Until the Pleistocene (app. 1 million years before Christ) the island was part of the European land mass and formed the connection between Europe with Asia.

Because of that, the island is situated next to a seismographic gorge that causes the mainland of Africa to shift underneath the mainland of Europe. This has caused Crete to rise (in the West) or drop several metres over the last ten thousand years.

This also is the cause of regular earthquakes on the island.

According to the legend the biggest earthquake ever wiped out the whole Minoan civilization. This earthquake was followed by a volcanic eruption on Santorini, an island North of Crete. The crumbled stone from Santorini caused a Tsunami that flushed away half of Crete. The volcanic erruption also caused a metre’s high layer of ashes that covered parts of Crete. After this earthquake no one ever heard of the Minoans again.

The earthquake of Santorini has also been allied with the legend of Atlantis, with a civilization as the Minoans.