Greece Background Informaiton - Geography and Economy of Crete (Greece/Greek/Crete/Creta/Kriti):

Geography and Economy of Crete

The island of Crete is located in the center of the eastern Mediterranean at the crossroads of Africa, Asia, and Europe. It measures about 200 Km from east to west, and between 12 to 58 Km from north to south at its narrowest and widest distances, making it one of the largest islands in the Mediterranean sea.

Crete's largest modern town is Heraklion (35° 20' latitude, 25° 08' longitude) and its landscape oscillates between tall, rugged mountains, gentle slopes, and plateaus, which are framed by the Aegean coast line to the North, and the Lybian Sea to the south.

The temperate climate of Crete with its short, mild winters and its dry, warm summers, along with the fertility of the Cretan plains produces sufficient food supplies to support an affluent local population, and for exports. The inhabitants of ancient Crete --whom we call Minoans-- produced a decentralized culture based on the abundance of the land's natural resources, and on intense commercial activity. While the island appears today completely deforested, in ancient times timber was one of the natural resources that was commercially exploited and exported to nearby Egypt, Syria, Cyprus, the Aegean Islands and the Greek mainland.

Besides timber Crete exported food, cypress wood, wine, currants, olive oil, wool, cloth, herbs, and purple dye. Its imports consisted of precious stones, copper (most likely from Cyprus), ivory, silver, gold, and other raw material. They also imported tin that was used in the production of bronze alloys. Interestingly, the nearest known tin mines appear as far as Spain, Britain, central Europe, and Iran. Besides raw materials, the Minoans also adopted from the surrounding cultures artistic ideas and techniques as evident in Egypt's influence on the Minoan wall frescoes, and on goldsmithing production knowledge imported by Syria.

The Minoans had developed significant naval power and for many centuries lived in contact with all the major civilizations of the time without being significantly threatened by external forces. Their commercial contact with ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia undeniably influenced their own culture, and the Minoan civilization in turn appeared as the forerunner of the Greek civilization. The Minoans are credited as the first European civilization.

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