The island has fertile coastal strips where wheat, tobacco, cotton, olives, wine grapes, oranges, and vegetables are grown. The interior is mountainous, rising to 3,986 ft (1,215 m) on Mt. Attavyros. Tourism is the island's most important industry, and fishing and winemaking are pursued. There is a large tourist industry.

Rhodes was early influenced by the Minoan civilization of Crete and was colonized before 1000 B.C. by Dorians from Árgos. By the 7th cent. B.C. it was dominated by the three city-states of Camirus, Lindus, and Ialysus, all commercial centers. In the early 7th cent. Rhodes established Gela, in Sicily, as its principal colony; other colonies were founded on the eastern coast of Italy and in Spain. Rhodes retained its independence until the Persian conquest in the late 6th cent. B.C. and joined (c.500 B.C.) the Ionian revolt that led to the Persian Wars. Rhodes later joined the Delian League (led by Athens) but fell away from Athens in 411 B.C. during the Peloponnesian War. In 408 B.C. the three city-states of Rhodes united in a confederacy, whose capital was the newly founded city of Rhodes.

The island was occupied by Macedon in 332 B.C., but it asserted its independence after the death of Alexander the Great (323 B.C.) and entered the period of its greatest prosperity, power, and cultural achievement. The arts and sciences flourished on the island; major figures included the painter Protogenes and the astronomer Hipparchus. However, in the 2d cent. B.C. its commerce—and hence its power—declined sharply, and Rhodes became a minor ally of Rome. The island became involved in Rome's civil wars of the 1st cent. B.C., and in 43 B.C. it was seized and sacked by Caius Cassius, the Roman conspirator. At the same time, Rhodes was the seat of a famous school of rhetoric. Julius Caesar studied on the island.

Through the early Christian era Rhodes retained a reputation for the high quality of its literary output. Rhodes remained in the Byzantine Empire until the capture of Constantinople (1204) during the Fourth Crusade. It then passed under local lords, was held by Genoa (1248–50), was annexed (1256) by the emperor of Nicaea, and was conquered (c.1282) by the Knights Hospitalers. The knights defended the island against Ottoman attack until 1522–23, when it was captured by the forces of Sulayman I. The island had prospered under the knights, but it was neglected by the Ottoman Empire. Rhodes, along with the other Dodecanese, was taken by Italy from the Ottomans in 1912 and was ceded by Italy to Greece in 1947.

The modern city of Rhodes or Ródhos (1991 pop. 98,181), located at the northeastern tip of the island, is the capital of the Dodecanese prefecture and is an industrial center and port. It has a variety of light industries. It is near the site of ancient Rhodes, planned in 408 B.C. by Hippodamus of Miletus. After repulsing a siege by Demetrius I of Macedon in 305 B.C., the citizens of ancient Rhodes erected (292–280 B.C.) in the harbor the Colossus of Rhodes, a bronze statue of Helios counted as one of the Seven Wonders of the World. The colossus was destroyed in 224 B.C. by an earthquake. Rhodes declined in the 2d cent. B.C. with the rise of the free port of Delos. The present city was built largely by the Knights Hospitalers.