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Santorini ((ギリシア語:Σαντορίνη), pronounced (:sandoˈrini)), classically Thera (English pronunciation ), and officially Thira (Greek: Θήρα (:ˈθira)), is an island in the southern Aegean Sea, about southeast of Greece's mainland. It is the largest island of a small, circular archipelago which bears the same name and is the remnant of a volcanic caldera. It forms the southernmost member of the Cyclades group of islands, with an area of approximately and a 2011 census population of 15,550. The municipality of Santorini includes the inhabited islands of Santorini and Therasia and the uninhabited islands of Nea Kameni, Palaia Kameni, Aspronisi, and Christiana. The total land area is . Santorini is part of the Thira regional unit.〔(Kallikratis law ) Greece Ministry of Interior 〕 Santorini is essentially what remains after an enormous volcanic eruption that destroyed the earliest settlements on a formerly single island, and created the current geological caldera. A giant central, rectangular lagoon, which measures about , is surrounded by high, steep cliffs on three sides. The main island slopes downward to the Aegean Sea. On the fourth side, the lagoon is separated from the sea by another much smaller island called Therasia; the lagoon is connected to the sea in two places, in the northwest and southwest. The depth of the caldera, at 400m, makes it impossible for any but the largest ships to anchor anywhere in the protected bay; there is also a fisherman's harbour at Vlychada, on the southwestern coast. The island's principal port is Athinias. The capital, Fira, clings to the top of the cliff looking down on the lagoon. The volcanic rocks present from the prior eruptions feature olivine and have a small presence of hornblende.〔Michaēl Phytikas, ''The South Aegean Active Volcanic Arc: Present Knowledge and Future Perspectives''〕 It is the most active volcanic centre in the South Aegean Volcanic Arc, though what remains today is chiefly a water-filled caldera. The volcanic arc is approximately long and wide. The region first became volcanically active around 3–4 million years ago, though volcanism on Thera began around 2 million years ago with the extrusion of dacitic lavas from vents around the Akrotiri. The island is the site of one of the largest volcanic eruptions in recorded history: the Minoan eruption (sometimes called the Thera eruption), which occurred some 3,600 years ago at the height of the Minoan civilization. The eruption left a large caldera surrounded by volcanic ash deposits hundreds of metres deep and may have led indirectly to the collapse of the Minoan civilization on the island of Crete, to the south, through a gigantic tsunami. Another popular theory holds that the Thera eruption is the source of the legend of Atlantis.〔Charles Pellegrino, ''Unearthing Atlantis - An Archaeological Odyssey'' Vintage Books, 1991〕 ==Names== 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. Before then, it was known as Kallístē (Καλλίστη, ''"the most beautiful one"''), Strongýlē ((ギリシア語:Στρογγύλη), ''"the circular one"''),〔C. Doumas (editor). ''Thera and the Aegean world: papers presented at the second international scientific congress, Santorini, Greece, August 1978''. London, 1978. ISBN 0-9506133-0-4〕 or Thēra. The name ''Thera'' was revived in the nineteenth century as the official name of the island and its main city, but the colloquial name ''Santorini'' is still in popular use. During the Ottoman Empire's domination of the Aegean Sea, the Turkish exonym for the island was "Santurin" or "Santoron".〔Prof. Erinc http://www.yachtworks.info/tr/ege_adalari.html or English: http://www.yachtworks.info/en/aegean_islands.html〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Santorini」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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