17 Facts About Santorini

The municipality of Santorini includes the inhabited islands of Santorini and Therasia, as well as the uninhabited islands of Nea Kameni, Palaia Kameni, Aspronisi and Christiana.

Santorini was named by the Latin Empire in the thirteenth century, and is a reference to Saint Irene, from the name of the old cathedral in the village of Perissa – the name Santorini is a contraction of the name Santa Irini.

Santorini remained unoccupied throughout the rest of the Bronze Age, during which time the Greeks took over Crete.

Name "Santorini" first appears c in the work of the Muslim geographer al-Idrisi, as "Santurin", from the island's patron saint, Saint Irene.

Santorini retained its privileged position in the 17th century, but suffered in turn from Venetian raids during the frequent Ottoman–Venetian wars of the period, even though there were no Muslims on the island.

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At the time, the population of Santorini was divided between those who supported independence, and those who were ambivalent or distrustful of a revolt being directed by Hydra and Spetses or were fearful of the Sultan's revenge.

The Provisional Administration of Greece organised the Aegean islands into six provinces, one of which was Santorini and appointed Matzarakis its governor in April 1822.

Santorini claimed to his superiors that the islanders needed “political re-education” as they did not understand why they had to pay higher taxes than those which they enjoyed under the Ottomans in order to support the struggle for independence.

In decree 573 issued by the National Assembly 17 May 1823 Santorini was recognized as one of 15 provinces in the Greek controlled Aegean .

Santorini joined an insurrection that had broken out in Nafplio on 1 February 1862 against the rule of King Otto of Greece.

In 1944, the German garrison on Santorini was raided by a group of British Special Boat Service Commandos, killing most of its men.

Santorini was ranked the world's top island by many magazines and travel sites, including the Travel+Leisure Magazine, the BBC, as well as the US News.

Volcanism on Santorini is due to the Hellenic subduction zone southwest of Crete.

Santorini has erupted many times, with varying degrees of explosivity.

Santorini has a semi-arid climate with Mediterranean characteristics.

Traditional architecture of Santorini is similar to that of the other Cyclades, with low-lying cubical houses, made of local stone and whitewashed or limewashed with various volcanic ashes used as colours.

Board game Santorini, inspired by the architecture of the island's cliffside villages, was published in 2004 by Gordon Hamilton.