Because farming didn't produce huge surpluses, and travel across the terrain was difficult, the Greeks came to depend on the sea. People living near the Mediterranean, Aegean, and Ionian Seas became fishers, sailors, and merchants.
Greek city-states likely developed because of the physical geography of the Mediterranean region. The landscape features rocky, mountainous land and many islands. These physical barriers caused population centers to be relatively isolated from each other. The sea was often the easiest way to move from place to place.May 19, 2022