In the years that follow the fall of Constantinople in 1453 we find groups of Greeks in different cities of Spain. Many Greek refugees from Euboea seek refuge in Toledo and Valladolid after the occupation of Chalcis by the Ottomans (1470). There is information on a group of noble refugees (including G. Diplovatatzis) who participate in the struggle of Ferdinando and Isabella against the Arabs of Granada. From the beginning of the 16th century, we find Cretan seamen taking part in the operations of the conquistadores in Seville. The Greeks are also present in the infantry and the marine mercenary bodies of the Spanish army. The Greeks (as well as the Albanians) were distinguished in the battalions of the light cavalry. There are many references made in documents to them as bodies "de griegos". Finally, the creation of the collection of Greek manuscripts in the library of Escorial resulted from the cooperation of Spanish humanists with Greek scholars which had travelled to Spain. Some of the most well-known scholars were N. Tourianos, N. Sophianos, D. Doukas and others who were either sent to the East on a mission to find precious manuscripts or worked in Spain as copiers of codes or as calligraphers. Moreover, as everybody knows it was in Spain that the great Greek artist Domenikos Theotokopoulos found his way.

It is only in the second half of the 18th century that a Greek colony is organized in the Iberian peninsula, in Port-Mahon on Minorca island which at that time was brought successively under the occupation of Britain, France and again Britain.

In November 7th, 1745, the general Wynyard, the governor of Minorca, submitted to the Privy Council of the British crown a proposition of prince Scherbatov. He suggested that certain Greek merchants who wished to obtain the British citizenship be permitted to settle on the island, on the condition that all the privileges of the British subjects of Minorca were conferred to them too as well as the freedom to practice their religious duties and build a church and graveyard. The Privy Council confers the demanded privileges on the decision of the king in the 28th of November 1745.

However, the reaction of the Catholic clergy that forbade the natives to sell building materials to the Greeks delayed the execution of the decision of 1745 concerning the conferment of privileges to the Greeks. It was on the new more strict order of the Privy Council (in June 1749) that the previous decision was executed. Thus, in April 1752 the orthodox church of Minorca is completed. It was situated in the Cale de Cos de Gracia and was consecrated to Saint Nikolaos while its administration did not depend on Constantinople but on the Russian Synod. Theoklitos Polyeidis, who was well known for his propaganda work,Agathangelos, which he wrote in favour of the Russian politics, was appointed vicar of the church. The church operated normally all the years until 1782. In 1782 it closed because the island passed again into the hands of the Spanish during the war of America (1778-1783) This marks the end of the Greek colony of Minorca.

The documents of the French consul in Smyrna, Peyssonel, contain demographic information on the Greek colony. Peyssonel mentions that by 1752 there were only about fifteen Greek families in Minorca that came from Crete and the Morea. However, around 1754 the number of the Greeks had raised to six hundred persons which had come from Patmos, Corfu, Cephallonia, Corsica and Missolonghi. When Minorca passed temporarily into the hands of the French (1756-1763) the Greeks were forced out of the island while there is information that leads us to believe that when the British occupied Minorca again, they made efforts to bring back the Greeks. The Greeks remained on the island until the end of the British occupation in 1782.

The initial settlement of Greek merchants and seamen in Port-Mahon was integrated in the framework of the competition between the British and the French and constituted a tiny piece in the puzzle of the general policy of Britain that aimed at the consolidation of the British naval supremacy. As partisans of liberal trade, the British cooperated from the beginning with the natives of the East and mainly with the Greeks so that they could undermine the French presence in the Mediterranean. On the verge of the Seven Years' War (1756-1763), as the conflict between the two powers reached a peak, they decided to transfer some Greek merchants to Minorca. Minorca was an advanced base for the British fleet. It was closer than Malta, it constituted an observatory and a position of control of the French and Spanish sea routes. At the same time, Russia, a British ally at that time, which was opposed to the same enemy (France was traditionally on the side of the Turks) appeared favourable toward the settlement of Greek seamen in Port-Mahon.

The contribution of the Greeks of Minorca to the development of British trade was very important. In addition, the Greek merchants appealed to the British government for the privilege of producing salt which was granted to them on a low rent of the appropriate coasts. Furthermore, they were occupied with fishing - mainly tuna - while the British crown conferred to the Greeks a considerable number of fields which yielded remarkable profits.

The Greek seamen of Minorca proved to be particularly usefull in the piracy between Britain and France, as they were very easily transformed into pirates like all the seamen of that time. According to the reports of French consuls of the East which are full of information on the pirates they name Angligrecs, the Greek pirates in the service of the British fleet caused repeatedly great damage to French ships. These pirates took action before, in the course of and after the Seven Years' War while some of the well known Greek captains from Port-Mahon were N. Gerakis, the pirates Panagiotis and Loukas and others. As we learn from the documents of the Privy Council, the Greek pirates also took action in the defense of the fortress of Saint Philippos, which protects the port of Minorca, during the siege by the French. Finally, Port-Mahon was conceded to the Russians as a naval base during the Russo-Turkish War in the days of Catherine II (1768-1774) while the Greek seamen that still remained on the island supported the Russian interests.