Ancient Greece was shaped by both isolation and intercultural exchange. In terms of isolation, this was the case in Greece mainly because of its geography. Greece is made up of several small islands. This allowed the islands to develop in semi-independent ways, with particularities in their arts and culture. Because of this, the government of Greece was that of city-states, as opposed to a unified kingdom. On the other hand, intercultural exchange occurred because Greek people were great sailors and travellers, and they were interested in the cultures that surrounded them.