The notion of colonization in the Mediterranean region had a lot of problems that were associated with the developments that emerged as a result of this colonization. In this case, this study will focus on the Greeks who migrated and settled as well as those who did not migrate but experienced the social, political and economic changes in their communities. The big issue in this study is to look at this mobility and the question whether colonization played a role in increasing movements or not. If so, how this happened and why? Secondly, this study will focus on the formation of the Greek city-state or polis where questions like how, why and when did polis established will be answered (Purcell 1991).
Comparisons of social, economic, and political changes are the backbone of the problems that were associated with the Greek colonization. On this basis, there were significant factors that brought about these problems. These factors included; the access to various chances ion the productive landscapes, the employment of human labor both in the cities and agricultural farms, and the aspects of mobility. These factors were also central to the development of urbanization in the Greek colonization (Osborne 1998).
One of the problems that were associated with colonization is the production of food in agricultural farms in Mediterranean region. In this case, this production was severely affected by the uncertainties of rainfall. It should be noted that, it was required for each and every person to produce crop during the year when the amount of rainfall was abundant in order to utilize these produces in bad years. On this basis, the colonization of Greeks led to over cultivation of the coastal areas of the Mediterranean sea hence increasing cases of erosion and most of the lands turning dry. This brought about low productions in food supply. This problem was typically overcome by over production and diversification in terms of crop production (Morgan 2003).
On the other hand, there was disposing of power caused by fragmentation of lands. It is of importance to note that, the wealthier and rich people in this civilization acquired larger tracks of lands as compared to those people who were relatively poor. In this case, the more powerful people in terms of political powers were able to acquire more resources in the Greek colonization as compared to the weak in terms of political powers. As a result of this, this process can be equated with what was indicated by Marx that traditional agriculture was more political than capitalist. This is because the amount of power possessed by an individual determined the amount of resources owned in agricultural fields. In this case, these problems that were related to the Greek colonization were as a result of the fact that the traditional colonization was more of a representation of agrarian power structures than political hegemony (Antonaccio 2001).
The concept of political domination is evident in the Greek colonization. This can be termed as a problem since the monoculture of sugarcane and the plans or organized transportation was an indication of a manipulation of Mediterranean landscapes in the context of political domination. During this colonization, the political powerful were able to carry out their profitable activities with ease a thing which was very difficult for the common people. In this cultivation of these sugar cane land, the slaves or serfs were used hence there was cases of non free labor. It is of importance to note that, the concept of using slaves especially the chattel-slaves was a problem that was associated with the Greek colonization (Vlassopoulos 2007).
On the other hand, the history of the Greek cities demonstrates a problem that emerged as a result of the notion of Greek colonization. Urbanization in this period was an invasive and disruptive intervention in the social and economic aspects. In this case, the Greek colonization brought about increased migration of people from the rural agricultural areas to the developing cities which brought about social and economic problems in this area. On this basis, since the urban nucleus and chora were not separable, the process of urbanization represented some problems in as far as rights and opportunities in the productive landscapes were concerned. This is because the process of land distribution made people to be forced to move from their areas to other places which resulted to social problems as a result of interactions. The process of city building brought about by urbanization was very costly hence bringing about economic problems. Additionally, the wealthy and politically powerful in the urban areas in Greek colonization were able to win the city-politics. In this case, this was an indication of political domination in the urban areas (Purcell 1991).
Great American Country “Top 20 Countdown” host Nan Kelley visits with National Parks Conservation Association staff about the pronghorn migration near Yellowstone National Park. In this segment, six of seven, Nan talks with Yellowstone Program Manager Patricia Dowd about the importance and value of national parks in America. An iconic species of the American west, pronghorn continue to participate in rare long-distance migrations just as their predecessors did for thousands of years. As they follow instinctual patterns from the summertime abundance inside Yellowstone to wintering grounds outside the park, the Yellowstone pronghorn are faced with degraded habitat and obstacles like fences. The National Parks Conservation Association, with support from Nature Valley, is leading a coalition of public and private land managers in Paradise Valley, Montana to remove or modify fences interrupting the migration corridor and limiting connectivity with other herds that represent the last best hope for Yellowstone’s pronghorn. Clips provided courtesy of GAC.
Tags: agricultural farms, amount of rainfall, coastal areas, crop production, economic changes, greek city, greek colonization, mediterranean region, political changes, productive landscapes