History

The name of the village is based on the version where potters called magarikoi during the Byzantine period, which means that the professional identity of the first settlers gave the name to the area. There is another version where the Queen of Ancient Eleftherna with the name Daisy was charmed by the beauty of the landscape that offered all the jewelry to build a village in the area and named in honor of Daisies (margarites).

Margarites are undoubtedly the most important pottery center of West Crete. In the area there are numerous clay deposits which thus explains the long occupation of the residents with the art of clay.

Here was born the Cretan Renaissance period and a culture of great prosperity which was born from the combination of the Byzantine tradition and the Western Renaissance.