Gathered round their natural territory, the Aegean Sea, which surrounds the mainland and the numerous islands, the Greeks perpetuate the tradition which began in this area about five thousand years ago. In a land particularly blessed by.nature with regard to sea communications but particularly hard with regard to overland communications in a mountainous mainland, the first European civilization was developed in the third and second millennia B.C. in the Aegean islands, in Crete and in the broader area around the Aegean. The first inhabitants were a white race but probably not Greeks. These pre Greeks, according to tradition, were known as Pelasgians. With the incursion of new people, Greece entered the Bronze Age in 3000 B.C.

The new inhabitants belonged to a special branch of the white race, the Mediterranean branch, and came from Asia. They settled on the coast and in the Aegean islands. They were called Aegeans and their civilization was the Aegean civilization. The Cycladic civilization was the first Aegean island civilization. Based on Milos and Thera (Santorini), Cycladic seafarers and traders conquered with their products all the harbors in the Aegean and Ionian Seas and opened up the sea route to the west before the Cretans, the Achaeans and the Phoenicians, reaching the shores of Italy and Spain. Marble statues, jewelry, utensils, weapons and exquisite, decorated pottery dating back to that period are being discovered to this day by archaeologists in the Greek islands. Moreover, on the islet of Saliangos, opposite Antiparos, neolithic settlements have been excavated with finds dating back to around 4000 B.C. Indeed, some researchers identify Thera as the capital of lost Atlantis, An entire city was discovered underneath the ashes which covered the island after the volcanic eruption of the 15th century B.C.

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