Ottomans and became an important way station for Armenian and other pilgrims en route to the Holy Land, as well as a place of rest for travellers and Catholicoi and other clergymen from Cilicia and Jerusalem. Contrary to the Latins and the Maronites, Armenians – being Oriental Orthodox rather than Catholic – were not persecuted because of their religion by the Ottomans. Even though about 20,000 Armenians lived in Cyprus during the very first years of the Ottoman Era, by 1630 only 2,000 Armenians remained, out of a total of 56,530 inhabitants. In the Bedesten, there were many Armenian merchants and in the late 18th century/early 19th century Nicosia's leading citizen was an Armenian trader called Sarkis, who was a "beratli" and was initially the dragoman for the French Consul, before becoming the dragoman for the English Consul. Gifted with the acumen of industry, Armenians practised lucrative professions and in the beginning of the 17th century Persian Armenians settled in Cyprus as silk traders, as did some affluent Ottoman-Armenians in the 18th and 19th centuries, such as Boghos-Berge Agha Eramian. However, with the new order of things, the number of Armenians and other Christians dramatically declined due to the onerous taxation and the harshness of the Ottoman administration, compelling many Christians to become Linobambaki, Crypto-Christians, which explains why former Armenian villages were inhabited by Turkish-Cypriots at the end of the 19th century. A few Armenian-Cypriots became Catholics through marriage with affluent Roman Catholic families. Gradually, after the bloody 1821 events, the Ottomans destroyed the Armenian and Greek mansions, prohibited Greeks, Franks, Armenians and Maronites from carrying guns and hanged or massacred 470 notables, amongst them the Armenian parish priest of Nicosia, der Bedros, some improvements were observed during the Tanzimat period. In the spirit of the Hatt-ı Şerif of Gülhane, the Armenian Bishop, the Greek Archbishop and the Maronite Suffragan Bishop participated in the Administrative Council, which was formed in 1840. After 1850, some Armenians were employed in the civil service, while in 1860 the Notre Dame de Tyre became amongst the first in Cyprus to have a belfry. Additionally, the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869 benefited the Armenian and other merchants of the island, while in 1870 the first Armenian school was established in Nicosia by newly arrived Archimandrite Vartan Mamigonian. Furthermore, as a result of the Hatt-ı Hümayun in 1856, the administrative autonomy of the Armenian