The history of Andros begins before 3,000 BC. The island took its name from Andros, the grandson of Apollo or Dionysus, who first inhabited the island. Andros then left the island after a rebellion of its inhabitants and founded the city of Andandros in Troad.
There is another version for the name of the island, according to which the name Andros probably comes from general Andros from Crete, a mythical inhabitant of the Minoan period. The first inhabitants of the island are said to be the Pelasgians and the Kares, who were succeeded by the Phoenicians, the Cretans and finally the Ionians. As far as the archaeological data is concerned, at the end of the Neolithic period (4th millennium BC) the important organized settlements of Strophylla in the western part of the island and Mikrogiali on the north-eastern coast include Andros in the Cycladic cultural phases of Saliago, Antiparos and Kefala of Kea.
During the Proto-Cycladic and Middle-Cycladic period (3000-1600 BC) the strategically important and naturally fortified settlement of Plaka flourished on the west coast, connected to the modern settlements of Phylakopi in Milos, Agia Irini in Kea and Akrotiri in Thira .The archaeological excavations prove the existence of developed settlements from the Mycenaean times. Also from the Mycenaean period (1400 - 1200 BC) we have finds in the areas of Agios Petros, Paleopolis, Korthiou. During the early and middle Bronze Age, three settlements in the areas of Mikrogiali, Plaka and Strofila experienced particular prosperity.
The island comes to the fore of history during the Geometric Period, a period of special prosperity of Andros (10th-8th century BC), as evidenced by traces of a fortified settlement preserved in Zagora, on the SW coast of the island near Zaganiari. A fortified and powerful settlement of the same period, built on a hill on the west coast, was the High.
The capital of Andros during the classical era was Paleopolis, which had an acropolis and main town, a fertile hinterland and natural harbors. The prosperity of this period is shown by the coins minted and found in the excavations. The series of numerous coins together with Hermes of Andros, an impressive statue of the same period, are housed in the Archaeological Museum in Chora.
In the 7th century BC Andros participated in the First Colonization, establishing important colonies in Chalkidiki, such as Stageira (place of origin of Aristotle), Akantho and Argillo. During the Persian wars, Andros fought on the side of the Persians, as a result of which the Athenians besieged it (unsuccessfully) to punish her. He joined the First Athenian Alliance and supported the Athenians in the Peloponnesian War. Until 393 BC, when the Athenians declared the island independent, it was claimed by Athenians and Spartans. In the 4th c. BC during the Macedonian expansion into the Cyclades, Andros belonged to the Common of the Islanders. During the reign of Alexander the Great's successors, the island was incorporated into the Ptolemaic kingdom until 199 BC, when the new rulers of the Aegean, the Romans, awarded it to the kingdom of Pergamon and then Attalus I ceded it to Rome (133 BC).
During the Roman times, the religion of Isis prevailed in Andros, whose worship and mysteries were performed in Andros with great splendor (according to the found hymn of the goddess). This epigraphical monument was until 1987 embedded in the house of Ioannis Loucrezis in Paleopolis, from where it was transferred to the Community Store.
In Early Byzantine times (4th-6th centuries AD) it was part of the Islands Province of the Byzantine Empire, while after the 7th century it was included in the administrative Theme of the Aegean Sea. The development of silk-making during the time of the Komnenian Empire (11th-12th century) was the main pole of the island's economic development, turning Andros into a center for the export of silk, velvet and cobweb fabrics to the West.
From the 11th century AD the Byzantine-style churches, such as Taxiarchis in Ypsilou, temples in Melida and Messaria and the Dormition of the Virgin in Mesathuri are dated. In the 14th century, the monastery of Agia (Zoodochos Pigi) was founded near Batsi, while the monastery of Agios Nikolaos was founded in 1560 and rebuilt in the 18th century. The monastery of Panahrantou was founded in the middle of the 17th century. In Agia Triada in Korthi, the first pre-revolutionary school of Andros was housed since 1813, founded by Samuel Plasimis, and which has an independent building that housed the teachers as well as an important library. In the Medieval period, the island was hit by the raids of the Saracens , without however interrupting the cultural activity. Following along with the other Aegean islands the fate of the mainland, it was successively occupied by the Venetians and the Ottomans.
With the fall of Constantinople from the Franks (1204), Andros was granted to the nephew of the Doge of Venice, Marino Dandolo, who developed the Lower Castle of the present-day city of Andros. how there was a mass relocation of Albanian-speaking populations from Attica and Evia to the island, mainly in its northern part. In 1566 the Ottomans occupied the island. During the Ottoman rule, Andros enjoyed privileged treatment, which ensured a relative economic prosperity. In the 1770s, Andros came under Russian rule during the Russian operations in the Aegean in the context of the Russo-Turkish war.
On May 10, 1821, Theophilos Kairis, one of the pioneers of the Neo-Hellenic Enlightenment, raised the banner of the Revolution and thus began the newer history of the island, during which Andros found itself at the pinnacle of its economic prosperity, thanks to its strong shipping. It is worth noting here that Andriotis Dimitris Moraitis inaugurated the Greece - North America line at the beginning of the 20th century, while in 1939 Andros was second, after Piraeus, in number of registered ships.

Source: Municipality of Andros
http://www.andros.gr/