 around 1500-1600 BC.
The island was then conquered by the King Arkeisios of Kefalonia.
The famous Ulysses (Odysseus in Greek) from Ithaca was the next King to conquer the island.
Later on, a treaty was signed that made Zakynthos an independent democracy, the first established in the Hellenic area, and that lasted more than 650 years.
Because of the strategic position of the island was located and its very fertile land, its inhabitants quickly became quite wealthy and established various colonies in Crete, Paros, (a Cycladic island) and even in Spain.
In the 5th century, during the Persian Wars, Zakynthos remained neutral and during the Peloponnesian War took part in the Athenian Alliance.
When the Alliance was dissolved after the Athenian defeat in the expedition against Sicily, Zakynthos came under the Lacedaemonian rule, which established an oligarchy on the island and ended the democracy. Later on the inhabitants of Zakynthos organised a revolution and managed to restore their democratic political system.
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In the beginning of the Roman domination, a proconsul organised the administration of the island according to the Roman laws. Later Zakynthos gained some autonomy but had to pay an annual tax to the Romans and to send soldiers to the Roman legion.
The islanders had the freedom to establish their own laws and had their own municipality, parliament and coins.
For Zakynthos and its inhabitants, the Roman times were a period of great material and cultural development.
Around 34 AD, Christianity arrived on the island and became dominant in the second half of the 3rd century AD during the rise of the Byzantine Empire created by Constantine the Great.
Then, the island of Zakynthos, along with the other Ionian Islands fell under Venetian and Frank domination, followed by the rule of the King of Naples and the Prince of Florence.
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The French managed again to take Zakynthos and the rest
of the Ionians, followed by the English who stayed on
the island from 1814 to 1864.
The French managed to regain Zakynthos and the rest of the Ionians, followed by the English who remained on the island from 1814 to 1864; during their domination, the English modernised and developed the administration and public works on the island.
Even having escaped the Ottoman yoke, Zakynthos, with the other Ionian Islands, helped the rest of Greece to organise and achieve the Revolution for Independence against the Turks.
Zakynthos and the other Ionian Islands were reunited to the rest of the newly formed and finally independent Greek State on the 21st of May, 1864. Many of these historical moments along with different artifacts have been recorded in the Town Hall Library. |
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