The town of Spetses has evidence of early Helladic settlement near the Old Harbour and around the Dapia Harbour. Roman and Byzantine remains have been found in the area behind Moni Agios Nikolaos, halfway between the two.
From the 10th century, Spetses is thought to have been uninhabited for almost 600 years, until the arrival of Albanian refugees fleeing the fighting between Turks and Venetians in the 16th century.
Spetses, like Hydra, grew wealthy from shipbuilding. Island captains busted the British blockade during the Napoleonic Wars and refitted their ships to join the Greek fleet during the War of Independence. In the process they immortalised one local woman (albeit originally from Hydra), the formidable Laskarina Bouboulina, ship commander and fearless fighter.
The island’s hallmark forests of Aleppo pine, a legacy of the far-sighted philanthropist Sotirios Anargyros, have been devastated by fires several times in the past 20 years. The trees are steadily recovering.