Chania is the capital city of the Municipality of Chania, with 60.000 inhabitants. They are built at the site of the ancient town of Kydonia, one of the oldest inhabited areas on the island.

Its modern times name was given by the Arabs. In 1252, under the Venetian occupation, the town begun its fortification projects, which were finished in 1590. Chania was the first town in Crete occupied by the Turks, in 1654, until it was freed in 1898, when it also became the capital of the by then autonomous island.