Geographic Determinism In Greek Culture Analysis

When looking at the development of ancient cultures, the concept of Geographic determinism cannot be ignored. The idea that cultures are constructed based not only on their location, but the cultures that surround them and interact with them is absolutely true. All humans have basic needs including food and water. Due to this need, it is no surprise that most of the cultures we see begin their history in areas near water with fertile land to grow crops. We first see Egyptians settling in the Nile River Valley as early as the 6th millennium BCE. This land was immensely fertile due to the very predictable flooding of the Nile (McGuire). Even in Greece where there were immense physical land barriers such as the Balkan Mountains, we see the most …show more content…
Early on in Greek history two distinctly different cultures start to arise. The Cycladic Islands of the Greek Aegean see great prosperity in their sea trade of things like marble and obsidian. This trade between islands creates a culture united in things like burial practices and marble figurines left in tombs (McGuire). They craft large intricate palaces and beautiful art. The inland culture known as the Mycenaean was much different. They spoke Greek and kept their records in “Linear B” as opposed to the Minoans “Linear A” (McGuire). They had completely different architecture, and unlike the Minoans, had massive defensive walls around their palaces (McGuire). The divide caused conflict between the two cultures resulting in the Mycenaean taking over the Minoan land and palaces in part due to the great volcano eruption that more or less destroyed the Minoans in 1627 plus or minus 3 (McGuire). Other distinctive barriers such as rivers or other bodies of water played large roles in cultures like the Egyptians and Phoenicians. The Nile river was the most important part of Egyptian life. They based everything from their poems to their religion off …show more content…
We see the bleeding of cultures into others, religions based off of location, and natural resources of each society defining their culture. Some may say that these societies would have gotten along just fine without each other, which could not be more wrong. Without trade partners, the Minoan Greeks would have never thrived, which is proven by their downfall following the volcano eruption that halts other societies from trading with them as mentioned in lecture. Greece would never have had their alphabet if not for the Phoenicians and the Egyptians would never have had their pyramids if not for the giant limestone deposits in