What role did geography play in the development of Athens as a dominant power among the city-states of ancient Greece?

Geography plays a critical role in shaping civilizations, and this is particularly true of ancient Greece. The Greek peninsula has two distinctive geographic features that influenced the development of Greek society. First, Greece has easy access to water. The land contains countless scattered islands, deep harbors, and a network of small rivers. This easy access to water meant that the Greek people might naturally become explorers and traders. Second, Greece's mountainous terrain led to the development of the polis (city-state), beginning about 750 B. C. E. The high mountains made it very difficult for people to travel or communicate. Therefore, each polis developed independently and, often, very differently from one another. Eventually, the polis became the structure by which people organized themselves. Athens and Sparta are two good examples of city-states that contrasted greatly with each other.