Santorini or Thira is what is left of an enormous volcanic explosion, destroying the most of what was formerly a single circle shaped island. The tremendous blast that occurred somewhere around 1600 BC swept away every single settlement and created the caldera that rises as high as three hundred meters above sea level.

In 1967 excavations uncovered part of an almost intact ancient town at the southern tip of the crescent that Santorini is today at an area called Akrotiri. The findings proved the existence of a flourishing ancient civilization that had been buried under the ashes of the volcanic eruptions. Visitors to the site will be astonished by the quality of masonry of its two and three-storey buildings, its advanced drainage and water supply system and beautiful artwork, all astonishingly well preserved.

It took centuries before civilization on the island developed once again. IT was later settled by the Doric people. In the third century BC it served as an important naval base of the kingdom of Ptolemy in Egypt. Ιt later passed to the Roman and Byzantine Empires. In the 13th century AD the Venetians it was rules by Venice like the rest of the Cyclades. The Ottoman Turks conquered it in 1579 and lostit in 1830 when it joined the newly found Kingdom of Greece.