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Colonization of Magna Graecia
From around 750 BCE, Greek poleis colonized southern Italy and Sicily on a large scale, forming the Greek-speaking cultural sphere known as Magna Gra…
Timeline
- c. -750–-700Mainland Greece · GreecePopulation growth, land shortage, political turmoil, and trade demands drove Greek poleis to organize colonial expeditions; colonists typically founded autonomous cities overseas in the name of their mother city (metropolis), maintaining religious and institutional ties.
- c. -735–-600Sicily and the southern Italian coast · SicilyCorinthians founded Syracuse, Achaeans founded Croton and Sybaris, Spartans founded Tarentum, and so on; the colonies spread along Mediterranean sea lanes, becoming important economic and cultural nodes in the western Greek world.
- c. -600–-500Magna Graecia · Southern ItalyThe colonies developed flourishing agriculture, crafts, and philosophical traditions (such as Pythagoras's activity in Croton), competing and exchanging with mainland Greece and Phoenician colonies in North Africa, forming a distinctive western Greek civilization.
Sources
- Boardman, J. The Greeks Overseas: Their Early Colonies and Trade, 4th ed. — John Boardman (1999)
- Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War, Book 6 — Thucydides