GREECE INFO

Greece, is a country in southeastern Europe, situated on the southern end of the Balkan Peninsula. It is bordered by Bulgaria, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and Albania to the north and by Turkey to the east. The Aegean Sea lies to the east and south of mainland Greece, while the Ionian Sea lies to the west. Both, parts of the eastern Mediterranean basin, feature a vast number of islands. Greece lies at the juncture of Europe, Asia, and Africa. It is heir to the heritages of classical Greece, the Byzantine Empire, and nearly four centuries of Ottoman rule. Regarded as the cradle of western civilization and the birthplace of democracy, Western philosophy, the Olympic Games, western literature, political science, major scientific principles and drama (including both tragedy and comedy), Greece has a particularly long and eventful history and a cultural heritage which has been considerably influential in Europe, Northern Africa and the Middle East. Today, Greece is a developed country, a member of the European Union since 1981 and a member of the Economic and Monetary Union of the European Union since 2001. Athens is the capital; Thessaloniki, Piraeus and Patra are some of the country's other major cities.

History of Greece Info
The shores of Greece's Aegean Sea saw the emergence of the first advanced civilizations in Europe whose impact is inseparable from today's western institutions and western cultural and political development. In the wake of the Minoan and Mycenean civilizations, there emerged across the Greek peninsula and islands poleis, or city-states, each with their own distinct social and governmental infrastructure, uniting under Athens and Sparta to repel Persian advance. The conditions had been created for the flowering of Athens and birth of Classical civilization, drawing to a close only with the culmination of the perennial conflict between Athens and Sparta, the Peloponnesian War. Within a century the Greek tribes had been united under the rule of Alexander the Great to roll back Persian gains and herald the Hellenistic era, itself brought only partially to a close with the establishment of Roman rule in 146 BC. Although the establishment of Roman rule did not break the continuity of Hellenistic society and culture, which remained essentially unchanged until the advent of Christianity, it did mark the end of Greek political independence. The Greek peninsula became a province of Rome, while Greek culture continued to dominate the eastern Mediterranean. When the Roman Empire finally split in two, the Eastern Roman Empire, known as the Empire of the Greeks and later Byzantine Empire and centered around Constantinople (known in ancient times as Byzantium), remained Greek in nature, encompassing Greece itself. During the Byzantine imperial period Greece experienced fluctuating fortunes, but succeeded in Hellenizing and institutionalizing most of its new invaders, and by the late eighth century Greeks from Sicily and Asia Minor were brought in as settlers. The eleventh and twelfth centuries are said to have been the Golden Age of Byzantine art in Greece, while the crusading epochs between 1204 and 1458 saw Greece hit by a series of non-Orthodox armies in the name of religion. The Byzantine era persisted, nevertheless, until the Fall of Constantinople on May 29, 1453, to the Ottoman Empire. The sortie of Messolonghi by Theodore Vryzakis, inspired by the Greek War of Independence.While the Ottomans were completing the main conquest of Greek Mainland Ottoman Greece, two Greek migrations occurred. The first saw the Greek intelligentsia migrate to Western Europe especially to Italy and was a significant factor in the advent of the Western European Renaissance. The second migration of Greeks left the plains of the Greek peninsula and resettled in the mountains, the islands and other Greek regions where the Ottomans were unable to create a permanent military and administrative presence. As a result some Greek mountain clans across the peninsula, as well as some islands, were able to maintain a status of independence. The millet system contributed to the ethnic cohesion of Orthodox Greeks by segregating the various peoples within the Ottoman Empire based on religion. Eventually, religion played an integral part in the formation of the Modern Greek and other post-Ottoman national identities. On March 25, 1821 the Greeks rebelled thus declaring their strong will for independence (Greek War of Independence). Their struggle ended in 1829, when the newly formed Greek state was finally created and recognized. In 1830, the Russian ex-minister of foreign affairs, Ioannis Kapodistrias, a noble Greek from the Ionian Islands, was chosen as the President of the new Republic. However, the Great Powers soon dissolved that republic and installed a monarchy. The first king, Otto, was of the Bavarian House of Wittelsbach. The War of Independence also set in motion the establishment of major new cities and centres of trade such as Hermoupolis, Athens and Pireaus. In 1843 King Otto was forced, as a result of an uprising, to grant his subjects a constitution and a representative assembly. He was deposed in 1863 only to be replaced by a Danish Prince who took the name George I of Greece and brought with him the Ionian Islands as a coronation gift from Britain. Greece was growing economically, whilst becoming politically more liberal. In 1877, Prime Minister Charilaos Trikoupis curbed the power of the monarchy to interfere in the Assembly. The Hellenic Parliament, covening as prime minister Charilaos Trikoupis gives a speech, during the late nineteenth century.This period was punctuated by the undertaking of one of the largest construction initiatives on the European continent, one of significant commercial importance; the creation of the Corinth Canal, lasting from 1881 to 1893. In 1896 the Olympic Games were revived in Athens, and hailed a success. As a result of the Balkan Wars of 1912-13, Crete, Chios, Samos, most of Epirus and southern Macedonia, including Thessaloniki, were incorporated into Greece. King George I, monarch for five decades, was assassinated in Thessaloniki in 1913, succeeded by his eldest son, King Constantine I. His struggle with Prime Minister Eleftherios Venizelos resulted in Greece's joining the Entente against Germany and Austria and the later abdication of King Constantine in favour of his son, Alexander. At that time, a part of Asia Minor centered around the city of Smyrna (known today as Izmir) still retained a Greek population majority. The area was awarded to Greece by the Great Powers as a reward for having sided with the entente powers in World War I against the Ottoman Empire. Three years later, Turkish nationalists led by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk denounced the Sultan's government in Istanbul and formed a new one in Ankara, eventually re-establishing control over Asia Minor (Greco-Turkish War (1919-1922)). Following the withdrawal of Greek forces, the destruction of Smyrna and the displacement of thousands of Greeks from the city, a new government was established in Greece. Soon afterwards, the Treaty of Lausanne was signed, fixing the borders to this date. A population exchange was included in the agreement and immediately afterwards around five hundred thousand Muslims, then living in mainland Greece went to Turkey in exchange for more than 1.22 million Greek residents of Asia Minor (excluding Constantinople, Imvros and Tenedos). Between 1924 and 1935 there were 23 changes of government, a dictatorship and 13 coups until in 1935 a referendum was held, resulting in an overwhelming majority in favour of restoring the monarchy in the person of King George II. In 1936, General Ioannis Metaxas established an authoritarian conservative dictatorship in Greece, known as the 4th of August Regime. Ioannis Metaxas (left), architect of the famous Greek "No" against the Italian dictator Mussolini, with King George II of Greece, Crown Prince Paul of Greece and General Alexander Papagos at the successful Albanian Campaign against the invasion of fascist Italy during World War II.During the night of October 28, 1940, the Italian dictator Mussolini demanded that Greece surrender all its arms and allow Axis troops to invade the country; the Greek government gave what became known as the simple negative response of No, thereby siding with the Allies. Italian troops then moved into the country from southern Albania, but were checked by significantly smaller Greek forces. This gave the Allies their first victory on land against the Axis powers. A prolonged period of fierce fighting in the Pindus mountains followed, in which Mussolini's forces were successfully pushed back. Hitler and his generals realized that their strategic southern flank needed to be secured more effectively, so German forces, whose ranks included troops from Bulgaria and Italy, invaded. The occupation of Greece by Nazi Germany began on April 6, 1941. Greek partisan resistance to the occupation was fierce, often with bitter retaliation from the occupiers. Greek Resistance however, such as that waged in Crete is believed to have forced a delay in German plans to initiate invasion against the Soviet Union, thereby extending the campaign into the punishing Russian winter, while the extremely heavy losses of German paratroop forces foiled a planned German campaign in the Middle East against British-held Iraq and its oil fields. Germany retained its disastrous grip on the country until October 12, 1944 when its troops finally withdrew after the landing of Allied Forces in Athens. After liberation from Nazi Germany, Greece experienced an equally bitter civil war between the self-proclaimed communist Democratic Army of Greece and the Hellenic Army. The war lasted until 1949, when the communist forces were defeated in the Battle of Grammos-Vitsi. During the 1950s and 1960s, Greece experienced a gradual and consistent economic growth, also aided by significant grants and loans by the United States through the Marshall Plan. After 1965, however, a period of political turbulence and uncertainty led to a coup d’etat against the elected government and King Constantine II at dawn on April 21, 1967. In their place, a US-supported military junta, known as the Regime of the Colonels, was established. August 13, 2004: The widely praised 2004 Summer Olympics Opening Ceremony was held in the Athens Olympic Stadium.

Geography of Greece Info
Greece consists of a mountainous and craggy mainland jutting out into the sea at the southern end of the Balkans. The Peloponnesus peninsula (separated from the mainland by the canal of the Isthmus of Corinth); and numerous islands (around 3,000), including Crete, Euboea, Lesbos, Chios, the Dodecanese and the Cycladic groups of the Aegean Sea as well as the Ionian Sea islands. Greece has the tenth longest coastline in the world with over 15,000 kilometres; its land boundary is 1,160 kilometres (721 mi). Four-fifths of Greece consist of mountains or hills, making the country one of the most mountainous in Europe. Western Greece contains a number of lakes and wetlands and it is dominated by the Pindus mountain range. Pindus has a maximum elevation of 2,636 metres (8,648 ft) and it is essentially a prolongation of the Dinaric Alps. The range continues through the western Peloponnese, crosses the islands of Kythera and Antikythera and find its way into southwestern Aegean, in the island of Crete where it eventually ends. Pindus is characterized by its high, steep peaks, often dissected by numerous canyons and a variety of other karstic landscapes. Most notably, the impressive Meteora formation consisting of high, steep boulders provides a breathtaking experience for the hundreds of thousands of tourists who visit the area each year. Special lifts transfer visitors to the scenic monasteries that lie on top of those rocks. Meteora is situated in the Trikala prefecture. The Vikos-Aoos Gorge is yet another spectacular formation. The Vikos-Aoos Gorge is a popular hotspot for those fond of extreme sports. The mythical Mount Olympus is the highest mountain in the country, located in the southwestern Pieria prefecture, near Thessaloniki. Mytikas in the Olympus range has a height of 2,919 metres (9,570 ft) at its highest peak. Once considered the throne of the Gods, it is today extremely popular among hikers and climbers who deem its height as a challenge. Moreover, northeastern Greece features yet another high altitude mountain range, the Rhodope range, spreading across the periphery of East Macedonia and Thrace; this area is covered with vast, thick, ancient forests. The famous Dadia forest is in the prefecture of Evros, in the far northeast of the country. Expansive plains are primarily located in the prefectures of Thessaly, Central Macedonia and Thrace. They constitute key economic regions as they are among the few arable places in the country. Volos and Larissa are the two largest cities of Thessaly. Rare marine species such as the Pinniped Seals and the Loggerhead Sea Turtle live in the seas surrounding mainland Greece, while its dense forests are home to the endangered brown bear, the lynx, the Roe Deer and the Wild Goat.



Climate of Greece Info
The climate of Greece can be categorised into three types that influence well-defined regions of its territory. The Pindus mountain range strongly affects the climate of the country by making the western side of it (areas prone to the south-westerlies) wetter on average than the areas lying to the east of it (lee side of the mountains). The three distinct types are the Mediterranean, the Alpine and the Temperate types. The first one features mild, wet winters and hot, dry summers. The Cyclades, the Dodecanese, Crete, Eastern Peloponessus and parts of the Sterea Ellada region are mostly affected by this particular type. Temperatures rarely reach extreme values although snowfalls do occur occasionally even in the Cyclades or the Dodecanese during the winter months. The Alpine type is dominant mainly in the mountainous areas of Northwestern Greece (Epirus, Central Greece, Thessaly, Western Macedonia as well as in the central parts of Peloponnese, including the prefectures of Achaia, Arcadia and parts of Laconia, where extensions of the Pindus mountain range pass by). Finally, the Temperate type affects Central Macedonia and East Macedonia and Thrace; it features cold, damp winters and hot, dry summers. Athens is located in a transitional area featuring both the Mediterranean and the Temperate types. It averages about 16 inches of rain annually. The city's northern suburbs are dominated by the temperate type while the downtown area and the southern suburbs enjoy a typical Mediterranean type.

Culture of Greece Info
Greek culture evolved over thousands of years, with its beginnings in the Mycenean and Minoan civilizations, continuing into Classical Greece, the birth of the Hellenistic era and through the influence of the Roman Empire and its Greek Eastern successor the Byzantine Empire. The Ottoman Empire also had a significant influence on Greek culture, but the Greek war of independence is credited with revitalizing Greece and giving birth to a single entity of its multi-faceted culture throughout the ages. Ancient Greece is often referred to as "the cradle of Western civilization".

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