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| Santorini History and Archaeology |
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In the Peloponnesian War the island took the side of Sparta. During the Hellenistic period it was used by the Ptolemies as a base for their military activities in the Aegean. Following the Roman domination of the Greek world in 146 BC, the island slipped into oblivion - just a tiny dot on the map of the vast Roman Empire. By the 4th century AD the island had already adopted Christianity and was home to an organized church. The only significant event during the Byzantine era was the founding of the Church of Panagia Episkopi Gonias by the Emperor Alexios Comninos I in the late 11th century AD.
Following the capture of Constantinople by the Crusaders in 1204, the island was conceded to Marco Sanoudo (1207) and became part of the Duchy of Naxos. During the years of Prankish rule shared the fate of many others islands in the Duchy, the victim of hostilities among the local Latin rulers and a prey to Pirates attacks from the sea. During the years oh the Turkish rule (1579-1821) this piracy was suppressed and the islanders began to enter into commercial relations with the great ports of eastern Mediterranean.
The 18th century was a great affluence and saw the island enjoy its social and cultural heyday. Commercial shipping enjoyed a period of great expansion, especially after the treaty of Kioutsouk Kainartzi (1774). This expansion reached its climax after the liberation from the Turks, when the island became part of the newly-formed modern Greek state in 1830. Industry too began to grow, in the form of tomato processing, wine making and textiles.
During the 20th century the island has had to suffer the same decline in commercial activity which has afflicted the whole Aegean region, the consequences of the two world wars and the wave of migration to the cities of the main land. It also suffered the terrible earthquake of 1956. Since the late 1970's however, the island's fortunes have taken a turn for the better, largely thanks to the growth in tourism.
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