Scarce map of the fortified city and harbor at Nafplio, during the Ottoman Reign, which appeared in Francois de Belleforest's Cosmographie Universelle De Tout le Monde.

The area surrounding Nafplio has been inhabited since ancient times, but few signs of this remain visible. The town has been a stronghold on several occasions during Classical Antiquity. It seems to be mentioned on an Egyptian funerary inscription of Amenophis III, as Nuplija. The city surrendered to the Ottomans in 1540, who renamed it Mora Yeniehri and established it as the seat of a Sanjak. The Venetians retook Nafplio in 1685 and made it the capital of their "Kingdom of the Morea".