Greece (Greek: ????Da, Elláda [E'laða] ( Listen)), Officially

Greece (Greek: ????da, Elláda [e'laða] ( listen)), officially the Hellenic Republic (Greek: ???????? ??µ???at?a Elliniki´ Dimokratía [elini'ci ðimokra'ti.a]), also known si nce ancient times as Hellas (Ancient Greek: ????? Ellás ['h?l?s])[8][9][10][11][12 ][13][14][15] is a country located in southeastern Europe. According to the 2011 census, Greece's population is around 10.8 million. Athens is the nation's capi tal and largest city, followed by Thessaloniki, which is commonly referred to as the co-capital. Greece is strategically located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. S ituated on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, the Republic of Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north a nd Turkey to the northeast. Greece consists of nine geographic regions: Macedoni a, Central Greece, the Peloponnese, Thessaly, Epirus, the Aegean Islands (includ ing the Dodecanese and Cyclades), Thrace, Crete, and the Ionian Islands. The Aeg ean Sea lies to the east of the mainland, the Ionian Sea to the west, and the Me diterranean Sea to the south. Greece has the longest coastline on the Mediterran ean Basin and the 11th longest coastline in the world at 13,676 km (8,498 mi) in length, featuring a vast number of islands, of which 227 are inhabited. Eighty percent of Greece is mountainous, with Mount Olympus being the highest peak at 2 ,918 metres (9,573 ft). Greece has one of the longest histories of any country, and is considered the cr adle of Western civilization, having been the birthplace of democracy, Western p hilosophy, the Olympic Games, Western literature,[16] historiography, political science, major scientific and mathematical principles, and Western drama, includ ing both tragedy and comedy. The Greeks were first unified under Philip of Maced on in the fourth century BC. His son Alexander the Great rapidly conquered much of the ancient world, spreading Greek culture and science from the eastern Medit erranean to the Indus River. Annexed by Rome in the second century BC, Greece be came an integral part of the Roman Empire and its successor, the Byzantine Empir e. The first century AD saw the establishment of the Greek Orthodox Church, whic h shaped the modern Greek identity and transmitted Greek traditions to the wider Orthodox World.[17] Falling under Ottoman dominion in the mid-15th century, the modern nation state of Greece emerged in 1830 following a war of independence. Greece's rich historical legacy is reflected in large part by its 17 UNESCO Worl d Heritage Sites, among the most in Europe and the world.[18] Greece is a democratic and developed country with an advanced high-income econom y, a high quality of life and a very high standard of living. A founding member of the United Nations, Greece was the tenth member to join the European Communit ies (precursor to the European Union) and has been part of the Eurozone since 20 01. It is also a member of numerous other international institutions, including the Council of Europe, North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), Organisation f or Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), WTO, OSCE, and the OIF. Greece' s unique cultural heritage, subsequently large tourism industry, and prominent s hipping sector classify it as a middle power. It is the largest economy in the B alkans, where it is an important regional investor. Contents 1 Etymology 2 History 2.1 Ancient and Classical periods 2.2 Hellenistic and Roman periods (323 BC 4th century AD) 2.3 Medieval period (4th century 1453) 2.4 Ottoman rule (15th century 1821) 2.5 Modern Greece 2.5.1 Greek War of Independence (18211832) 2.5.2 Kingdom of Greece 2.5.3 Expansion, disaster, and reconstruction 2.5.4 World War 2, reconstruction, and authoritarian rule 2.5.5 Third Hellenic Republic 3 Geography and climate 3.1 Islands 3.2 Climate 3.3 Ecology 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 Financial crisis (2010present) 5.3 Energy 5.4 Agriculture 5.5 Maritime industry 5.6 Tourism 5.7 Transport 5.8 Telecommunications 5.9 Science and technology 6 Demographics 6.1 Cities 6.2 Religion 6.3 Languages 6.4 Migration 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 Specific 10.2 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 coun try Hellas or Ellada (Greek: ????? or ????da) and its official name is the Helle nic Republic, in English it is referred to as Greece, which comes from the Latin term Graecia as used by the Romans, which literally means 'the land of the Gree ks', and derives from the Greek name G?a????. However, the name Hellas is someti mes used in English as well.[citation needed] History Main article: History of Greece Ancient and Classical periods Main articles: Ancient Greece and Classical Greece Fresco displaying the Minoan ritual of "bull leaping", found in Knossos, Crete. The earliest evidence of the presence of human ancestors in the southern Balkans , dated to 270,000 BC, is to be found in the Petralona cave, in the Greek provin ce of Macedonia.[19] All three stages of the stone age (Paleolithic, Mesolithic, and Neolithic) are represented in Greece, for example in the Franchthi Cave.[20 ] Neolithic settlements in Greece, dating from the 7th millennium BC,[19] are th e oldest in Europe by several centuries, as Greece lies on the route via which f arming spread from the Near East to Europe.[21] Greek territories and colonies during the Archaic period (750-550 BC) The Parthenon on the Acropolis of Athens is one of the best known symbols of cla ssical Greece. Greece is home to the first advanced civilizations in Europe and is considered t he birthplace of Western civilization,[22][23][24][25] beginning with the Cyclad ic civilization on the islands of the Aegean Sea at around 3200 BC,[26] the Mino an civilization in Crete (27001500 BC),[25][27] and then the Mycenaean civilizati on on the mainland (19001100 BC).[27] These civilizations possessed writing, the Minoans writing in an undeciphered script known as Linear A, and the Mycenaeans in Linear B, an early form of Greek. The Mycenaeans gradually absorbed the Minoa ns, but collapsed violently around 1200 BC, during a time of regional upheaval k nown as the Bronze Age collapse.[28] This ushered in a period known as the Greek 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.[29] 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[30][31] With the end of the Dark Ages, there emerged various kingdoms an d city-states across the Greek peninsula, which spread to the shores of the Blac k Sea, Southern Italy ("Magna Graecia") and Asia Minor. These states and their c olonies reached great levels of prosperity that resulted in an unprecedented cul tural boom, that of classical Greece, expressed in architecture, drama, science, mathematics and philosophy. In 508 BC, Cleisthenes instituted the world's first democratic system of government in Athens.[32][33] By 500 BC, the Persian Empire controlled the Greek city states in Asia Minor and Macedonia.[34] Attempts by some of the Greek city-states of Asia Minor to overt hrow Persian rule failed, and Persia invaded the states of mainland Greece in 49 2 BC, but was forced to withdraw after a defeat at the Battle of Marathon in 490 BC. A second invasion by the Persians followed in 480 BC. Following decisive Gr eek victories in 480 and 479 BC at Salamis, Plataea, and Mycale, the Persians we re forced to withdraw for a second time, marking their eventual withdrawal from all of their European territories. Led by Athens and Sparta, the Greek victories in the Greco-Persian Wars are considered a pivotal moment in world history,[35] as the 50 years of peace that followed are known as Golden Age of Athens, the s eminal period of ancient Greece that laid many of the foundations of Western civ ilization. Alexander the Great on his horse Bucephalus Lack of political unity within Greece resulted in frequent conflict between Gree k states. The most devastating intra-Greek war was the Peloponnesian War (431404 BC), won by Sparta and marking the demise of the Athenian Empire as the leading power in ancient Greece. Both Athens and Sparta were later overshadowed by Thebe s and eventually Macedon, with the latter uniting the Greek world in the League of Corinth (also known as the Hellenic League or Greek League) under the guidanc e of Phillip II, who was elected leader of the first unified Greek state in hist ory. Following the assassination of Phillip II, his son Alexander III ("The Great") a ssumed the leadership of the League of Corinth and launched an invasion of the P ersian Empire with the combined forces of all Greek states in 334 BC.

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