Santorini history runs from the thriving Bronze Age town of Akrotiri, through the colossal Minoan eruption around 1600 BC that formed the caldera, to ancient Thera, Venetian rule and the modern age of tourism. This guide covers the prehistory, the eruption, the ancient and medieval island and Santorini today.
The island’s dramatic past underpins the wider Santorini travel guide. Its scenery is the work of a volcano. The sections below cover the history.
What is the early history of Santorini?
The early history of Santorini centres on Akrotiri, a sophisticated Bronze Age town that flourished around to 1650 BC as a major Aegean port. Trading with Crete, Cyprus, Egypt and beyond, it had multi-storey houses, drainage and fine frescoes before the great eruption buried and preserved it under ash.
Santorini’s story begins long before the famous villages. The island was settled in prehistory, and by around to 1650 BC the town of Akrotiri had grown into one of the Aegean’s major Bronze Age ports, closely linked to Minoan Crete. Excavations reveal a remarkably advanced settlement, with multi-storey buildings, paved streets, an elaborate drainage system and vivid wall frescoes, and finds from Crete, Anatolia, Cyprus, Syria and Egypt that show its far-reaching trade. Crucially, no human remains have been found there, suggesting the inhabitants fled when warning tremors began, just before catastrophe struck the island, set within the wider Akrotiri. The eruption changed everything.
What was the Minoan eruption?
The Minoan eruption around 1600 BC was one of the largest volcanic events in human history, rated VEI 7, ejecting some 30 to 40 cubic kilometres of rock and ash. It collapsed the centre of the island into the sea to form the caldera, buried Akrotiri, and sent tsunamis and ashfall onto Crete.
The eruption is the defining event of Santorini’s past. Around 1600 BC the volcano detonated in a colossal blast, rated 7 on the Volcanic Explosivity Index, ejecting an estimated 30 to 40 cubic kilometres of dense rock and ash over roughly two weeks, one of the greatest eruptions in recorded human history. The emptied magma chamber caused the centre of the then-circular island to collapse into the sea, creating the vast flooded caldera that gives Santorini its crescent shape and dramatic cliffs. It buried Akrotiri under metres of pumice, preserving it like a Greek Pompeii, and unleashed tsunamis and ashfall that struck Minoan Crete, possibly hastening that civilisation’s decline, set out alongside the guide to the Santorini caldera. Antiquity followed.
What happened in ancient and medieval times?
In antiquity the island was resettled, with the Dorians founding ancient Thera on a high ridge in the 9th century BC, later a Greek, Hellenistic and Roman town. In 1204 AD the Venetians took the island and named it Santorini after Santa Irini, developing its towns, castles and wine.
Life returned to the island after the eruption. By the 9th century BC, Dorian Greek colonists had founded the city of ancient Thera high on the Mesa Vouno ridge above Kamari and Perissa, which grew through the Archaic, Classical, Hellenistic and Roman periods into a substantial town whose ruins survive today. After the Byzantine era, the island passed in 1204 AD to the Venetians, who gave it the name Santorini, a corruption of Santa Irini, the church of Saint Irene, even though its official Greek name remains Thira. The Venetians built fortified settlements and castles and, importantly, developed the systematic cultivation of the island’s wine, set out alongside the guide to ancient Thera. The modern era transformed it again.
How did modern Santorini develop?
Modern Santorini was shaped by the destructive earthquake, which damaged the villages and prompted emigration, followed from the late 20th century by a tourism boom that turned the island into one of the world’s most famous destinations. The volcano remains active, last erupting.
The island’s recent past saw both hardship and reinvention. A powerful earthquake caused widespread damage to the clifftop villages and triggered emigration as many islanders left to rebuild their lives elsewhere, and for a time Santorini was relatively quiet and poor. From the late 20th century, however, its extraordinary caldera scenery, sunsets and cave architecture fuelled a tourism boom that has made it one of the most visited and photographed destinations on Earth. The volcano that created the island is dormant but still active, having last erupted and continuing to build the islets at the caldera’s heart, a reminder of the forces beneath, set out alongside the guides to the Santorini volcano and things to do. The questions below cover the points travellers ask most.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Santorini’s history?
Santorini’s history runs from the Bronze Age town of Akrotiri, through the colossal Minoan eruption around 1600 BC that formed the caldera, to ancient Thera founded by the Dorians, Venetian rule from 1204 AD, the earthquake and the modern tourism boom that made the island world famous.
What was the Minoan eruption of Santorini?
The Minoan eruption around 1600 BC was one of the largest in human history, rated VEI 7, ejecting some 30 to 40 cubic kilometres of rock and ash. It collapsed the island’s centre into the sea to form the caldera, buried the town of Akrotiri, and sent tsunamis and ashfall onto Crete.
How did Santorini get its name?
Santorini got its name from the Venetians, who took the island in 1204 AD and called it after Santa Irini, the church of Saint Irene. The name is a corruption of Santa Irini, though the island’s official Greek name remains Thira, after the Dorian founder of ancient Thera.