thumb|upright=.85|The sortie (exodus) of Messolonghi, depicting the third siege of Missolonghi, painted by Theodoros Vryzakis In the 18th century, Greek merchants came to dominate trade within the Ottoman Empire, established communities throughout the Mediterranean, the Balkans, and Europe, and used their wealth to fund educational activities that brought younger generations into contact with Western ideas. In the 18th century, an increase in learning during the Modern Greek Enlightenment led to the emergence among Westernised Greek-speaking elites of the notion of a Greek nation. A secret organisation formed in this milieu was the Filiki Eteria, in 1814.. They engaged traditional strata of the Greek Orthodox world in their liberal nationalist cause.. For the crisis of maritime trade from 1815 onwards, see and .
thumb|upright=.85|The sortie (exodus) of Messolonghi, depicting the third siege of Missolonghi, painted by Theodoros Vryzakis In the 18th century, Greek merchants came to dominate trade within the Ottoman Empire, established communities throughout the Mediterranean, the Balkans, and Europe, and used their wealth to fund educational activities that brought younger generations into contact with Western ideas. In the 18th century, an increase in learning during the Modern Greek Enlightenment led to the emergence among Westernised Greek-speaking elites of the notion of a Greek nation. A secret organisation formed in this milieu was the Filiki Eteria, in 1814.. They engaged traditional strata of the Greek Orthodox world in their liberal nationalist cause.. For the crisis of maritime trade from 1815 onwards, see and .