materials.

This demand, along with the creation of the Greek state and the transformation of Kalamata into the administrative center of Messenia, along with the primitive level of land transport, favored the rise of Kalamata’s port as the main port of Messenia, which burdened not only Messenia but also Laconia and Arcadia.

The flow, the river, of Messenian oil that had its outlets in the ports of southern Messenia and from there took the waterway to Europe, changed direction by opening new outlets in the Gulf of Kalamata.

However, the oil remained the same.

Therefore, all commercial and export activity was concentrated there, and the decline of the ports of southern Messenia (Koroni, Methoni, and Navarino) came.

However, the industrial revolution also changed the characteristics of the market.

The developed capitalist market, increasingly competitive, led to heightened attention from commercial entities and the consuming public towards the quality of products.

This is the source of the name of origin “Kalamata,” which became more established, referring more to edible olives and by extension to oil.

And this is no coincidence because the imposition of this name of origin coincided with a new phase of trade, an expression of the reordering of crops in Messenia and the Peloponnese and throughout the nascent Greek state.

The nascent Greek state was deficient in oil throughout the 19th century, while in many areas such as Messenia, competitive growth in raisin cultivation, which required more employment, was at the expense of olive cultivation, uprooting the olive trees. This phenomenon was not reduced even with the great crisis of raisin production in 1893.

Thus, exports from the port of Kalamata saw raisins and figs in the first place, not oil.

Therefore, we must arrive at the last post-war years when the great technological changes in agricultural crops, first, the swelling of migration (external and internal) and finally the entry into the European Union, created the conditions that would turn Messenia into an immense olive grove.

A silver-embroidered carpet – a product of ten centuries of struggle, sweat, experience, culture – that offers all our senses (even hearing, when olives become flutes in the hands of the maestro) except for the chromatic comfort of it. the caressing softness of Messenian oil known as Kalamata.

Some wanted to keep a corner of the carpet and throw the rest into the sea of the world market.

But… better late than never.