Geography
The island of Crete runs approximately 260 km in length from East to West and at its widest points in the center extends about 60 km in width. Crete is set in a region of the Mediterranean that is geologically unstable, and thus the island has been affected by countless earthquakes which have caused drastic shifts in the terrain and left many of its ancient cities in ruins. Findings of submerged cities and houses during archaeological diving expeditions just off the coast of Crete have allowed modern historians to assume that the Mediterranean Sea has actually risen since the time of the Minoans. The island is dominated by a mountain range known as the White Mountains which contain some peaks that reach approximately 2500 m in height.
Read more about this topic: Ancient Crete
Famous quotes containing the word geography:
“At present cats have more purchasing power and influence than the poor of this planet. Accidents of geography and colonial history should no longer determine who gets the fish.”
—Derek Wall (b. 1965)
“The California fever is not likely to take us off.... There is neither romance nor glory in digging for gold after the manner of the pictures in the geography of diamond washing in Brazil.”
—Rutherford Birchard Hayes (1822–1893)
“Yet America is a poem in our eyes; its ample geography dazzles the imagination, and it will not wait long for metres.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)