Zakynthos History

Zakynthos is often referred to as “Il fiori di Levante”, or in other words: the flower of the east. The island is named after the son of Dardanos, the king of Troi. In Romand times Zakynthos was part of the province of Achaia. When Constantine the Great erected the Byzantine empire, Zakynthos belonged to the province of Illyrien. After that it fell into different hands for several times and it was ruled by (amongst others) the Turks, the Venetiand, the French, the Brittish and finally at the 21st of May 1864 it was reunited with Greece. The patron saint of the island is Dionisios, who was born here in 1547 and died in 1622. In 1953 Zakynthos was hit by a severe earthquacke with an total about 120 quackes, which destroyed about 70% of the island. The most important church of the island Zakynthos, the "Agios Dionisios" was fortunately spared.

© Hans Huisman, https://www.angelfire.com/super2/greece/ 2014