Pre-history, antiquity, and the Byzantine Era
There is evidence of farmers and herders from the second half of the third millennium BCE, on the small flat areas that are not visible from the sea. Obsidian from Milos has also been found. During the Helladic period, Hydra probably served as a maritime base for the kingdoms on the Greek peninsula. Fragments of vases, tools, and the head of an idol have been found on Mount Chorissa.
The large-scale Dorian invasion of Greece around the 12th Century BCE appears to have resulted in a depopulation of the island. Hydra was repopulated by farmers and herders, perhaps sailing from the mainland port of Ermioni, in the 8th Century BCE. Herodotus reports that towards the 6th Century BCE, the island belonged to Ermioni, which sold it to Samos. Samos, in turn, ceded it to Tizina.
For much of the past, Hydra has stayed on the margins of history. The population was very small in ancient times, and except for the brief mentions in Herodotus and Pausanias, has left little or no record in the history of those times.
It is clear that Hydra was populated during the Byzantine Era, as vases and coins have been discovered in the area of Episkopi. However, it appears that the island again lost its population during the Latin Empire of Constantinople as the inhabitants fled the pirate depredations. On other islands, inhabitants moved inland, something that was essentially impossible on Hydra.
Between 1204-1566 it belonged to Venice. From 1566 to 1821 (nominally 1829), it was part of the Ottoman Empire.
In the sixteenth century, the island began to be settled by refugees, Greek and Albanian, due to the warfare between the Ottomans and Venetians. The Arvanites' presence was evident until the mid-20th century, when according to T. Jochalas the majority of the island's population was composed of Arvanites. The island is known in Arvanitika as Nίδρα.
The period of commercial and naval
