A few words about Santorini.
At a distance of 128 miles from Pireus lies Santorini, the volcanic island of Cyclades which presents a rare and breath sight.
It covers an area of 75 square km and it has about 10,000 permanent inhabitants.
The formation of the island is due to various geological upsetting which shock the whole Aegean. Her first name was developed of the wolcano submerged the central part of the island and created a huge undewater crater 83 square miles in extent, called Caldera (there are only two Calderas in the world, the one of Thira (Santoriny) and of China which is not inhabited).
The present island together with Aspronisi are the only that remained then from the disaster, and tidal waves destryed even the flourishing center of Crete. During the 2nd and 3rd centuries B.C. Other eruptions followed and those in the center of Caldera emerged the islands of Old and New Kameni as well as the small island of Thirasia.
According to Herodotus the Phoenics and later on the Doric colonists settled in the island. The Doric's leader was the Tira and from him the island took its name. It was then than that the island had a great developmentand the Tirei colonists founded Kirini at the coastal of Africa. During the persians wars the island was subdued by the Persians and later in 420 B.C. it belonged to the sovereignity of the Athenians, 275 a.C. It was subdued by the Venetians.
It was then that it took the name Santorini after the church of Saint Irene in 1537. It was plundered by Hairedin Barbarossa and in 1770-74 it was in the possession of the Russians. On May 5th 1820 Vagelis Matzarakis raised its flag of revolution in Thira and in 1830 with protocol of London it was joined with the newly established country of Greece.
