Excavations have revealed that Crete has been inhabited since around 8000 BC by native peoples not related to those of the Mediterranean coast. The view that it was first settled by migrants from the East or South now seems untenable (https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-22527821). Around 4000 BC, these early inhabitants created the Minoan civilization, which reached a high level of development. Despite natural disasters that destroyed many structures, archaeologists have discovered well-built houses, fine pottery, vivid 5,000-year-old frescoes, and intricately carved seal rings demonstrating remarkable craftsmanship. 

During this period, more than 100 cities, as Homer mentions, and perhaps over 150, according to archaeologists, flourished across the island.

After the destruction around 1400 BC, the Mycenaean Achaeans settled in Crete, mingling with the remaining Minoans and fostering new cultural and social developments. Separate from this new culture were the surviving Minoans of the Lasithi area, who called themselves Eteocretans (“Eteos” = “True”). They continued to develop their own language and traditions, preserved in the still-undeciphered Linear A script.

Around 1100 BC, the Dorians arrived following their conquest of the Peloponnese. They revitalized the island, and through intermixing with the remaining natives, created a new Cretan civilization organized into social castes. This society reached its peak around 700 BC before gradually losing influence to Athens and Macedonia. Although Cretans and Eteocretans often fought among themselves, they united against invaders and resisted successfully until 69 BC, when Crete was conquered by Rome and later became part of the Eastern Roman (Byzantine) Empire.

It was then that Phocas forcibly converted to Christianity and the “Barbarians” – the Saracens – were confined to a village named after the Barbarians (now MYRTIA, where Kazantzakis came from), and the Cretans who refused to abdicate the 12-Gods Fathers’ Religion, reported number of 42,000 (forty-two thousand) men were executed. He then asked Tsimiskis and he sent a male population from Pontos and 10 Princes to whom he divided Crete into 10 feuds.

Crete became the target of Genoa and Venice, which eventually won it in 1212 and organized it according to its own standards, building castles and harbors supporting its then powerful fleet. Many of these monuments are preserved to this day and, together with the older monuments, are a pole of attraction for Greek and foreign visitors. The Venetians were suppressing extremely the local population, therefore the Cretans were continually revolting against them and assisted the Turks in their struggle to take the island from the Venetians.

The Ottoman domination of the Eastern Mediterranean brought them to Crete in 1645 and after an expensive and bloody 24-year war with Venice they occupied it in 1669, but it was in only in 1715 when they occupied the last part of it. The Ottoman occupation lasted until 1886 when the Sultan was forced by the then Great Powers to grant independence to Crete which eventually led to the founding of the Cretan State in 1898 and the Union with Greece in 1913.

Following the Asia Minor catastrophe and the exchange of populations, Greeks from Asia Minor settled in Crete, who were accepted by the local Greek-speaking population and brought progressive ideas and ways of cultivation and life to impart modernization of their lives.

When World War II reached Crete, the island was largely unarmed, yet its residents fiercely resisted the invading Axis forces, inflicting heavy losses. However, the cost in lives and destruction was immense, and its wounds are still remembered.

After the war, Cretans rebuilt their island with resilience and determination. Today, Crete boasts one of the highest per-capita incomes in Greece and a thriving multicultural society that welcomes tourism and international investment.

https://candia.wordpress.com/culture/history-crete-gr/  (Summary History of Crete)