Zante’s multi-cultural character was shaped throughout its history. Starting from the first inhabitants during the Neolithic Age, this island has known various rulers such as the legendary Odysseus of Ithaca, the Ancient Athenian Democracy, the Roman Empire, the Byzantine Empire and the Venetian Republic through the renaissance. Later for a period of roughly 70 years French, Russians and English succeeded power over the island until 1864 21st of May, when Zante was united, as well as the rest of the Ionian Islands, with Greece.
