People have been living in Greece for over 40 000 years. The earliest settlers mostly lived a simple hunter-gatherer or farming lifestyle.

The Minoans were the first great Greek civilization. They didn't live on mainland Greece but on the nearby island of Crete, between 2200 BC and 1450 BC. They were known as the Minoans after their legendary king, Minos.

After the Minoans came the Mycenaean civilization, from mainland Greece. They were fine builders and traders, but they were also great soldiers. They famously fought in the battle of Troy. Homer, an important Greek writer, told stories of the Mycenaean age in his books the Iliad and the Odyssey.

After the Mycenaean age ended in about 1100 BC, Greece entered a ‘Dark Age’. It is known as a dark age because nobody knows much about what happened - all written language and art disappeared.

Watch the eight minute video below to learn about the Minoans who inhabited Crete including their connections to the Egyptians. You can expand this to full screen.