Geography of Ancient Greece

Ancient Greece Geography

Open Ended

What is something you know about Ancient Greece and/or what is something you are interested learning about more in terms of Ancient Greece?

Objectives

• Understand the geography of Greece and how it impacted demand for food and supplies for its citizens

• Understand how and why the early colonies were formed

Multiple Choice

On what continent is Greece located?

• North America

• Asia

• Europe

• Africa

Multiple Choice

Based upon the map, the terrain of Greece is mostly mountainous. About what percentage do you think was mountainous. Remember that 66% of China's geography was mountains.

• 50%

• 66%

• 80%

• 90%

Greece is a peninsula

• What is a peninsula?

• Peninsula: area of land surrounded by 3 bodies of water

• 1) Aegean Sea (east)

• 2) Mediterranean Sea (south)

• 3) Ionian Sea (west)

Multiple Choice

Greece is said to have up to about 6,000 islands with less than 300 of them inhabited (occupied by people)

• True

• False

The climate of Greece

• Hot and dry summers-limits crops

• Only rains (or snows) in the winter

• When hot, rivers would dry up

• Rivers would flood in the winter

• The temps of Ancient Greece & today follow a similar trend

Farming was difficult due to the many hillsides & rocky soil

• Grapes and olives were key

• Are often grown at the same time, same area, similar climate

• Same harvesting time & process

• Olives surround grapes to help with strong winds

• Both are self-pollinators

Grapes & olives couldn't sustain them so what would the people of Greece depend on to get their food? Remember-thousands of islands and a majority of their land is too mountainous

• The coastline & seas

• Because of their dependance on the seas, what are some jobs that were created?

Open Ended

Because of their dependance on the seas, what are some job that were created? Name as many jobs as you can

The seas gave the people an opportunity to become

• Sailors

• Shipbuilders

• Traders

• Fishers

In addition to people using the seas as a means to find food,

• They also began to explore the surrounding areas

• This is one of the reasons why they were able to colonize (send people to settle in a new area)

• This is also another reason how the culture of Greece was able to spread all over this region

Review

• Greece is located in Europe and has a mainland and thousands of islands

• Greeks depended upon the sea for food & resources due to its mountainous terrain and climate

• The dependance upon the sea helped spread Greek culture