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Greece Geography

Greece consists of a large mainland and over 3,000 islands, with about 80% consisting of mountains or hills. The climate is divided into three classes - Mediterranean, Alpine, and Temperate. Ancient Greece had many small towns and villages scattered across the landscape where people farmed and lived, with roads and mule tracks connecting the settlements.

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Juan S. Rivas
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20 views

Greece Geography

Greece consists of a large mainland and over 3,000 islands, with about 80% consisting of mountains or hills. The climate is divided into three classes - Mediterranean, Alpine, and Temperate. Ancient Greece had many small towns and villages scattered across the landscape where people farmed and lived, with roads and mule tracks connecting the settlements.

Uploaded by

Juan S. Rivas
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Greece consists of a large mainland at the southern end of the Balkans; the

Peloponnesus peninsula (separated from the mainland by the canal of the


Isthmus of Corinth); and numerous islands (around 3,000), including Crete,
Rhodes, Kos, Euboea and the Dodecanese and Cycladic groups of the
Aegean Sea as well as the Ionian sea islands.
About 80% of Greece consists of mountains or hills, making Greece
one of the most mountainous countries of Europe. Western Greece contains
lakes and wetlands. Pindus, the central mountain range, has a maximum
elevation of 2,636 m.
The Central and Western Greece area contains high, steep peaks dissected
by many canyons and other karstic landscapes, including the Meteora and
the Vikos Gorge.

Mount Olympus forms the highest point in Greece at 2,919 meters above
sea level. Also northern Greece presents another high range, the Rhodope,
located in Eastern Macedonia and Thrace; this area is covered with vast
and thick century old forests like the famous Dadia.
Plains are mainly found in Eastern Thessaly, Central Macedonia and
Thrace.
Climate
Greece's climate is divided into three well defined classes, the
Mediterranean, Alpine and Temperate, the first one features mild, wet
winters and hot, dry summers. Temperatures rarely reach extremes,
although snowfalls do occur occasionally even in Athens, Cyclades or
Crete during the winter.
Alpine is found primarily in Western Greece. Finally the temperate climate
is found in Central and Eastern Macedonia as well as in Thrace at places
like Komotini, Xanthi and northern Evros; with cold, damp winters and
hot, dry summers. It's worth to mention that Athens is located in a
transition area between the Mediterranean and Alpine climate, thus finding
that in its southern suburbs weather is of Mediterranean type while in the
Northern suburbs of the Alpine type.
About 50% of Greek land is covered by forests with rich varied vegetation
which spans from Alpine coniferous to Mediterranean type vegetation.
Seals, sea turtles and other rare marine life live in the seas around Greece,
while Greece's forests provide a home to Western Europe's last brown
bears and lynx as well as other species like Wolf, Roe Deer, Wild Goat,
Fox and Wild Boar among others.

Geography has always had a great influence on Greece and its inhabitants.
It is largely responsible for numerous continuities in its extensive history.
While the mountains that split the Greek lands have contributed to localism
they have been a major barrier to unity as a nation. The struggle of
communication by land and the significant presence of the sea have made
mariners out of Greeks for numerous generations. The natural resources
ensure a steady flow of abundance and guarantee sustenance if governed
wisely.
Farming
In ancient Greece, many cities had land that was used for farming within
the city, but most of the people lived in small towns and villages outside of
the city. Archeological survey indicates that there were even smaller
settlements such as hamlets (very small villages), and isolated farms which
were only lived in seasonally. According to this information, there would
have been many villages, hamlets, single farms, and occasional small towns
scattered over the land; as can still be seen in Crete.
The Greeks had their private space that consisted of the agricultural fields
in the territory of the polis and their houses compacted in settlements,
whether in the central town of the city-state, in smaller towns, or villages.
Ancient Greeks preferred to live in such compacted settlements, even when
agriculture was their main source of support. Occasionally, there has been
evidence of how agricultural land was organized by the residents of the
settlements in rectangular and equal lots. The idea was that each family
would farm a single plot of land. But, there was a tendency for farmland to
become divided and for a landowner to own many plots of land scattered
all over the community.
The land was organized for mules and donkeys with built mule-tracks
reaching every settlement. Since the Bronze Age, there had been chariots
and wagons with roads that that were easy to drive on, but the roads were
not easy to drive on. Classical Greek roads were more complete with
grooves cut for the wheels in steep and rocky places. The road system, the
landscape, the markets, and the farms were all part of the geography of
ancient Greece.

Greece has thousands of islands


Ancient Greeks became a sea-going people due to the close proximity of
the sea to most Greek city-states. These merchants and traders developed a
sense of freedom and independence not seen before.

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