Why and how did the Ancient Greeks establish colonies?

At the dawn of the archaic period, around 750 BC, the age of ancient Greek colonization began. Sailing from the mainland and the coasts of Asia Minor, the Greeks established hundreds of cities from the coasts of the Iberian Peninsula to the eastern fringes of the Black Sea. Along the span of 200 years, 500 settlements were established all around this enormous area, among which were Syracuse, Cyrene, Marsalia and Kumai, which would become great cities of their own. But why did the ancient Greeks establish these colonies? Why did they want to leave their home and travel to faraway lands through rugged seas to build new settlements from scratch? Let's find out. During the formation of the city-states, there was great turmoil both politically and socially. The distribution of farmland to every family and the new farming techniques which made the soil more fertile resulted in much more stable settlements. However, the problem of overpopulation came along and became too big to ignore. Most of the polis were very small in size and despite various efforts to alleviate land shortage, either by expanding their territory through war or cultivating previously infertile land, there was simply not enough land for everyone anymore. This was a massive problem since the vast majority of the population in ancient Greece was occupied with farming. Along with the scarcity of land came two more issues. The first one was the rise of the wealthy hoplite class who had managed to gain access and participate in the governmental council which was until then dominated by the noble families. The second issue was the rise and fall of tyrants in many polis. The tyrant was usually a nobleman who had been made the sole ruler of a polis with the support of the phalanx and had abolished the governmental offices along with the council. During this period of transitioning in most of the polis the situation was very unstable and the future was uncertain for many people. All these events deeply affected large parts of the population. Be it common men who were driven to poverty or even slavery because they had no farmland or noblemen who were trying to escape the rule of a rival noble family that had taken control of the polis, they all had a need to call a new place home. They had heard great tales from merchants who spoke of faraway lands with huge farmlands, rich soil and raw materials. The greek merchants also had plenty of reasons to want to establish settlements in these lands as this would make the trade with the native people much easier. They could also reach further outwards and expand their trading network while also establishing the steady supply of various materials from mainland Greece. The founding of a colony entailed a specific procedure. Firstly the man would become the leader of the expedition. He would then have to receive the allowance of the polis council for the expedition. In order to gain their permission he would have to explain where exactly he wanted to establish the new colony. If the place had fertile land, a good harbour and a defensible terrain he would be granted permission to establish the colony. The title that was given to him was oikistis which derives from the word oikos. As we explained in the previous video oikos translates to house or home so in essence he was the one in charge of the new home. The oikistis had to be of noble origin or a man of great renown in order for people to follow him and accept him as the leader of the expedition. After gaining the approval of his polis he would then have to gain permission from the oracle of Delphi both for formal reasons and in order for him and his followers to travel with confidence as in their minds they would have the gods on their side. If the oracle granted permission the oikistis would make a plan for the foundations of the city which included how the government institutions would work and how the land would be distributed. He would then start recruiting people for the journey. The recruitment would often take place at local or panhellenic festivals. Usually 200 young unmarried men would follow the oikistis in his expedition, enough to get the colony started. Later they would invite more people to It is not known if the men married with local women or if greek women came after the city was established to get married. Upon their arrival the oikistis would guide the people and lay up the foundation and the defense of the city, the important shrines and the distribution of land. If all went well the oikistis would become the ruler of the new city and after his death he would be venerated by the citizens as a divine figure that protected the polis. The greek colonies could be one of two types. The most usual type was called apoikia which literally translates to an away home. An apoikia is a completely independent polis with its own government. The other type was called emporion which translates to trade and was evidently established as a small trade station which was completely dependent on its founding polis. The relations between the apoikia and the metropolis, meaning the mother city, were significant. The apoikia may have been a completely independent polis but there were strong cultural and religious ties between the two polis. The governmental institutions that were established in the apoikia were very similar to the ones of the metropolis. These polis also had the same patron god and religious practices. The colony would often send priests to the metropolis to observe religious practices and apply them in their city. The citizens of the apoikia would sometimes keep in touch with friends or relations that resided in the metropolis. Both polis would benefit from this bond and in times of need they would usually help one another. Although most of the time the relations between the colony and the metropolis were very friendly, there were some exceptions of such relationships growing bitter like the one between corsaira and its metropolis corinth who fought against each other for many years. Although the establishment of the colonies considerably benefited the ancient greeks it was never an easy task. Despite the greeks being very good sailors, traveling to unknown lands in those ancient times was quite challenging as the boats were usually small and most of them were not made for the open sea. The mediterranean was a sea with unpredictable winds and storms. The black sea was even worse. Aside from that there were hundreds of pirates roaming in those seas plundering trading ships. The people who joined the expedition to form a colony would also leave their family and friends behind along with their property and civil rights. There were times when the founding of a colony could not be achieved because of hostile native people shipwrecking or losing too many men on the journey. Even after establishing the colony they could engage in hostilities with the native people. This was rare however as most of the times the greeks maintained friendly relations with the If they did engage in war the greeks would usually prevail because of the superiority of the felons. As we mentioned most of the times the expedition was comprised of volunteers but there were cases where a polis was so overpopulated that the creation of a colony became mandatory and the men were picked up by lot and were forced to abandon their homes. In some cases sons of noble families would also be picked up in order to avoid civil unrest. As we observe the map we can see that the greeks established their colonies on the coasts rather than inland with very few exceptions. Each region was inhabited because it had something different to offer be it rich farmlands or lucrative trading stations. The greeks though could not establish colonies wherever they wanted as there were two other major powers in the mediterranean the Phoenicians and the Etruscans. The Phoenicians had already expanded in the western mediterranean establishing colonies mainly through Carthage and although there were very friendly relations between them and the greeks at the beginning they became weary of the growing greek power in those regions. This would later result in the greco-punic wars but that is a story for another time. The Etruscans were also a major power in the region. They did not establish colonies themselves but their presence did not allow the greeks to settle in the north of Italy although a lucrative trade was established between them and they influenced their respective cultures. As we mentioned many of the colonies managed to outgrow their metropolis with some cities like Syracuse even establishing colonies of their own. The founding of these colonies also made the greeks realize how similar they were to their other greek counterparts as to the contacts they had with the native people whose culture was much different than their own. This helped boost greek identity and the notion of belonging to the same culture with hundreds of colonies sending athletes to take part in the panhellenic festivals. Despite this the conflict between the different greek tribes and cities remained and was even spread to the colonies in the form of economic and strategic competition. Although most of the colonies retained their greek identity and even influenced neighboring people to adopt some greek customs there were some who mixed with the local populations and developed their own unique cultures.