Ancient Greece

Geography & adaptation to environment

Where is Greece? Greece is a

peninsula in south east Europe, in the Mediterranian Sea.

It’s very close to Egypt, what used to be the Persian empire (includes Turkey) and Italy (Rome).

Greek geography (I): landscape

Greece has a very scenic landscape.

The terrain of Greece is very varied.

There are mountains, valleys and coasts.

The high mountains are separated by deep valleys through which rivers flow.

Vegetation is dependent on geographical regions.

Due to the variety of land, there a some 6,000 indigenous species in Greece.

In Ancient Greece, farmers grew olives, figs, grain, fruit and grapes in the fertile valleys.

Greek geography (II): resources

Greek geography (III): adaptation to environment

Greek communities often times developed independently because of the mountains, thus they were diverse

However, other parts of Ancient Greece had drier soil and less vegetation, particularly around the cities.

Although surrounded by sea water, they found it difficult to find fresh water away from the valleys.

The high mountains also prevented large-scale farming, so the Greeks were forced to look beyond their own country for fertile land.

Technology results from necessity

Since Greece is a peninsula, many coastal cities developed a powerful navy for trading and fighting.

For trading, because due to the landscape it became necessary to get certain resources through exchange with other communities.

For fighting, because many of those resources were obtained through colonisation of other communities.