On January 5th 1523 the island was finally conquered by the Turks. Rhodes and Kos in contrast with other islands of Dodecanese suffered from heavy taxes. Kos became a province (kaimakamliki) of Rhodes. The people of Kos rallied round the Archbishop,
who officiated under the direct jurisdiction of the Ecumenical Patriarchate. Because of the outbreak of the Greek Revolution, the people of Kos were made to pay dearly. On July 11th 1821 the Turkish hung a lot of priests under the historical plane tree of Hippocrates in retaliation. According to a written testimony of the French traveler Pouqueville, the Turks decapitated 900 Christians. The citizens of Kos suffered a lot in August 1824 during the naval battle of Gerodas. It was only after 1838 that they were granted a few basic human and political rights. The most important sector of the economy of the citizens during the Turkish domination was agriculture.

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