The Influence Of The Physical Geography Of Ancient Greece

To start off, the geography of Greece affected early settlements in many positive ways. One great example of the lands geography that made a positive impact on Greece was Mount Olympus, more importantly it’s height. Mount Olympus was and still is a very tall mountain. Since the mountain reached so far up into the sky, the top of it was

Geography played a big role in determining the political units and economic institutions of Mediterranean society. The mountains interspersed throughout the Greek peninsula led to regionalism in the form of city-states. This was a departure from the centralized government of China. The fact that civilization developed along a peninsula also shaped Mediterranean culture. The ocean provided some protection from invaders and allowed for the advancement of trade.

Basing at the “strayer” argument, he argued that among the factors that contributed to Mediterranean area adapting to Greek culture were because of the political development, whereby he said that availability of the mountainous terrain facilitated the elaboration of the towns and the city states. Moreover, most Greeks cities were designed in a way that they were able to support and promote commercial activities such as trade. Therefore, comparing many features in Greek culture and those of the areas such as in Mediterranean contributed to the lasting effects of Greek culture and its spread throughout the Mediterranean world.

The Greek Civilization began in a coastal, mountainous region. The regions soil is stony, so much of the land was only good for the pasturing of livestock; however, there were places that were suitable for planting crops, such as olives. The mountains and the sea were a great form of natural protection, creating a barrier between them and potential invaders. The sea gave the Greeks a fast

In Greece, the geography affected early settlements in positive ways. An example is Mount Olympus, since it was so high up and covered by clouds, Greeks believed Gods lived there. Document 2 states, ”According to the ancient Greeks, their gods controlled every part of daily life--the weather, crops, money, love, and business, phases of the moon, earthquakes, and even whether a loaf of bread burned in the oven.” This proves that ancient Greeks not being able to see the top of the mountain, made them believe the gods were up there, and it gave them an explanation to everything. Another one is, how hot and dry climates were great for growing olive trees. In document 4 it states, ”Olive oil was as good as money to the ancient Greeks, since they could trade it for other land not available

The civilians of Ancient Greece had to be resourceful. Most civilizations had rivers to channel, irrigate, and predict. Ancient Greece is a series of islands. This means that the people of Ancient Greece had to learn to live on the ocean. They had to deal with being more vulnerable to land attacks as they were used to battling with ships. And they also had to deal with huge ocean storms. These storms could destroy a new society with no notice. (Acrobatic, 2014)

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

One of the problems was that the "Greeks lived in independent communities or societies isolated from each other." As stated in Document five, Also stated in document five "Later these communities were organized into polesis or city-states. " The natural boundaries were hills and mountains and there was many of them in Greece. " Also, when Greece was attacked by a different country or civilization like Persia most of Greece would unite together. " That's what the first negative effect it had on ancient Greek Civilization, now on to the second negative

From the struggles the people who lived in Ancient Greece had to face to the positives, geography has always had a great influence on Greece and how the people there survived. Two big positives being the climate which was perfect for growing valuable olive trees and another positive being the seas that surrounded Greece and allowed the Greeks to trade and help them in many other ways. Two big negatives being the rocky, mountainous terrain and another negative being the common volcano eruptions and earthquakes. Although Ancient Greece had its negatives so does every country and it were these pros and cons that helped the Greeks develop essential survival skills.

The geography of ancient Greece impacted their civilization in a variety of ways. The Greek peninsula is surrounded by the west by the Ionian Sea, the Mediterranean Sea to the south and the Aegean Sea to the east.

Geography has always been a unique and picturesque part of Greece. Greece has amazing mountains and landscapes. Having the geography Greece has, has both positive and negative effects on Greece but the results are ultimately negative. Like the lack of communication and the isolation between communities. Also the natural disaster were negative too.

“Geography has made us neighbors. History has made us friends. Economics has made us partners, and necessity has made us allies. Those whom God has so joined together, let no man put asunder.” ~(John F. Kennedy) Geography has impacted countries and regions dissimilarly throughout the duration of history. Geography influences the historical and social development of a country or region. These features can either cause an area to be hindered or prosperous in its development. Likewise, the Tigris and Euphrates rivers of Mesopotamia were essential because it provided fertile soil for crops, trade, transport and the necessities to food sources. Also, the mountainous terrain of Greece caused the country to have independent city- states. The mountains

Greece is one of the four multicultural empires that occurred around 600 BCE to 600 CE. Ancient Greece had so many different geographical features that helped brand the outcomes of the empire. One of the key features was Greece’s rugged mountains with deep valleys. With the mountains and valleys being rugged, it produced poor rocky soils (Acrobatiq, 2014). Also, there were narrow coastal areas as well. With this being a living environment for the Greeks, the production of food crops was unfortunate because of those factors. The Greeks had to find other ways to gather foods to their city-states because of the low production of food crops. With this being a bittersweet situation, Greeks recognized more about trades. They eventually became more knowledgeable and respectable at it. Greeks would find other places that would trade with them for food crops and other resources. Greeks built colonies that were decent areas for finding foods and resources. Through this time, Greeks expanded with trading and traveling to enhance their empire.

From Document 6 it said “ Praise to thee, O Nile…that waters the meadows, that nourishes all cattle, that gives drinks to desert places…that makes barley and creates wheat” this shows that geography greatly affected the lives of the ancient Egyptians. The Nile River gave them a source of food and water and it watered the crops. Without the Nile River Ancient Egypt would have been very different. Another example is when agriculture started to become a way of living. Because of the crops that grew at different places, people were affected massively.

Classical civilizations have had a great impact on modern society. Ancient Greece can be considered as a very influential classical civilization. Geography plays a crucial role in shaping civilizations, and this is true of ancient Greece. Three geographic factors in Greece influenced the development of Greek society. The first one is the sea. As a matter of fact, Greece has a very easy access to water. Because the Greek people live around the sea and not on a land, they naturally become traders. Greece is a very mountainous country. Indeed, ¾ of the Greek land consists of rugged mountains, and this factor made transportation difficult. The third factor is the climate. Thanks to a Mediterranean climate, the moderate temperature present throughout