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The determination of the meaning of colonization and of the factors that generated it, constitutes until today an issue of constant dispute in the academic world. Scholars are unable to agree as to the causes of the colonial movement.
A large portion of scholars focuses on the problem of overpopulation. Several years now it is maintained that during the 8th and Over the last years however, particular emphasis has been given to economic factors. Certain scholars maintain that the main reason for the spread of colonies was the acquisition of cultivable land. Others, on the other hand, talk about the importance of metals in the Archaic period and consider that their quest was the main reason that caused the colonial wave. |
In any case, the prevalent opinion is based on both of the above theories and accepts that colonists were impelled by the need to find cultivable land, as well as regions abundant in metals, which the Greek subsoil did not have (Strabo, Geographia 6.2.2).
Lastly, a group of scholars pinpoints the outset of the colonial movement also in natural disasters, such as the frequent droughts of that period that led to bad crop. They maintain that colonization remedied not only the problem of overpopulation, but mainly it healed the wounds caused by these incessant disasters.
But apart from causes of social or economic nature, as well as adverse environmental conditions, certain cases of colonization have been interpreted mainly as the result of political pressures.
In the Greek mainland, inevitable difficulties in agricultural cultivation probably favoured thoughts concerning trade. However, it seems unlikely that colonies were founded for commercial reasons, especially since the colonists were sent in search of new cultivable lands and pastures.
The foundation of colonies provided significant overseas markets and safe harbours for maritime enterprises. But above all, it reflected the general evolution brought about in the Aegean region during the Archaic period. The creation of the polis, the use of coinage and the accession of tyrants have been considered by many as motives, but also as consequences of the whole activity.
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