The Greek landscapes were more advanced than all other lands. The Ancient Greeks could make amazing things because Ancient Greece had so many natural resources.
Mainland Greece is almost completely surrounded by the Mediterranean Sea. Greece has more than 1400 islands. They have mild winters and long hot and dry summers. Greek cities were founded around the Black Sea, North Africa, Italy, Sicily, France and Spain. Greece is the most South-Eastern region on the European continent. It is surrounded by mountains except for the North by the water. The mountains which are natural barriers and boundaries dictated the political character of Greece, Early times the Greeks lived independently in small communities isolated from each other by the landscape. Later the communities were organised into city-states. The mountains made it hard to large-scale farm so the Greeks spread beyond their borders to new lands. That is why Greece has so many islands |
The Mediterranean Sea controls Greece's climate, cooling the air in summer and providing warmth in winter months.
Greece is in the middle of a very active volcanic zone. Its where the European tectonic plates meet the African tectonic plates. There are 7 active volcanoes, and earthquakes are very common. This is how the Greeks became interested in a particular kind of religion which was called Oracles. Oracles are the Gods speaking to people often in a form of an earthquake. The Gods tell people what is going on in the future. |
Greece has water on three sides surrounding them which makes it a peninsula. There are small peninsula's out from the shore. The country has fertile grounds for ports and harbours. Greece's mainland is surrounded by islands. This gives Greece variety of different cultures and types of people. The mainland of Greece is made up of mountains which now cities are built upon. The soil of the mountains are very fertile which makes it good for farming. Vegetables and fruit were in an abundance. It is inspired to trade between cities and roads to establish trade routes. The mountain ranges of Ancient Greece were amazing. This inspired legends and heroic stories. The highest point was "the home of Gods" Mount Olympus. It is 2919 metres above sea level.
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The Greek landscape in the Bronze Age didn't look the same as it does today. There used to be a lot of trees on the hillsides of Greece, but people had cut them down. Now the hills of Greece are mostly bare or have small bushes. Nobody is sure when the trees were cut down but it very likely it has to do with when the Greeks started using Iron around 800 BC. They have to heat Iron very hot (1537 degrees) in order to melt it and that takes a lot of wood fires.
26-7 http://www.ancientgreece.co.uk/geography/home_set.html http://www.penn.museum/sites/greek_world/land.html http://quatr.us/greeks/environment/ http://www.crystalinks.com/greekgeography.html |