Roman author Pliny the Elder was the first to mention the islands by the name Elaphiti Islands (Croatian: Jelenski otoci or Deer Archipelago) in his work Naturalis Historia, published in the 1st century.

The name comes from the Ancient Greek word for deer (Doric: ἔλαφος; élaphos), which, according to Pliny the Elder, used to inhabit the islands in large numbers.

According to a more recent classification, there are 13 islands in the archipelago, among them 8 larger (Olipa, Tajan, Jakljan, Šipan, Ruda, Lopud, Koločep and Daksa) and 5 smaller ones (Sveti Andrija, Mišnjak, Kosmeč, Goleč and Crkvine).

[2] Only the three main islands are permanently inhabited, each of which supports a modest tourist industry.

They are connected with the mainland via daily ferry lines operated out of Dubrovnik.