1 October 2026
History Special
Mykonos through the ages
Timeline of the Major Transformations, from Neolithic to the present
Mykonos has repeatedly changed its relationship with the world beyond its shores. Farming, the neighbouring sanctuary of Delos, maritime trade and tourism each gave that relationship a different shape. These selected turning points offer a way to read the island beyond its familiar seaside image.
c. 5000–4500 BC
An island of settled communities
At Ftelia, excavated houses, hearths and tools reveal an organised Neolithic settlement. Its inhabitants combined cultivation and animal husbandry with gathering and fishing. The island's earliest documented life already connected land and sea.
Late 15th–14th centuries BC
A Mycenaean connection
The tholos tomb at Angelika provides evidence of a Mycenaean presence. Its architecture and finds place Mykonos within a wider prehistoric Aegean, well before the classical cities and the later fame of Delos.
Archaic–Hellenistic periods
Two cities, one important neighbour
Ancient Mykonos had two cities, associated with Chora and Palaikastro at Ano Mera. Agricultural and livestock supplies linked it to Delos. The sacred island's prosperity depended partly on the productive landscape across the water.
1207–1390
Into the Venetian sphere
After the Fourth Crusade, Mykonos passed to the Ghisi family in 1207. Direct Venetian jurisdiction followed in 1390. These changes placed the island inside a new network of Aegean power and maritime interests.
1537 and the Ottoman centuries
Conquest and a maritime livelihood
Barbarossa's conquest in 1537 opened the Ottoman chapter. Shipping became an important livelihood in the centuries that followed. The sea offered routes for commerce while also exposing island communities to conflict and piracy.
1821–1830
The struggle for independence
Mykonos contributed ships and resources to the Greek Revolution. Manto Mavrogenous financed vessels and became a leading figure of the island's resistance. The decade brought a change in political belonging, towards the independent Greek state.
Late 19th century
A changing sea; a rediscovered Delos
Steam navigation and migration weakened the island's sailing economy. Meanwhile, systematic excavations on Delos began in 1873. Maritime livelihoods were changing as archaeology gave the neighbouring island a new place in international research and travel.
Post-war decades
Tourism changes the scale
Tourism expanded after the Second World War. Mykonos increasingly became a destination in its own right. Accommodation, hospitality and visitor services reshaped the island's economy and its relationship with international arrivals.
Late 20th century–today
The destination and the living island
The airport's repeated expansion since 1971 illustrates the changing scale of access. Today's Mykonos combines international tourism with a landscape that remains under pressure. Its next transformation raises a continuing question: how can a place welcome the world while sustaining the life that made it distinctive?