The settlement excavated at Nichoria near Karpophora is one of the most important mycenaean and early historical sites in Messenia, in fact mentioned in the catalogues of the Linear B tablets in the palace of Ano Englianos. The region of the modern villages Diodia, Aristomenis, Manesis, Strefi and Kephalovryso was a cultural and geographic entity that flourished during the mycenaean period, as reflected by the numerous burial monuments. The region had a special role during the Francocracy, when a settlement was formed in the area of Manesi. A tower of that period and a bridge on Velikas river survive at the locality called Palaiopyrgas, between Strefi and Diodia. A series of small forts, Frankish or Venetian, along the road from Velika to Lantzounato were built between the 13th and the 15th century for the protection of the region’s borders, under the increasing pressure of the byzantine and ottoman attacks.