Landscape, as a concept, can be defined as the way societies interpret both the anthropogenic and natural environments and the timeless, dynamic relationship and interaction between them. This study focuses on the view we have of the Cretan landscape, mainly around Chandax, in the years since the Venetian era.

By choosing and analyzing data found in legal documents of the Venetian era and correlating them with other published sources, we attempt to sketch parts of the multi-layered network of population movements and, through them, locate settlements and place names long forgotten. At the same time, we visualize spatial data by placing them onto a map. The study was complemented by field research, so that they can be correlated with today’s landscape.

We attempted to trace the special characteristics of specific settlements and place names of that era and the possible reasons behind their creation and/or abandonment.

From the systematic study of changes in the structured and unstructured environment, important historical elements can be deduced, to help future scientists (historians, archaeologists, lawyers, engineers, sociologists, geotechnicians, biologists, etc.), and thus contribute to highlighting several aspects of Cretan history.