Greek Islands of the Aegean Sea

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The Aegean Islands and can divided into several island groups, including the Dodecanese, the Cyclades, the Sporades, the Saronic islands and the North Aegean Islands, as well as Crete and its surrounding islands.

The Dodecanese, located to the southeast, include Rhodes, Kos, Symi, Patmos and further south Karpathos. They are the furthest island group from Greek mainland and lie just off the Turkish coast.

The islands of Delos, Ios, Paros, Mykonos and Naxos, Santorini and Milos are within the Cyclades to the south of the sea.

Lesbos is part of the North Aegean Islands as is Samos.

The Aegean Sea has been historically important to the civilization of Ancient Greece, which inhabited the area around the coast of the Aegean and the Aegean islands. The Aegean islands facilitated contact between the people of the area and between Europe and Asia.

The Romans conquered the area under the Roman Empire, and later the Byzantine Empire. The Fourth Crusade weakened Byzantine control of the area, and it was eventually conquered by the Ottoman Empire, with the exception of Crete, which was a Venetian colony until 1669 when it too was taken over by the Ottomans

The Greek War of Independence allowed a Greek state on the coast of the Aegean from 1829 onwards. The Ottoman Empire held a presence over the sea for over 500 years until it was replaced by modern Turkey.