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.
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