Greece
is a country in the southeast of Europe on the southern tip of the Balkan_peninsula. It is bounded on land by Bulgaria, Macedonia and Albania to the north, to the east by Turkey and the waters of the Aegean_Sea and to the west and south by the Ionian and Mediterranean_Seas. Regarded by many as the cradle of Western civilisation, Greece has a long and rich history during which it spread its influence over three continents. Greece is formally called the Hellenic Republic (in Greek ''Elliniki Dimokratia''). Greeks call their country Hellas, which in modern Greek is pronounced ''Ellas''. In everyday speech the form ''Ellada'' is used. Greeks frequently call themselves Hellenes even in English. The English name "Greece" derives from a Latin name, Graecia, originally used for a region in what is now northern Greece inhabited by a people called the Graekos. Ελληνική Δημοκρατία Elliniki Dhimokratia (In Detail) ''National motto: Eleftheria i thanatos'' ''(Greek: Liberty or Death)'' Official_language Greek Capital Athens President Kostis Stephanopoulos Prime Minister Kostas Karamanlis Area - Total - % water Ranked 94th 131,940 km2 0.86% Population - Total (2001) - Density Ranked 70th 10,964,020 80.5/km² Independence - Declared - Recognised From the Ottoman_Empire March_25, 1821 1828 Currency Euro(&Euro;)¹, Greek_euro_coins Time_zone UTC +2 National_anthem Imnos_pros_tin_Eleftherian Internet TLD .GR Calling Code 30 (1) Prior to 2001: Greek drachmaHistory
''Main article: History_of_Greece'' The shores of the Aegean_Sea saw the emergence of the first civilisations in Europe, namely the Minoan and Mycenaean civilisations. After these subsided a Dark Age followed until around 800_BC a new era of Greek civilisation emerged. It was this Greece of city-states that established colonies along the Mediterranean, resisted Persian invasions and whose culture would be the basis of Hellenistic civilisation that followed the empire of Alexander_the_Great (king of Macedonia). Militarily Greece itself declined until it was conquered by the Romans from 168_BC onwards, though Greek culture would in turn conquer Roman life. A province of the Roman_Empire, Greek culture would continue to dominate the eastern Mediterranean and when the Empire finally split in two the Eastern or Byzantine_Empire, centred on Constantinople, would be Greek in nature, as well as encompassing Greece itself. From the 4th_century to the 15th_century the Eastern_Roman_Empire survived eleven centuries of attacks from the west and east until Constantinople fell on May_29, 1453 to the Ottoman_Empire. Greece had gradually been conquered by the Ottomans during the 15th_century. The Ottomans ruled Greece until the early 19th century. In 1821 the Greeks rebelled and in 1822 they declared their independence, but did not succeed in winning it until 1832. During the 19th and early 20th centuries, in a series of war with the Ottomans, Greece sought to enlarge Greece to include the Greek-speaking population of the Ottoman Empire, slowly growing in territory and population until it reached its present boundaries in 1947. After World_War_II, Greece experienced a civil war that lasted until 1949. In 1967 the military seized power in a coup_d'état, establishing what became known as the ''Regime of the Colonels''. In 1973 the regime abolished the Greek monarchy. In 1974, The military junta's sponsorship of a failed coup in Cyprus led to the its collapse. In 1975, following a plebiscite to abolish the monarchy, a democratic republic was established. Greece joined the European_Union in 1981 and adopted the Euro as its currency in 2001.Politics
''Main article: Politics_of_Greece'' The 1975 constitution includes extensive specific guarantees of civil liberties and vests the powers of the head_of_state in an indirectly elected president, who is advised by the Council of the Republic. The prime_minister and cabinet play the central role in the political process, while the president performs some governmental functions in addition to ceremonial duties. The president is elected by parliament to a five-year term and can be re-elected once. Members of Greece's unicameral parliament (the ''Vouli ton Ellinon'') are elected by secret ballot for a maximum of four years, but elections can be called earlier. Greece uses a complex reinforced proportional_representation electoral system which discourages splinter parties and ensures that the party which leads in the national vote will win a majority of seats. A party must receive 3% of the total national vote to gain representation. For a list of Greek political parties, see List_of_political_parties_in_Greece.Local government
''Main articles: Peripheries_of_Greece'' Greece consists of 13 administrative regions known as peripheries, which are further subdivided into 51 prefectures (''nomoi'', singular - ''nomos''):Geography
''Main article: Geography_of_Greece'' The country consists of a large mainland at the southern end of the Balkans; the Peloponnesus peninsula, which is separated from the mainland by the canal of the Isthmus_of_Corinth; and numerous islands, including Crete, Rhodes, Euboea and the Dodecanese and Cycladic groups of the Aegean_Sea. Greece has more than 14,880 kilometres of coastline and a land boundary of 1,160 kilometres. About 80% of Greece is mountainous or hilly. Much of the country is dry and rocky; only 28% of the land is arable. Western Greece contains lakes and wetlands. Pindus, the central mountain range, has an average elevation of 2,650 m. The legendary Mount_Olympus is the highest point in Greece at 2,917 m above sea level. Greece's climate features mild, wet winters and hot, dry summers. Temperatures are rarely extreme, although snowfalls do occur in the mountains and occasionally even in Athens in the winter.Economy
''Main article: Economy_of_Greece'' Greece has a mixed capitalist economy with the public sector accounting for about half of GDP. Tourism is a key industry, providing a large portion of GDP and foreign exchange earnings. Greece is a major beneficiary of EU aid, equal to about 2.4% of GNP. The economy has improved steadily over the last few years, as the government tightened policy in the run-up to Greece's entry into the EU's single currency, the euro, on January_1, 2001. Major challenges remaining include the reduction of unemployment and further restructuring of the economy, including privatising several state enterprises, undertaking social security reforms, overhauling the tax system, and minimising bureaucratic inefficiencies. Economic growth is forecast at 4 - 4,5 % in 2004. The national central bank of Greece is the Bank_of_Greece.Demographics
''Main article: Demographics_of_Greece'' Most Greeks (98%) adhere to the Greek_Orthodox_Church, which is under the protection of the state that also pays the clergy's salaries, and Eastern_Orthodox_Christianity is the "prevailing" religion of Greece according to the constitution. The Greek Orthodox Church is self-governing but under the spiritual guidance of the Ecumenical_Patriarch in Constantinople. Although Greece is hardly an ethnicaly homogenous society, the Greek Muslim minority (of 1.3%), concentrated in Thrace, which was given legal status by provisions of the Treaty_of_Lausanne in 1923 is Greece's only officially recognised minority. There are also minorities of Slavs, Albanians, Vlachs (Aromanians and Megleno-Romanians), and Roma.Culture
''Main article: Culture_of_Greece''Miscellaneous topics
See also
External links
Original, History and Authors:
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