The Earth and its Peoples: 5th Edition - Chapter 5 Notes
Chapter 5 Notes Rome?s Creation of A Mediterranean Empire, 753 BCE ? 600 CE Overview Rome?s central location contributed to its success in unifying Italy and the lands surrounding the Mediterranean Sea. Italy was a crossroads of the Mediterranean, and Rome was a crossroads within Italy Italy is a land of hills and mountains and navigable rivers. It is rich in iron & metals Ample arable land in coastal plains and river valleys. A Republic of Farmers, 753-31 BCE Hilltop communities existed as early as 1000 BCE and started to form an urban nucleus around 600 BCE Agriculture was the primary economic activity of the early Roman state The heads of wealthy families were known as the ?Council of Elders?, a Senate.