Who were the Ancient Greeks?

The Ancient Greeks were the people who lived in Greece about 3,500 years ago. Greece is a country in south east Europe. It has an area of mainland, which is very mountainous, and hundreds of small islands dotted around in the Aegean and Ionian seas.

The first civilisation to develop in this area was on the island of Crete. This was called the Minoan civilisation and from 2000 to 1450 BC this civilisation was very successful. Its people traded far and wide and became very wealthy. However, many of the Minoan towns and palaces were destroyed by the earthquakes which still shake this area of Europe today, and by 1450 BC people from mainland Greece were taking control of the area. These people were called the Myceneans.

Map of Ancient Greece