As a Greek island the sea had always played an important role in the life of Andros. But in the 19th century it’s seafaring business took off and it became an island of ship builders. By the early 1900s it was one of the busiest marine areas in Greece, busy enough to be compared with the shipping might of England, hence the nickname Mikra Anglia, or Little England.  In 2013 a Greek film called Mikra Anglia was made on Andros. It was based on an award-winning novel largely set in the Second World War.