"what happened to Atlantis"

The Last of Atlantis
Public DomainThe Last of Atlantis - Credit: Nicholas Roerich
 Atlantis  is a legendary island first mentioned by Plato, who stated that  Atlantis was a naval power lying "in front of the Pillars of Hercules" that conquered many parts of Western Europe and Africa  approximately around 9600 BC. After a failed attempt to invade Athens, Atlantis sank into the ocean "in a single day and night of misfortune".

Scholars dispute whether and how much Plato's story or account was inspired by older traditions. While little known during the Middle Ages, the story of Atlantis was rediscovered by Humanists in the Early Modern period.

Various sites have been proposed as the location of Atlantis - in or near the Mediterranean Sea, in the Atlantic ocean, in the Bermuda Triangle. In the Mediterranean, the Thera eruption, dated  17th or 16th century BC, caused a large tsunami that experts hypothesize devastated the Minoan civilization on the nearby island of Crete, further leading some to believe that this may have been the catastrophe that inspired the story.