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.
Greek geography (II):
resources
 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 (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
For
certain resources through
fighting, because
exchange with other
many of those resources
communities.
were obtained through
colonisation of other
communities.