Ancient Greece was made up of a lot of island surrounding a mainland. The first people to settle in Greece started on the coast but had problems growing crops so they colonized in they island regions. The earliest civilizations were total opposites, they were the Minoans and the Mycenaeans. The Minoans were peaceful people and focused on building their culture verses the Mycenaeans were more warlike people and colonized Greece when there were food shortages. The Mycenaeans ended up getting defeated by the other greek tribes. After they were defeated the Dorians took over the old Mycenaean cities. The Dorians did not continue the same writing style as the Mycenaeans so there isn’t much that we know about them but they did create the language we know as Greek. They were more known for their small cities and more basic style of living. The greeks then started trading and colonizing. They established city states and each one had their own government. They were responsible for keeping order in their own city state, but then eventually democracy was started in the Athens. They all joined forces when Persia threatened them. Then The Persian Wars started which lasted decades. When Greece won the final victory Persia never fought with them again. Rivalry started in the city states between the Athens and Spartans over who would be dominant. The Peloponnesian Wars were fought and in the end Sparta won. Then Alexander the Great was born in Macedonia and conquered all of the middle East before he turned 30. He died young and didn’t leave a successful plan behind. There ended up being over 30 cities named after him but after his death the empire fell apart and was conquered by Rome.