Crete was the birthplays of the first European Civilization. The Minoans already sailed the Mediterranean Sea in the earlier stages of the Bronze Ages and traveled as far as Cornwall to obtain tin, the rare metal that made bronze when adding to copper. They established an extensive trade network with super powers of this age, like Egypt, the Hittite Empire and other powers in Mesopotamia and became a super power themselves. They dominated the Proto-Greeks like the Myceans in and around the Aegean Sea before everything fell apart in the Bronze Age Collapse. The Minoan culture vanished from the surface of the earth like many of its trading partners. Traces of great fires, great fights and natural catastrophes may explain the end of the Bronze Age Cilization. The volcano explosion of Thera - todays Santorin - and thereby caused earthquakes and tsunamis may have caused incredible damage and lead to unprecedented destruction and warefare by the so-called sea peoples, a coalition of non-related peoples united by the destruction of their world, seeking refuge somewhere else, away from home. Some even equal the Mionan culture of Bronze Age Crete with the legendary Atlantis. 

We will probably never know, but what we do know is that what remains today is one of the most wonderful islands in the Mediterranean, actually all over the world.