History

The oldest settlement in Hydra is Mycenaean but we hadn't got many dates about this old History. We had the notice that it was seized by Hermione who sold it to Samos.

Although, apart of this, we only find silence, maybe due to its lack of water, until the 15th century when Hydra began to receive Albanians refugees as well as Orhodox Christians from Epirus, Crete, Evia, Kythnos and Asia Minor, but its naval prominence was reached in the 18th century when it was known as "Little England" because at that time Hydra controlled the sea transport throughout the Mediterranean. All of this was based in its powerful merchant fleet that Hydra began to acquire in the 17th century. Even during the Napoleonic Wars it was its fleet that broke the English blockades and when the Independence War started against the Turks this island was one of the most enthusiastic contributors with ship and supplies.

Before the independence this island didn't receive an fair deal. The economic crisis hadn't received the New Government attention so the immigration was the only solution that its inhabitants could find. It was a sad end for the population of 30000 and 150 vessels just before the Independence War. Nevertheless, another period of prosperity came to the island with the spongefishing years from the end of the 19th century to 1932. But after this the emigration again took the young people from Hydra until 1950s when this island was discovered to the tourism. At the beginning, it was Henry Miller's Collossus of Marousi the guilty of bringing there the first tourists, but slowly Hydra was more than the scenery of a book and it had personality by itself.