Santorini (Greek Σαντορίνη) or Thira or Thera (Θήρα) is a small archipelago of volcanic islands located in the Aegean Sea 75 km south-east of mainland Greece. Santorini / Thira is also the name of the main island. Thirasia the second inhabited island, is located in front of it. The part is formed by active volcanic island of Nea Kameni in the center of the caldera flooded by the sea
is the southernmost member of the group of Cyclades islands, covering an area of 76 square kilometers and a population estimated 10 700 inhabitants in 2001. The inhabitants of Santorini were of various nationalities, Albanian, Greek, Bulgarian, German etc.., The majority of indigenous who migrated to the mainland because of the last volcanic eruption and misery that follows. An international community was formed during the last 20 years and English is gaining ground as a spoken language at the same level as the Greek.
is the island of Santorini that was unearthed in 1970 the frescoes of Akrotiri, witnessed a very advanced civilization Cycladic back in the second millennium BC. Significant collections of ceramics were also identified in the excavation field. These works of art were spared by a volcanic cataclysm, which ravaged the island, and buried under ash and pumice.
The name Santorini was given to him by the Venetians in the thirteenth century in reference to Saint Irene, the Aghia Irini that foreign seafarers called "Santa Irini". This name was retained and evolved into "Santo Rini" and Santorini. "Previously it was called Strongyle (La Ronde), Kallisti (the beautiful) and Thera (Thira), because of Thera, son of Antesionas, Theban hero and grand-son of Cadmus. After the annexation of the island to Greece in 1840, officially took over the island the ancient name of Thera in Santorini, but the name is always used.
The exact date of the volcanic eruption provides a reference point to calibrate the entire chronology of the second millennium BC. BC in the Aegean world, because its effects are found throughout the region. With the carbon-14 dating and other radiological methods and dendrochronological, currently estimated that it took place between 1650 and 1598 BC or, according to other sources, around 1645 BC. AD, with a margin of error of plus or minus 20 years.
After a series of earthquake precursors powerful enough to frighten the population and encourage them to evacuate the island (the archaeologists found themselves almost no body and no valuables), the eruption caused a large tsunami 60 meters high in places that devastated the north coast of Crete, a distance of 70 km and certainly that destroyed much of the Minoan fleet.
The physiognomy of the island was profoundly changed following the collapse of much of the volcanic cone off a caldera about 15 km and the fallout of volcanic ash buried Akrotiri, sterilizing the soil of the island many years and causing the end of the company that had grown on Santorini.
Marinatos and many scholars following him saw in the Santorini cataclysm occurred in the event that inspired Plato for his parable about the disappearance of Atlantis. Marinatos also suggested that the volcanic eruption and its aftermath were the cause of the disappearance of the Minoan civilization on Crete, which is partially undermined by the fact that a number of Minoan sites which were situated on the southern Crete were spared by the tsunami.
Sources: http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santorin
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