Santorini History

Santorini History

The caldera that was created by the eruption of the volcano at Thira is nearly three times the size of that at Kratatoa, which erupted in 1883. Studying the details of the Krakatoa eruption, Marinatos learned that the sound produced by it carried for 3000 miles, to Western Australia, and its tsunami-like tidal wave, more than 200 meters (656 feet) in height, had destroyed everything within a 150 km/93-mile distance. The comparative effects of the explosion at Thira must have been truly cataclysmic, and the destruction of northern Crete and its Minoan palaces (Minoan civilization, in fact) are most often attributed to it.