serve as a natural barrier and make them less-likely to face invasions.

The development of ancient Greece is heavily influenced by geography. The geographic features of Greece isolated the area, especially in ancient times. Due to geography, the ancient Greek civilizations developed unique cultures.

If we look at Greece today, a few features stand out. Greece is very mountainous, which played a key role in Greek development in a couple ways. The mountains provided protection for the ancient Greek city-states that developed. Mountains serve as a natural boundary that often prove to be difficult for attacking armies to cross. This also led to greater isolation of the Greek city-states, as the mountains provided a barrier to increased contact. As a result of isolation, city-states developed, each with its own government and culture. Some city-states, such as Athens, began to utilize an early democratic system, while other city-states had more authoritarian rule. The Greek city-states did have some interaction with each other through trade and war, but there was not as much cultural diffusion as occurs in places without such geographical barriers.

Due to the mountainous geography, Greece also lacks significant amounts of farmland. To find other sources of food, the Greeks turned to the seas surrounding them. Fishing became key to feeding the populations of the Greek city-states. The Greeks became excellent sailors and sea traders, utilizing their peninsula location to their advantage. Additionally, the Greek coastline provided many natural harbors to help with seafaring ventures.

The largest geographical impact on Greece was the fact that much of it is coastal.  Most of Greece is a peninsula.  Greece is surrounded by the Mediterranean Sea, the Ionian Sea, and the Aegean Sea.  Off the mainland are thousands of islands.  

Being located on the water had both positive and negative impacts on Greece.  Trade was important in ancient Greece.  Major cities, such as Athens, were located on or near the three seas.  Traders from Asia, Africa, and other parts of Europe could easy access Greece by water.  Greek traders could easily access other places in the world by sea.  This had a positive impact on the ancient Greek economy.  Major cities on the water were vulnerable to attacks by Greece's enemies.  This was the negative impact of the majority of Greece being located on the coast.

The first major effect geography had on ancient Greece had to do with agriculture. Much of Greece is rocky, relatively arid, and mountainous, which affects the types of crops that can be grown and animals that can be raised. One effect of this was to make Greece outstanding for production of olives and wine, which served as export commodities and led to extensive trade. The poor-quality soil and steeps slopes in many areas made Greece prone to deforestation and environmental degradation.

Because of the mountains separating parts of the Greek mainland, Greece evolved into many separate and often warring city-states rather than a unified nation.

Next, mountains make it difficult to travel by land in Greece. This led to many city-states focusing on sea travel for most forms of trade. Due to seasonal winds and weather, both trade and military activities were restricted to specific seasons.

Much of Greek sculpture and architecture was facilitated by the presence of high-quality marble, especially that found on the island of Paros.

Geography was very important to the development of ancient Greek city-states. Maritime power was valued by these states, as nearly all of them had access to water. To trade with many of the island city-states, ships were the only option. This maritime trade with the rest of the ancient world gave ancient Greeks access to a diverse array of goods and ideas. It also made them the envy of rivals such as the Persians, thus leading to war. As no Greek island was powerful enough to stand up to the Persian army, they banded together. While this was good to defeat the armies of Xerxes, it proved detrimental going forward, as Athens and Sparta were rivals and Sparta accused Athens of dominating the alliance. Athenian prosperity allowed them to devote more time to the arts and democracy.

The mountains, storms, and occasional seismic activity that took place on the Mediterranean coast also influenced Greek city-states. Greeks looked for answers to explain their everyday lives, and they turned to polytheism which was common in that area at the time. Much like the gods of ancient Egypt, the ancient Greek gods had love affairs, disagreements, and normal feelings like ordinary people. Many of the Greek city-states commissioned statues and other works in order to honor their pantheon of gods.

One of the main effects of the Greek geography on their civilization has been the fact that the islands surrounding the Greek peninsula have driven them to be an effective and powerful sea-faring society.  Trade among and between islands has always been a very important part of their development, and particularly at the height of their power the Greeks were able to build and maintain a powerful navy that projected Greek power throughout the Mediterranean.

Even now it creates small divisions within the Greek nation that will always be a part of a nation that is still surrounded by small islands with their own unique interests and tendencies.

It is important to note what kind of communities developed in the Greek world before discussing the impact geography had. In Ancient Greece, small villages developed into large and powerful city-states. The various city-states considered themselves individual nations. At times, they worked together on the battlefield, and other times they fought one another. They also traded with each other and with colonies that they built throughout the Mediterranean Sea.

Geography had a profound impact on why Greece developed this way. Greece is a rocky, mountainous land with little arable land. It is also surrounded by the warm waters of the Aegean, Ionian, and Mediterranean Seas. The lack of arable farmland, coupled with access to the seas, motivated the Greeks to establish colonies to provide food and relieve population pressures. The mountains acted as barriers between the different Greek cities.  As a result, the cities developed independently into city-states that were politically and culturally independent.  

Greece's geography enabled Greece to achieve something that no other ancient group of people could have even imagined. 

First, Greece's mountainous territory (70%) prohibited Greece from forming into an empire. Instead, Greece formed city states that were separate. By the time of Aristotle, scholars estimate that there were over 1,100 cities. This said, we must not give the impression that the nothing held the Greeks together. Things like language, culture, religion, and the olympic games gave a sense of "Greekness." This enabled the Greeks to compete and cooperate with each other in many areas. The outcome was a flourishing of society. Within in this matrix, the Greeks experimented and invented many things, such as democracy. 

Second, another geographic quality of the Greeks is that they took to the sea. In fact, almost every polis was 25 miles from the sea. Even the Spartans, who did not like the sea were less than 20 miles away. This fact enabled the Greeks to travel and explore. Through their oversea colonies, they began to spread hellenism, and they were incredibly successful. Had their land been far richer in resources, they would not have taken to the sea, and this would have altered history. 

In conclusion, geography shapes a people.