Considered by many to be the site of the legendary island nation of Atlantis, Santorini has a long and interesting history, being not only the catastrophic volcanic eruption that changed forever the island.
In antiquity, the island was subject to the various powers that ruled the Aegean. It moved from reliance League Delos to the Ptolemaic kingdom of Egypt, Rome and finally the Byzantine Empire. From 1204 to 1579 was under the dominion of the Venetian Republic, until moving on to Ottoman rule. In 1840, the Treaty of London, joined to Greece.
Between 1628 and 1627 a. C. the eruption ended with a massive boiler explosion, the same type as the much more studied Krakatoa (Indonesia), in 1883. Because of the effect of the explosion, the island lost much of its surface, and launched a tsunami that devastated the eastern Mediterranean, causing, among other things, a serious crisis of the Minoan civilization of Crete. It seems that people found enough time to evacuate the island, carrying themselves many of their furniture. Marinatos popularized the idea that prehistoric explosion of Santorini is the origin of the myth of Atlantis.
The blast was very intense and the emission of dust obscured the atmosphere enough to that the fact was observed in China. The cooling time has been recorded in tree rings even in Canada. In Egypt, hieroglyphics dating from this period show the cloud struck; an Egyptian scribe wrote: The sun has disappeared, no one sees the shadow, the crops have died, we must now survive. This phenomenon lasted for nine days in Egypt, half-day in China and it is estimated that one hour in Antarctica.
During recent years, Santorini has become a quiet part of Greece, where residents engaged in fishing, agriculture, viniculture and cheese production. Santorini’s main industry is tourism, and thousands of people visit the island each year.
