History And Geography

History

Santorini has been home to humans ever since the Neolithic period of the Stone Age. The sites of archeological significance scattered across island are evidence of human settlement and its evolution from the pre-Hellenistic civilizations to the modern era. The island, like the other Cyclades, has been under continuous habitation and changed hands with many dynasties through the ages.

The earliest people to covet Santorini were perhaps the Minoan Civilization who occupied the island around 3600 B.C.E. The main evidence for this are the frescoes and pottery from this era in the city of Akrotiri, which bear great resemblance to the island of Crete the main center of Minoan civilization. At this time the island was called ‘Strongyli' (Greek for circle) because of its rounded shape. The end of the Minoan occupation came around 1550 - 1500 B.C.E. through a devastating volcanic eruption that caused the entire center of the island to be drowned by sea. Some researchers believe that this event is a valid explanation of Plato's Atlantis legend.

Next the island, reduced to a rim around a volcano, came to be occupied by the Phoenicians. They called the island ‘Thira' after their King Thiras, a name that is in use till date. After five generations of Phoenician inhabitation the island passed on the rule to the Greek Kingdom of Sparta. As the Greek Isles fell to the Romans, the island of Santorini became Roman territory as well. It remained under Rome's hand till the rise of the Byzantine Empire.

With the accession of the Byzantium Empire, Santorini saw the trends of the time and like many regions around it accepted the faith that was rising to power - Christianity. The importance of the island as a naval and trade base in the Aegean had not gone unnoticed all these years and now the island became contentious ground because of its location. It was annexed by Venice in 1204 C.E. after the fall of Constantinople and became part of what was then the maritime Republic of Venice. Then came the ottoman Turks, who took possession of the island in the later part of the sixteenth century.

The island came in lieu of the Greek revolution of the nineteenth century and consequently won independence from the Turks in 1821. It joined the Republic of Greece nine years later and has remained with them ever since.

Geography

Situated nearly sixty miles from Crete in the Aegean Sea, Santorini refers to approximately three separate islands, which in prehistory used to be one.

Once forming a wholesome island, Santorini was reduced to a crescent shaped stretch of land and small island groups by a huge volcanic eruption over three thousand years ago. In the space the sunken island use to occupy, there is the Caldera Sea, which is approximately 32 sq miles in area, with a maximum depth of 600 meters. At the center of the sea, lies the volcano that is responsible for the entire split of the island. This fiery giant now slumbered, spewing sulphurous fumes on occasion and despite being dormant for centuries, it is considered to be among the most likely ones to become active in the coming years.

Among the islands separated from the mainland by the Caldera, is Thirassia, the largest one lying right opposite the crescent. Another is Aspronissi, an uninhabited floating mass of pumice, left in the wake of the ancient eruption. Around the volcano, small groups of pumice islands have been emerging from the sea for the past thousand years or so. This infantile group of islands is called the Kamenos and made up of two main islands called Palea Kameni and Nea Kameni.

The entire island is made up of stratified sections of lava and from a distance these layers of red, black and brown make for an eye-catching natural feature. The volcanic soil dictates the flora and fauna of the island, which is incidentally not as abundant as the other Greek Islands. There are roughly 650 identified plant species on the islands and large mammals are absent in the animal section. Unlike the rest of the Mediterranean however, olive trees are not as plentiful. It is believed that much of the island's flora was destroyed by the eruptions. Due to the relatively low percentage of endemic species, the invasion of foreign plants and animals is a rather a big danger. As such, tourists are advised to especially ascertain that they do not bring in any plant or animal to the island.

The shores of the Santorini Island are made up of eroded volcanic rock and are essentially reddish brown to black in color.