[4] At the village of Apoikia, there is the notable spring of Sariza, where the water flows from a sculpted stone lion's head.

During the Final Neolithic, Andros had a fortified village on its west coast, which archaeologists have named Strofilas [de], after the plateau on which it was built.

Strofilas is also notable for rock carvings on its walls, which include animals such as jackals, goats, deer, fish and dolphins, as well as a depiction of a flotilla of ships.

[7] About 1km to the southeast along the coastline, also can be found the site of Zagora (Andros) [de], another ancient settlement of a later Geometric period.

The ruins of Palaeopolis, the ancient capital, are on the west coast; the town possessed a famous temple, dedicated to Dionysus.

Though enrolled in the Delian League, it remained disaffected towards Athens, and in 477 had to be coerced by the establishment of a cleruchy on the island; nevertheless, in 411 Andros proclaimed its freedom, and in 408 withstood an Athenian attack.

In the Hellenistic period, Andros was contended for as a frontier-post by the two naval powers of the Aegean Sea, Macedon and Ptolemaic Egypt.

[9] In 200, it was captured by a combined Roman, Pergamene and Rhodian fleet, and remained a possession of the Attalid kingdom until its dissolution in 133 BC, when it was granted to Rome.

[12] After the fall of Constantinople in 1204, the island was slated to come under control of the Republic of Venice according to the Partitio Romaniae;[13][14] in 1207 it became part of the Duchy of the Archipelago under Marco I Sanudo, who in turn gave it to Marino Dandolo as a sub-fief.

The case was eventually settled through the mediation of Nicolò Giustinian, the Venetian bailo of Negroponte in 1291–93, whereby Querini renounced his claims in exchange for a cash payment of 5,000 pounds.

[23] In 1383, Nicholas III was murdered and Francesco I Crispo became the new duke, giving Andros with Syros to his daughter and her husband, Pietro Zeno, the son of the Venetian bailo of Negroponte.

Unlike Syros, Paros, and other islands, which had been left destitute and almost depopulated by the Ottoman raids, Andros managed to escape relatively unscathed, but in return Zeno was forced to pay tribute and provide harbour and shelter for the Turkish ships.

In 1468 four ships attacked the island, killing baron Giovanni Sommaripa and carrying off numerous prisoners and booty worth 15,000 ducats.

In addition, the Andrians suffered from the cruelty of their own "duke", Francesco, to the point that they sent an embassy to Venice threatening to call in the Turks if nothing was done.

[35] When the Ottomans annexed Naxos in 1566, at the behest of the local Greeks, the Andrians too decided to rise up against their ruler, Gianfrancesco Sommaripa.

[36] For the next thirteen years, the entirety of the former Duchy of the Archipelago was granted to the Sultan's favourite, Joseph Nasi, who ruled the islands via representatives and was mostly concerned with using them as a source of wealth.

[37] Upon Nasi's death, the Greeks of Andros and Naxos requested from the Sultan that the descendants of their old dynasties be restored as Turkish vassals, but in the end, the islands were directly annexed as a province; in 1580, however, the Cyclades were granted a charter of privileges that granted them considerable local autonomy, low taxes and religious freedom, a situation that remained throughout the period of Ottoman rule.

[10] At this time, a famous heartfelt speech, or "ritoras" (ρήτορας), inspired shipowners and merchants to contribute funds to build a Greek Navy to combat the Ottomans.

In this it was helped by the arrival of refugees from Psara, and the decline of other traditional shipping centres such as Galaxeidi and Hydra Island.

[42] One notable beach in Andros is Pidima tis grias (Πήδημα της γριάς, Jump of the old woman).