Geography
Pantelleria Island, Italian Isola di Pantelleria, Latin Cossyra is an Italian island in the Mediterranean Sea between Sicily and Tunisia. Of volcanic origin, it rises to 2,743 feet (836 m) at the extinct crater of Magna Grande. The last eruption (underwater to the west of the island) took place in 1891, but hot mineral springs and fumaroles testify to continued volcanic activity
The island of Pantelleria is located above a drowned continental rift in the Strait of Sicily and has been the locus of intensive volcano-tectonic activity. The 15-km-long (9.3 mi) island is the emergent summit of a largely submarine edifice.Two large Pleistocene calderas dominate the island, the older of the two formed about 114,000 years ago and the younger, Cinque Denti caldera formed about 45,000 years ago.The eruption that formed the Cinque Denti caldera produced the distinctive Green Tuff deposit that covers much of the island, and is found across the Mediterranean, as far away as the island of Lesbos in the Aegean. Holocene eruptions have constructed pumice cones, lava domes, and short, blocky lava flows. Post Green Tuff activity constructed the cone of Monte Gibele, part of which was subsequently uplifted to form Montagna Grande. Several vents are located on three sides of the uplifted Montagna Grande block on the southeast side of the island. A submarine eruption in 1891 from a vent off the northwest coast is the only confirmed historical activity.
Currently the island is undergoing a period of deflation, and Montagna Grande is slowly sinking. This is thought to be caused by the magma beneath the volcano cooling and degassing. There are also numerous hot springs and fumeroles on the island, due to an active hydrothermal system. Favara Grande, in the south east of the island, is one of the best examples. The island is also releasing a small amount of CO2 through passive degassing.
The island is fertile, but lacks any fresh water. The principal town (pop. about 3,000) is on the north-west, upon the only harbour (only fit for small steamers), which is fortified. There was also a penal colony here.
Climate
The climate is typically Mediterranean with hot summers and mild winters. The average yearly temperature is 18 degrees. There is little rain, only 350 mm. per year, due to the wind which keeps the sky free of clouds.
History
Archaeological evidence has unearthed dwellings and artifacts dated at 35,000 years ago.
The original population of Pantelleria did not come from Sicily, and was of Iberian or Ibero-Ligurian stock. After a considerable interval, during which the island probably remained uninhabited, the Carthaginians took possession of it (no doubt owing to its importance as a station on the way to Sicily) probably about the beginning of the 7th century BC, occupying as their acropolis the twin hill of San Marco and Santa Teresa, 2 km (1.2 mi) south of the town of Pantelleria. The town possesses considerable remains of walls made of rectangular blocks of masonry, and also of a number of cisterns. Punic tombs have also been discovered, and the votive terra-cottas of a small sanctuary of the Punic period were found near the north coast.
The Romans occupied the island as the Fasti Triumphales record in 255 BC, lost it again the next year, and recovered it in 217 BC. Under the Empire it served as a place of banishment for prominent persons and members of the imperial family. The town enjoyed municipal rights.
In a 1700 the island was conquered by the Arabs, from whose language the island's name is taken: Bent El Riahn "the daughter of the winds", which represents the strong winds that arise off the north coast of Africa. In 1123 Roger of Sicily took the island, and in 1311 an Aragonese fleet, under the command of Lluís de Requesens, won a considerable victory here, and his family became princes of Pantelleria until 1553, when the town was sacked by the Turks.
Its capture was regarded as crucial to the Allied success in invading Sicily in 1943 because it allowed planes to be based in range of the larger island. Pantelleria was heavily bombarded, from both air and sea, in the days before the scheduled invasion, and the garrison finally surrendered as the landing troops were approaching. The capture of Pantelleria was called Operation Corkscrew and it played a part as a vital base for Allied aircraft during Operation Husky.