Spinalonga

The history started in the ninth century, when the Saracens (Arabs) conquered Crete for a period of 138 years. Historical evidences are for instance, that during this occupation the island was a save refuge for the Christians of Crete and at that time the Christians build here a small fortress for their safety.
In 1204 the Venetians occupied Crete until 1715. They build several fortresses around the island of Crete in fear for attacks from the sea. The fortress of Spinalonga was built in 1538, when the Turkish fleet under the command of Barbaros Hayrettin Pasha, later know as the pirate Barbarossa, attacked Crete. The building of the fortress would take until 1649. The purpose of this fortification was to protect the Venetian fleet in the military harbour of Elounda. In 1649 the Turkish Ottoman Empire tried for the second time to conquer Crete and this time they succeeded.
The island, according to a peace treaty between the Venetians and the Turks kept its sovereignty until 1715, when general Kapudan Pasha, commander of the occupying forces, who couldn’t accept this sovereignty sieges Spinalonga for several years and in 1715 it fell in the hands of the Turks.
It is known that the name Spinalonga is an Italian Venetian name. The original name in Greek was Stin Elounda. According the historians the name Spinalonga was given because of the resemblance of an island in Venice called Spinalunga.

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