Impact Of Trade On Ancient Greece

In the early fifth century BC, Greece consisted of many city-states allied in various factions or leagues. The alliances between these cities are difficult to understand. The alliances created a patchwork where

If there was ever an important period historians, and people could put a finger on, this would be it. This is the important period where the world’s countries, kingdoms, and dynasties established trade routes. This is the period where countries were made and countries were destroyed because of the importance of trade and the importance of building a fundamental, religious, and economical way of life. This paper will discuss the goals and functions of trades, and traders, and a historical analysis of world trade. This paper will also get into world trade patterns, of The Americas, Sub-Saharan Africa, The Indian Ocean, The Silk routes, China and The South China Sea, Europe and The Mediterranean, and The Atlantic Exploration.

1. Trade networks in the post-Classical era has seen a range variety of the established and new networks of people’s exchanges crossing several regions. Extraordinary amount of wealth and growth emerged through cultural exchanges. Advanced transportation, the many different governing policies and business practices led to the widespread connection of networks which also contributed to the cultural, biological and technological spread throughout societies.

The Athenian Empire was a more voluntary alliance of city-states that were impressed by the Athenian Navy's prowess in the Persian War and were willing to pay for its protection. Athens used this revenue to further improve its navy, as well as improve its own infrastructure and defenses. Included in these improvements was the construction of large walls around the city and down to the port at Piraeus, home of the Athenian Navy.

One way was the sea. Athens was located on the Attica peninsula so they were surrounded by water on three sides and Athens built its naval supremacy of Triremes. The Triremes gave Athens control of the Mediterranean Sea so they controlled trade and gained the name the “Big Olive.” A lot of the battles of the Persian war were fought with navies and the Trireme allowed for them to win the narrow straits of Salamis. The sea also greatly impacted economy. The Ionian Sea, Mediterranean Sea, and Aegean Sea connected all of the land and islands of Ancient Greece so they could trade with one another. The Sea also allowed for travel and they could trade with other countries like Egypt. They could make a profit for their natural resources and benefit from obtaining resources that were not natural to Greece at the time. The biggest impact geography had on Greece was the land. The land was dry with only 20% arable land and it was extremely mountainous. The mountains ran from the northwest part of Greece to the southeast part along the Balkan Peninsula. Due to the dryness, the Greek city states were constantly looking to expand their land and the mountains caused each city state to be spread apart. This made them have decentralized governments. Also due to the mountainous geography, there were over 1000 Greek city states including Athens and Sparta. Land also was on Sparta’s side during the Peloponnesian

The colonies had the same form of government and religious traditions as the original metropolis. However, there were no political ties between the metropolis and the apoikia, resulting in political independence. In the 8th century B.C., when colonization first occurred, the locations of the colonies reflected the trading outposts on the coast of the land; the colonies were in those locations in order to secure and control the trade routes. Consequently, the Greeks frequently came into contact with other groups of people who would pass through these trades post, connecting them with other resources. As the Greeks expanded from the western direction, another power was expanding to the same place from the eastern direction. The Greek colonies located in Asia Minor were overtaken by the Persian Empire under the rule of King Darius. In the early 5th century B.C., the Ionian Greeks intended to revolt against the unwanted Persian rule. As they revolt against the Persians, they get help from Athens, “Once persuaded to accede to Aristagoras’ appeal, the Athenians passed a decree for the dispatch of twenty ships to Ionia…These ships were the beginning of evils for Greeks and barbarians” (Herodotus, 5.97). Because Athens helps her former colonies revolt against the tyrants appointed by Persia, Persia seeks revenge against Athens. The rapid colonization of the areas outside of mainland Greece, particularly to Asia Minor, created an inevitable conflict between the Greeks and the

Trade was their main economy. It either lead them to a successful period or a time of difficulty. They developed trade systems and ways to live much like we would go to the store. They relied on trade to keep their families alive and well.

Much can be said about the Greeks and their contribution to Western Civilization greatly and how they paved the way. The Greeks subsidized Western Civilization greatly, contributing areas of architecture, government, and many more. The Greeks built the Parthenon, a temple dedicated the infamous goddess Athena, who they viewed as there patron. The famous temple has columns and groundwork that characterizes Greek architecture. The architects were concerned with conducting a sense of perfect balance to reflect cooperation and order in the universe. They were the first to think of the idea of democracy, a system in which people govern themselves rather than being ruled by a king; they also valued beauty and imagination.

Since the food was plentiful, the population expanded. Soon, advanced cities developed for large area trade. As social standing

Because Greece is on a mountainous peninsula, there was not much grains produced, but they had an excess amount of olive oil, wool, wine, and pottery. They traded these items for grain, timer, animal hides, and much more. Another plus of Greece being on the peninsula was that it had easy access to waterways, which made for easy trade and fishing. The Greeks had a well developed Navy because of the surrounding waters. The Greeks tried to revolt against the Persian empire. The Polis, an ancient greek city-state, of Athens tried to support with their ships, but the Greek rebellion was crushed by darius in 493 BCE, and his successor Xerxes, burnt Athens. He is the driven out by massive defeat by the Greek’s

Trade and conquest both had their impacts, but looking closer one impact was more significant than the other. Trade was a way for people to obtain goods they didn’t have or couldn’t make by giving away an item they had a surplus amount of. Trade, in my opinion, didn’t have much of an impact as conquest. Trade was only small development, whereas conquest was the process of gaining territory by the use of subjugation and military forces. Early civilizations developed from conquest because without conquest the same civilization would own the same territory. There were multiple early civilizations, and if they had never conquest for more land, other civilizations would overrule them and take their territory. Further spread of civilization happened directly through conquest, the spread of how much land they had and could acquire was due to conquest and military forces. Because conflict and conquest exists, they realized they had to defend their civilization and build military forces to keep enemies out.

In a relatively resource-poor region, a society rose from the access of foreign sources of raw materials and markets abroad. This society came to be known as one of the largest nations in Eurasia. The rise and fall of this great nation has to do with war-fare and the conflict between city-states. Their division led to the widespread of language and culture. This is the great story of Ancient Greece and how individualism changed the view Greece had on certain issues. (Bulliet 99) From 1000 B.C.E to 30 B.C.E, Ancient Greece’s view on individualism changed the political system Greece had, over time changed the way individuals thought and made important Intellectual changes, and gradually changed the Economic system such as bartering.

For example, individuals would trade food with a sheep, so they can use wool to make clothing. Additionally, trade expanded techknowledge. People learned how to produce variety of costumes. They started using distinct patterns and embroidery and developed different

Greek-Speaking people maintained a common identity by trading material items long distantly; which were also important in the long term for the Greeks. They traded materials long distantly by land and sea. They preferred trading by water because they had large ships which allowed them to carry more items and bring back more. Trading on land only allowed them to carry jewelry and not much else. They can carry and measure the weight of their products. Weight measurements allowed materials to be evenly sold and related to each place. The Greeks for more likely to get robbed if they traded on land rather by boat. It’s good to trade material like items, because they are worth a lot of money and can be used by anybody. The Greek’s can trade long distantly with their relative country. They traded Slaves, wine, Olive oil, Books, Artifacts, art, and

The influx of merchants with commercial goods advanced Greek living into city-states. Economically Greece grew at an alarming rate, so its people had to return to the mainland. Network cities were the result of the visitors crowding their seaports and peninsulas. Merchants and traders were often accused of cheating consumers because of their dishonest methods.