[8] Socotra played an important role in the ancient international trade and appears as Dioskouridou (Διοσκουρίδου νῆσος), meaning "the island of Dioscurides" in the Periplus of the Erythraean Sea, a first-century CE Greek navigation aid.

The texts are written in the Indian Brāhmī, South Arabian, Ethiopic, Greek, Palmyrene and Bactrian languages.

This corpus of nearly 250 texts and drawings constitutes one of the main sources for the investigation of Indian Ocean trade networks in that time period.

[12] In 1507, a Portuguese fleet commanded by Tristão da Cunha with Afonso de Albuquerque landed at Suq and captured the port after a stiff battle against the Mahra Sultanate.

The lack of a proper harbor and the infertility of the land led to famine and sickness in the garrison, and the Portuguese abandoned the island in 1511.

[16] In October 1967, in the wake of the departure of the British from Aden and southern Arabia, the Mahra Sultanate was abolished.

On 30 April 2018, the UAE, as part of the ongoing Saudi Arabian–led intervention in Yemen, landed troops on the island and took control of Socotra Airport and seaport.

The archipelago was once part of the supercontinent of Gondwana and detached during the Miocene epoch, in the same set of rifting events that opened the Gulf of Aden to its northwest.

[26] The island is culturally and administratively a part of Yemen, but it geographically belongs to Africa as it represents a continental fragment that is geologically linked to the Somali Plate.

[34] The southwest monsoon season from June to September brings strong winds and high seas.

In an extremely unusual occurrence, the normally arid western side of Socotra received more than 410 millimetres (16.14 in) of rain from Cyclone Chapala in November 2015.

[43] The island is home to the Semitic language Soqotri, which is related to such other Modern South Arabian languages on the Arabian mainland as Mehri, Harsusi, Bathari, Shehri, and Hobyot, which became the subject of European academic study in the nineteenth century.

[48] The earliest account concerning the presence of Christians in Socotra stems from the early-medieval 6th century CE Greek merchant Cosmas Indicopleustes[49] Later the Socotrans joined the Assyrian church.

[50] During the 10th century, Arab geographer Abu Muhammad al-Hasan al-Hamdani recorded during his visits that most of the islanders were Christian.

[51] An 1884 edition of Nature writes that the disappearance of Christian churches and monuments can be accounted for by a Wahhabi excursion to the island in 1800.

[54][55] Transport is a delicate matter on Socotra as road construction is considered locally to be detrimental to the island and its ecosystem.

As of March 2015, due to ongoing civil war involving Saudi Arabia's Air Force, all flights to and from Socotra were cancelled.

[59] During the deployment of Emirati troops and aid to the Island, multiple flight connections were made between Abu Dhabi and Hadibu as part of Emirati effort to provide Socotra residents with access to free healthcare and provide work opportunities.

The ideal time to visit Socotra is from October to April; the remaining months usually have heavy monsoon rainfall, making it difficult for tourists; flights also usually get cancelled.