P188 - Greece - Santorini

Santorini, Greece

Santorini is a small, circular archipelago of volcanic islands located in the southern Aegean Sea, about 200 km southeast from Greece's mainland. It is also known as Thera , forming the southernmost member of the Cyclades group of islands, with an area of approximately 73 km² (28 mi²) and a 2001 census population of 13,670. It is composed of the Municipality of Thíra (pop. 12,440) and the Community of Oía (Οία, pop. 1,230, which includes 268 inhabitants resident on the offshore island of Therasia, lying to the west). These have a total land area of 90.623 km², which also includes the uninhabited islands of Nea Kameni, Palaia Kameni, Aspronisi, and Christiana (all part of the Municipality of Thira).

Santorini is essentially what remains of an enormous volcanic explosion, destroying the earliest settlements on what was formerly a single island, and leading to the creation of the current geological caldera. Its spectacular physical beauty, along with a dynamic nightlife, have made the island one of Europe's tourist hotspots.

A giant central lagoon, more or less rectangular, and measuring about 12 km by 7 km (8 mi by 4 mi), is surrounded by 300 m (984 ft) high steep cliffs on three sides. The island slopes downward from the cliffs to the surrounding Aegean Sea. On the fourth side, the lagoon is separated from the sea by another much smaller island called Therasia; the lagoon merges with the sea in two places, in the northwest and southwest. The water in the centre of the lagoon is nearly 400 m (1300 ft) deep, thus making it a safe harbour for all kinds of shipping. The island's harbours all lie in the lagoon and there are no ports on the outer perimeter of the island; the capital, Fira, clings to the top of the cliff looking down on the lagoon. The volcanic rocks present from the prior eruptions feature olivine and have a notably small presence of hornblende.

It is the most active volcanic centre in the South Aegean Volcanic Arc, though what remains today is chiefly a water-filled caldera. The volcanic arc is approximately 500 km long and 20-40 km wide. The region first became volcanically active around 3-4 million years ago though volcanism on Thera began around 2 millin years ago with the extrusion of dacitic lavas from vents around the region of Akrotiri. The name Santorini was given to it by the Latin empire in the thirteenth century, and is a reference to Saint Irene. Before then it was known as Kallistē (Καλλίστη, "the most beautiful one"), Strongylē (Στρογγύλη, "the circular one"), or Thera.

The island is the site of one of the largest volcanic eruptions the planet has ever seen: the Minoan eruption (sometimes called the Thera eruption), which occurred some 3,600 years ago at the height of the Minoan civilization. The eruption left a large caldera surrounded by volcanic ash deposits hundreds of feet deep and may have led indirectly to the collapse of the Minoan civilization on the island of Crete, 110 km (70 miles) to the south, through the creation of a gigantic tsunami. Another popular theory holds that the Thera eruption is the source of the legend of Atlantis.

圣托里尼（希腊文：Σαντορίνη）是在希腊大陆东南200公里的爱琴海上由一群火山组成的岛环，位于北纬 36.40° —东经 25.40°。圣托里尼岛环上最大的一个岛也叫圣托里尼岛，别名锡拉岛（Θήρα）。圣托里尼岛位于基克拉泽斯群岛的最南端，面积约73平方公里，人口约一万四千余人，多为希腊人。“圣托里尼”是十三世纪时威尼斯人所命名的，起源于圣·爱莲（義大利語：Santa Irene）；在此前这个岛称为锡拉岛、卡利斯提（Καλλίστη，在古希臘語意為“最美”）或斯特隆基里（Στρογγύλη）。

3500年前这里发生一次几千年来最猛烈的火山爆发，留下一个大火山口和几百米厚的火山灰，可能间接地促成克里特岛米诺斯文明的消亡。

References sources : wikipedia