There are several references to the islands in the ancient Greek period, when they went by the name Δημόνησοι (Dēmónēsoi), often transliterated as Demonesi or Demonisi.

[3][4] During the Middle Byzantine period the archipelago has been recorded by the 6th century lexicographer Hesychius of Alexandria as Δημόνησοι (Dēmónēsoi), meaning "demon's islands" in Medieval Greek.

According to the Ottoman General Census of 1881/82-1893, the kaza of the Princes' Islands (Adalar) had a total population of 7,937, consisting of 5,501 Greeks, 533 Armenians, 254 Muslims, 133 Catholics, 65 Jews, 27 Latins, 7 Protestants, 3 Bulgarians and 1.404 foreign citizens.

[7] It was the main school of theology of the Eastern Orthodox Church's Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople until the Turkish parliament enacted a law banning private higher-education institutions in 1971.

[citation needed] The theological school is located at the top of the island's Hill of Hope, on the site of the Byzantine-era Monastery of the Holy Trinity.

The islands are an interesting anomaly because they allow for a very rare, albeit incomplete, insight into a multicultural society in modern Turkey, possibly[original research?]

Prior to the 1950s, each of the inhabited islands had significant communities of ethnic minorities of Turkey, which is now the case to a much smaller extent.

Excluding Yassıada, Sivriada and Tavşanadası, all of the archipelago is located on a 12-kilometre long (7.5 mi) line running from northwest (Kınalıada) to southeast (Sedefadası).

A convent on Büyükada was the place of exile for the Byzantine empresses Irene, Euphrosyne, Theophano, Zoe and Anna Dalassena.

The one nearest the iskele (ferry landing), Hristos, is topped by the former Greek Orphanage, a huge wooden building now known as the Prinkipo Environmental Center.

Visitors can take the 'small tour' of the island by buggy, leading to this point, from where it is an easy climb to Ayia Yorgi, a tiny church with a café on the grounds serving wine, chips and sausage sandwiches, this being part of the "classic" Ayia Yorgi (St. George, in Greek: Άγιος Γεώργιος) experience.

The other is the grave of the second English Ambassador to be sent to Constantinople by Elizabeth I of England, Edward Barton, who chose to live on Heybeli to escape the bustle of the city.

To the right of the jetty lies the town with its bars and cafes, a hotel that stays open all year round, and many lovely wooden houses.

The monastery attracts tourists from all over Greece and Turkey, and despite the Turkish Government's promise to reopen the seminary, it still remains closed.

The main summer attractions are small-scale open-air concerts sponsored by the local council, a swimming and fitness club next to the sea, and an annual Independence Day march, which is commemorated by a resident naval band touring the island.

Demetrius I of Macedon, one of the Diadochi (Successors) of Alexander the Great, built a fort here and named it after his father Antigonus I Monophthalmus.

Yassıada (meaning "Flat Island" in Turkish; Greek: Πλάτη, romanized: Platē) was used by the Byzantines for sending prominent figures into exile.

In 1857, Yassıada was purchased by the British ambassador Henry Bulwer, brother of novelist Edward Bulwer-Lytton, who built himself a mansion and a number of other structures to live undisturbed on this distant island.

Several of the defendants were sentenced to death, and three of these, including the former Prime Minister Adnan Menderes, were taken to İmralı Island (further southwest, near the southern shoreline of the Sea of Marmara) and executed in 1961.

After the end of the trials, Yassıada was given back to the Turkish Navy and lessons continued to take place at the naval school buildings until 1978.

Sivriada (meaning "Sharp Island" in Turkish; Greek: Ὀξεία, romanized: Oxeia) currently is deserted.

The ruins of a Roman settlement and a ninth-century Byzantine monastery can still be seen on the shore, close to the fishermen's shelter, a small wharf which is often used by yachts.

Many Turks fondly remember the Islands as the home of the famous short-story writer Sait Faik Abasıyanık (1906-1954) and of the football legend Lefter Küçükandonyadis (1925-2012).

After the deportation of Leon Trotsky from the Soviet Union in February 1929, his first residence in exile was a house in Büyükada, the largest of the Princes' Islands; he lived there for four years between 1929 and 1933.

[18] According to Kōnstantinoupolis employee Manuel Gedeon,[19] Ottoman Greek publisher Demetrius Nicolaides (c. 1843-1915) had a house in Antigone (Burgazada).