Zakynthos participated in the Trojan War and is listed in the Homeric Catalogue of Ships which, if accurate, describes the geopolitical situation in early Greece at some time between the Late Bronze Age and the eighth century BC.

After the Peloponnesian War, Zakynthos seems to have passed under the supremacy of Sparta because in 374 BC, Timotheus, an Athenian commander, on his return from Kerkyra, landed some Zakynthian exiles on the island and assisted them in establishing a fortified post.

These exiles must have belonged to the anti-Spartan party as the Zakynthian rulers applied for help to the Spartans who sent a fleet of 25 to the island.

The Athenian trireme fleet needed protection from rot, decay and the teredo, so this new source of tar was valuable to them.

[13] Plundered by the Pisans in 1099, it was captured by Margaritus of Brindisi in 1185, and thereafter formed part of the County Palatine of Cephalonia and Zakynthos.

[13] By 1460, and during the reign of Mehmed II, the Ottoman Turks eventually controlled most of the Peloponnese with the exception of the remaining Venetian-controlled towns of Argos, Nafplio, Monemvassia, Methoni, and Koroni.

After the collapse of the Hexamilion, which was supposed to act as a defense across the Isthmus of Corinth, and hence, protect the Peloponnese, Leonardo III Tocco made an agreement with Venice to accept 10,000 refugees from this region.

During the Axis occupation of Greece, Mayor Loukas Karrer and Bishop Chrysostomos Dimitriou refused German orders to turn in a list of the members of the town's Jewish community for deportation to the death camps.

[18] Zakynthos lies in the eastern part of the Ionian sea, around 20 kilometres (12 miles) west of the Greek (Peloponnese) mainland.

The eastern half is a densely populated fertile plain with long sandy beaches, interrupted with several isolated hills, notably Bochali which overlooks the city and the peninsula of Vasilikos in the northeast.

The peninsulas of Vassilikos to the north and Marathia to the south enclose the wide and shallow bay of Laganas on the southeast part of the island.

Zakynthos has a hot-summer Mediterranean climate (Csa) with hot, dry summers and mild to cool, rainy winters.

Numerous natural "blue caves" are cut into cliffs around Cape Skinari; they are accessible only by small boats, which are popular amongst tourists.

[24] Northern and eastern shores feature numerous wide sandy beaches, some of which attract tourists in summer months.

Marathonissi islet (also known as "Turtle Island") near Limni Keriou has tropical vegetation, turquoise waters, beaches, and sea caves.

[citation needed] Since Zakynthos was under the rule of the Venetian Republic, it had closer contact with Western literary trends than other areas inhabited by Greek people.

[26] Notable early writers include Tzanes Koroneos, author of Andragathemata of Bouas, a work of historical fiction;[27][28] Nikolaos Loukanis, a 16th-century Renaissance humanist;[29] Markos Defaranas (1503–1575), possibly the author of the Rimada;[30] Pachomios Roussanos (1508–1553), a scholar and theologian;[31] and Antonio Catiforo (1685–1763), a grammarian and satirist.

[32][33][34] Towards the end of the 18th century, the so-called Heptanese School of Literature developed, consisting mainly of lyrical and satirical poetry in the vein of Romanticism prevalent throughout Europe at the time.

The 1998 novel 'Fugitive Pieces' by Canadian author Anne Michaels includes a section set on Zakynthos during the Nazi occupation.

[35] The island is covered by a network of roads, particularly the flat eastern part, with main routes linking the capital with Volimes in the north, Keri in the south, and the Vassiliki peninsula in the west.

[citation needed] Among the most famous Zakynthians is the 19th-century poet Dionysios Solomos, whose statue adorns the main town square.

The Italian poet Ugo Foscolo was born in Zakynthos: he wrote the sonnet "A Zacinto" dedicated to the island.

Early 19th-century poet and playwright Elizabeth Moutzan-Martinegou, the first prominent modern Greek female writter, was born on the island.

Andreas Vesalius, famous Renaissance surgeon and anatomist, died on Zakynthos after being shipwrecked while making a pilgrimage to the Holy Land.

[38] Since the mid-1980s, Zakynthos has become a hub for 18-to-30-year-old tourists, leading particularly to Laganas (formerly a quiet village) becoming a hotbed of clubbing, nightclubs, bars and restaurants.