THE IMPACT OF GEOGRAPHY ON ANCIENT GREECE

Landforms

Greece is located on the southeastern corner of Europe at the southern most end of the Balkan peninsula.

The land is rough with deep valleys separated by mountain ranges.

These mountains divided the ancient Greek people into separate communities that often came into conflict with each other.

Climate

The mild climate let them grow crops of olives, grapes, figs and grains.

The thin soil however limited the size of the farms

This meant that the Greeks had trouble raising enough food to feed themselves so they looked to the sea for food.

Greeks and the seas

Greece has more than 3200 km of coastline and thousands of islands.

These islands were like stepping stones for Greek sailors who could travel for days and never lose sight of land.

The Greeks could also reach out to other places for food such as Egypt and other Middle Eastern lands.

The sea became a vital link for the Ancient Greeks.

The hundreds of bays provided safe harbour for their ships

They became the most skilled sailors of their time.

They traded olive oil, wine and marble for grains metals and ideas like the Phoenician alphabet which became the basis for our modern one.

http://www.uncg.edu/cla/maps/mediterranean.htm

All of these factors meant that the ancient Greeks found themselves: Isolated from each other which led to the

formation of independent city states instead of one large country under a single king

These city states also developed very fierce rivalries with each other.

This led to many wars being fought among the different cities .