Greece: mountains, seas and city-states; Athens and Sparta

Grade 6 Social Studies Worksheet - Building Confidence

Circle the best answer.

1. Read this first

   Greece's land and sea

   Feature	What it is	What it meant for people
   Mountains	?	farmland was limited, but there was enough fertile soil and winter rain to farm
   Seas	the Aegean Sea to the east and the Ionian Sea to the west, both part of the Mediterranean	ships could carry people and goods between coasts and islands
   Islands	thousands of islands; the largest is Crete	many Greek communities lay close to the sea
   City-states	each polis was a city and its land, with its own government	Greece was divided into many separate states
   Farming	olive trees, grapevines, orchards, herbs and vegetables	olive oil and grapes were important foods

   The cell marked ? is blank.

2. 1.

   Pia's chart has a blank: how much of Greece is mountainous?

   • About 8%
   • About 80%
   • The whole country
   • About 20%
3. 2.

   Ren's chart has a blank: what did the seas mean for people?

   • Greece was divided into states
   • No one used boats
   • Ships carried people and goods
   • Farmland was limited

4. Greece's land and sea

   Feature	What it is	What it meant for people
   Mountains	about 80% of Greece is mountainous, with small rivers	farmland was limited, but there was enough fertile soil and winter rain to farm
   Seas	the Aegean Sea to the east and the Ionian Sea to the west, both part of the Mediterranean	ships could carry people and goods between coasts and islands
   Islands	thousands of islands; the largest is Crete	many Greek communities lay close to the sea
   City-states	each polis was a city and its land, with its own government	Greece was divided into many separate states
   Farming	olive trees, grapevines, orchards, herbs and vegetables	olive oil and grapes were important foods

5. 3.

   Greece's mainland is a peninsula. What is a peninsula, Zee asks?

   • A chain of mountains
   • A deep valley
   • Land with water on three sides
   • Land with water around it, like an island
6. 4.

   Crete is Greece's largest island. What is an island, Ari asks?

   • A city with its own government
   • Land with water on three sides
   • A tall mountain
   • Land with water on every side
7. 5.

   Bo reads that Greece had many city-states. What is a city-state?

   • A city that governs itself and its land
   • An island with no people
   • A street in a city
   • A country with one ruler
8. 6.

   Why was farmland limited in Greece, Esme asks?

   • Islands covered the fields
   • Most of the land is mountains
   • Rain did not fall there in the winter months
   • The rivers were huge
9. 7.

   Which crops grew well in Greece, Jun asks?

   • Olives and grapes
   • Corn and potatoes
   • Cocoa and coffee
   • Rice and tea
10. 8.

    With mountains between communities, why would the sea matter so much, Kira asks?

    • Mountains made travel easy
    • Ships could reach places mountains cut off
    • The sea was smaller than the mountains, so it did not matter
    • There were no coasts
11. 9.

    Greece had many separate city-states, not one country. Which feature in the chart helps explain that, Luz asks?

    • One king ruled the Greeks
    • The olive trees
    • Most Greeks lived on Crete
    • Mountains and seas split up the land
12. 10.

    Why might each polis have its own government, Milo asks?

    • Each was a separate city with its own land
    • They had one shared ruler
    • They had no people
    • The sea ruled them