Andros has been inhabited since the Neolithic era, as attested by the prehistoric settlement of Strofilas with its rock carvings. In the Geometric period the fortified settlement of Zagora flourished, while in antiquity Paleopolis developed into a powerful maritime city that founded colonies in Chalkidiki (Akanthos, Stageira). The island particularly worshipped Dionysus, with the legend of a spring that flowed with wine.
In Roman and Byzantine times Andros became known for its silk production. After the Fall of Constantinople, in 1207 the Venetian Marino Dandolo received the island as a fief from Marco Sanudo, founder of the Duchy of the Aegean; the Kato Kastro was built in Chora, along with the Epano Kastro inland and towers in the countryside.
In 1566 Andros passed to the Ottoman Empire, retaining privileges and a living religious and educational tradition. A great figure of modern history was the scholar and revolutionary Theophilos Kairis, while the island took an active part in the 1821 Revolution and was incorporated into the Greek state.
In the 19th and 20th centuries Andros produced great shipowning families (Goulandris, Empeirikos, Polemis, Moraitis) that made the island one of the country's greatest maritime powers. Their wealth left behind neoclassical mansions, institutions, schools and the important Museum of Contemporary Art, establishing Andros as an island of culture and maritime grandeur.