Greece From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia "Hellas" redirects here. For other uses of "Hellas" and "Greece", see Hellas (di sambiguation) and Greece (disambiguation). Hellenic Republic ÅëëçíéêÞ Äçìïêñáôßá Flag Coat of arms Motto: Åëåõèåñßá Þ ÈÜíáôïò, "Freedom or Death" (traditional) Anthem: ?ìíïò å?ò ô?í ?ëåõèåñßáí "Hymn to Liberty" MENU0:00 Location of Greece (dark green) in Europe (green & dark grey) in the European U nion (green) [Legend] Location of Greece (dark green) in Europe (green & dark grey) in the European Union (green) [Legend] Capital and largest city Athens 37°58?N 23°43?E Official languages Greek Ethnic groups (2011)a [1][2]) 91.6% Greek 4.4% Albanian 0.7% Bulgarian 3.3% others Demonym Greek Government Unitary parliamentary constitutional republic - President Karolos Papoulias - Prime Minister Antonis Samaras - Speaker Vangelis Meimarakis Legislature Parliament Formation - Independence declared from the Ottoman Empire 1 January 1822 - Recognized 3 February 1830 - Current constitution 11 June 1975 - Joined the EU 1 January 1981 Area - Total 131,957 km2[3] (97th) 50,949 sq mi - Water (%) 0.8669 Population - 2011 census 10,816,286[4] (78th) - Density 82[5]/km2 (120th) 212/sq mi GDP (PPP) 2014 estimate - Total $271 billion[6] (42nd) - Per capita $24,574[6] (39st) GDP (nominal) 2014 estimate - Total $249.449 billion[6] (40st) - Per capita $22,594[6] (35th) Gini (2012) 34.3[7] medium HDI (2013) Decrease 0.860[8] very high · 29th Currency Euro ()b (EUR) Time zone EET (UTC+2) - Summer (DST) EEST (UTC+3) Date format dd/mm/yyyy Drives on the right Calling code +30 ISO 3166 code GR Internet TLD .grc a. Greek census results represent citizenship, since Greece does not collec t data on ethnicity b. Before 2002, the Greek drachma. c. The .eu domain is also used, as in other European Union member states. Greece (Greek: ÅëëÜäá, Ellada, pronounced [e?la?a] ( listen)), officially the Hellenic Repub lic (ÅëëçíéêÞ Äçìïêñáôßá [elini?ci ?imokra?ti.a] Elliniki? Dimokratia)[9] and known since anci reek: ?ëëÜò), is a country in Southern Europe.[10] According to the 2011 census, Greece' s population is around 11 million. Athens is the nation's capital and largest ci ty. Greece is strategically located at the crossroads of Europe, Western Asia, and A frica,[11][12][13] and shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, the Re public of Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north and Turkey to the northeast. The c ountry consists of nine geographic regions: Macedonia, Central Greece, the Pelop onnese, Thessaly, Epirus, the Aegean Islands (including the Dodecanese and Cycla des), Thrace, Crete, and the Ionian Islands. The Aegean Sea lies to the east of the mainland, the Ionian Sea to the west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the south . Greece has the longest coastline on the Mediterranean Basin and the 11th longe st coastline in the world at 13,676 km (8,498 mi) in length, featuring a vast nu mber of islands (approximately 1,400, of which 227 are inhabited). Eighty percen t of Greece consists of mountains, of which Mount Olympus is the highest, at 2,9 17 m (9,570 ft). Modern Greece traces its roots to the civilization of Ancient Greece, which bega n with the Aegean Civilizations of the Bronze Age. Considered the cradle of all Western civilization, Greece is the birthplace of democracy,[14] Western philoso phy,[15] the Olympic Games, Western literature and historiography, political sci ence, major scientific and mathematical principles,[16] and Western drama,[17] i ncluding both tragedy and comedy. The cultural and technological achievements of Greece greatly influenced the world, with many aspects of Greek civilization be ing imparted to the East through Alexander the Great's campaigns, and to the Wes t through its incorporation into the Roman Empire. This rich legacy is partly re flected by the 18 UNESCO World Heritage Sites located in Greece, ranking it 6th in Europe and 13th in the world. The modern Greek state, which comprises most of the historical core of Greek civilization, was established in 1830 following th e war of independence from the Ottoman Empire. Greece is a democratic,[18] developed country with an advanced high-income econo my, a high standard of living[19][20] and a very high Human Development Index.[2 1] Greece is a founding member of the United Nations, a member of what is now th e European Union since 1981 (and the eurozone since 2001[22]), and is also a mem ber of numerous other international institutions, including the Council of Europ e, NATO[a], OECD, OSCE and the WTO. Greece's economy is also the largest in the Balkans, where Greece is an important regional investor.[23][24][25] Contents [hide] 1 Etymology 2 History 2.1 Earliest settlements to 3rd century BC 2.2 Hellenistic and Roman periods (323 BC 4th century AD) 2.3 Medieval period (4th century 1453) 2.4 Ottoman period (15th century 1821) 2.5 Greek War of Independence (18211832) 2.6 19th century 2.7 20th century to present 3 Geography and climate 4 Politics 4.1 Political parties 4.2 Law and Justice 4.3 Foreign relations 4.4 Military 4.5 Administrative divisions 5 Economy 5.1 Introduction 5.2 Eurozone entry 5.3 Debt crisis (2010) 5.4 Energy 5.5 Agriculture 5.6 Maritime industry 5.7 Tourism 5.8 Transport 5.9 Telecommunications 5.10 Science and technology 6 Demographics 6.1 Cities 6.2 Migration 6.3 Religion 6.4 Languages 6.5 Education 6.6 Health 7 Culture 7.1 Theatre 7.2 Philosophy 7.3 Literature 7.4 Cinema 7.5 Cuisine 7.6 Music and dances 7.7 Sports 7.8 Mythology 7.9 Public holidays and festivals 8 See also 9 Notes 10 References 10.1 Bibliography 11 External links 11.1 Government 11.2 General information Etymology Main article: Name of Greece The names for the nation of Greece and the Greek people differ from the names us ed in other languages, locations and cultures. Although the Greeks call the cou ntry Hellas or Hellada (Greek: ÅëëÜò or ÅëëÜäá) and its official name is the Hellenic Republic lish it is referred to as Greece, which comes from the Latin term Graecia as use d by the Romans, which literally means 'the land of the Greeks', and derives fro m the Greek name Ãñáéêüò. However, the name Hellas is sometimes used in English as well. History Main article: History of Greece Earliest settlements to 3rd century BC Main article: Ancient Greece Minoan fresco at Akrotiri of Santorini. The Lion Gate, Mycenae. Greek territories and colonies during the Archaic period (750-550 BC). The earliest evidence of human presence in the Balkans, dated to 270,000 BC, is to be found in the Petralona cave, in the northern Greek province of Macedonia.[ 26] Neolithic settlements in Greece, dating from the 7th millennium BC,[26] are the oldest in Europe by several centuries, as Greece lies on the route via whic h farming spread from the Near East to Europe.[27] Greece is home to the first advanced civilizations in Europe and is considered t he birthplace of Western civilization,[28][29][30][31][32] beginning with the Cy cladic civilization on the islands of the Aegean Sea at around 3200 BC,[33] the Minoan civilization in Crete (27001500 BC),[32][34] and then the Mycenaean civili zation on the mainland (19001100 BC).[34] These civilizations possessed writing, the Minoans writing in an undeciphered script known as Linear A, and the Mycenea ns in Linear B, an early form of Greek. The Myceneans gradually absorbed the Min oans, but collapsed violently around 1200 BC, during a time of regional upheaval known as the Bronze Age collapse.[35] This ushered in a period known as the Gre ek Dark Ages, from which written records are absent. The end of the Dark Ages is traditionally dated to 776 BC, the year of the first Olympic Games.[36] The Iliad and the Odyssey, the foundational texts of Western literature, are believed to have been composed by Homer in the 8th or 7th centu ries BC.[37][38] With the end of the Dark Ages, there emerged various kingdoms a nd city-states across the Greek peninsula, which spread to the shores of the Bla ck Sea, Southern Italy (Latin: Magna Graecia, or Greater Greece) and Asia Minor. These states and their colonies reached great levels of prosperity that resulte d in an unprecedented cultural boom, that of classical Greece, expressed in arch itecture, drama, science, mathematics and philosophy. In 508 BC, Cleisthenes ins tituted the world's first democratic system of government in Athens.[39][40] By 500 BC, the Persian Empire controlled territories ranging from their home of Iran all the way to what is now northern Greece, Macedonia, southern Ukraine, Bu lgaria, and Romania, and posed a threat to certain Greek states. Attempts by the Greek city-states of Asia Minor to overthrow Persian rule failed, and Persia in vaded the states of mainland Greece in 492 BC, but was forced to withdraw after a defeat at the Battle of Marathon in 490 BC. A second invasion followed in 480 BC. Despite a heroic resistance at Thermopylae by Spartans and other Greeks, Per sian forces sacked Athens. Following successive Greek victories in 480 and 479 BC at Salamis, Plataea and M ycale, the Persians were forced to withdraw for a second time. The military conf licts, known as the Greco-Persian Wars, were led mostly by Athens and Sparta. Th e fact that Greece was not a unified country meant that conflict between the Gre ek states was common.