The rich history of Crete has left many traces in this region.
There are several theories concerning the name of our village. Most probably it is traceable to the Arabic words aia = water and rumeli = Greek. So Agia Roumeli would mean Greek water.
Close to the new village there is a Byzantine church, "tis Panagias" (the Holy Mother) built where there originally was a temple of Apollo and Vritomartis (Artemis).
An ancient site, Tara, was located on the eastern side of the river. Tara was a small but strong, independent city. It was significant enough to mint its own money. These coins had on one side the Cretan wild goat with an arrow and on the other side a bee. Tara also established colonies in the South of Italy and in the Caucasus.
Several excavations were made in Tara and you can study and admire many interesting finds in the archaeological museum of Chania.

Agia Roumeli was also an important shipyard during antiquity and during the Venetian and Turkish period. It was ideally located for this function: there was plenty of wood very close to the shore and the river could provide energy for sawmills. In fact Agia Roumeli was already a timber exporter 4000 years ago.

The gorge of Samaria was also a way to reach the North of the island as well as a place of refuge during the numerous rebellions against various invaders.

Today people still make a living from goat-and sheepraising as well as beekeeping. The influx of tourism, brought by the popularity of the Samaria gorge, has also become an important source of income.
Agia Roumeli and the circumstances of its residents have changed very quickly in the last 30 years but if you stay here for a little while you will realise that the past still lingers and history is still very close.