Greece
| (el) | |||||
| Dhimokratias Ellinika (el) | |||||
| Hellenic Republic (en) | |||||
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| National motto : ( Eleftheria thanatos ) (In Greek : Liberty or Death) | |||||
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| Official language | Modern Greek | ||||
| Capital | Athens 38 00'N 23 42'E / 38, 23.7 | ||||
| Largest city | Athens | ||||
| Form of State | Republic Parliamentary | ||||
| - President of the Republic - Prime Minister | Karolos Papoulias Georgios Papandreou | ||||
| Area - Total - Water (%) | Ranked 94 th 131 625 km 2 0.86% | ||||
| Population - Total ( 2008 ) - Density | Ranked 70 th 11,260,000 inhab. 84.3 inhabitants / km 2 | ||||
| Independence - Date | Of the Ottoman Empire 25 March 1821 | ||||
| Demonym | Greek Greek | ||||
| HDI ( 2009 ) |  0.889 (high) ( 25th ) | ||||
| Currency | Euro ( EUR ) | ||||
| Time Zone | UTC 2 | ||||
| National anthem | mnos IS Eleftheran tin ( Hymn to Freedom ) | ||||
| Internet domain | . Gr | ||||
| Indicative Telephone | +30 | ||||
Greece, in long form the Hellenic Republic, in ancient Greek and Katharevousa / in demotic Greek / and / , is a state of southeastern Europe , situated in the extreme south of the Balkans. Its capital is Athens.
Greece has borders with Albania , the Macedonian (it only recognizes as the "Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia" or FYROM), the Bulgaria and Turkey. The Ionian Sea to the west and the Aegean Sea to the east, parts of the Mediterranean Sea , which flank the country has nearly 6,000 islands and islets, which are inextricably linked to civilization and Greek traditions.
Greece is a member of NATO since 1952 Geography Greece is located at the southern tip of the peninsula of the Balkans , roughly between 35 00 '42 00' latitude north and 19 00 '28 30' longitude east. It consists of three distinct geographical entities: the Greek mainland, the peninsula of Peloponnesus and the islands represent one fifth of the total area of Greece. Greek coasts are bordered on the west by the Ionian Sea and the east by the Aegean Sea where the majority of Greek islands. Greece has borders with Albania , the Macedonian (it only recognizes as the "Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia" or FYROM, English FYROM), the Bulgaria and the European part of Turkey. Greece is situated at the meeting of tectonic plates African and Eurasian. During the Mesozoic , it was covered by ocean Tethys whose Mediterranean is a remnant. The reconciliation between the plates created the downhill movement whose mountains are part of Greece. This movement caused the fracture of the Eurasian plate creating the plate in the Aegean. It has also created immense thrust sheets that make the west of Greece is made up of limestone and flysch pleated and is massive and crystalline metamorphic . The downhill movement and thrusting were accompanied during the last three million years of the creation of loopholes and many of rift valley mainly invaded by the sea, but also leading to the establishment of present drainage. At the end of the Wrm glaciation , the upwelling of a hundred meters designed the modern coast and the coastal plains and river deltas . About 80% of Greek territory is mountainous, making Greece the sixth most mountainous country of Europe. The Mount Olympus is the highest point of Greece with its 2917 meters above sea level . The mountains of Pindus form the central chain in the country with an average height of 2650 meters. They are, with the massive Parnon and Taygete in the Peloponnese and Lefka Ori in Crete an extension of the Alps. Northern Greece presents another chain of mountains, the mountains of Rhodope , which straddles the Eastern Macedonia and Thrace . Found in Greece many canyons and other karstic landscapes, including the Meteora (see for Meteora ) and Vikos Gorge. No point in Greece is far more than 100 km from the sea, in the Peloponnese and central Greece as well as the distance is about fifty miles. In fact, there is no mountain in Greece where the sea can be seen . Today Greece is the second naval power in the world (behind Japan), as its merchant fleet has 3064 vessels 169 426 690 deadweight tonnes on 1 January 2009 (15.33% of world tonnage) . The Great Plains flood are mainly in Thessaly , in Macedonia and Thrace and along the eastern coast of the Peloponnese. Because of the tectonic movements of Pliocene and Quaternary , they are generally not very extensive: the width of the plain of Macedonia never exceeds 100 km. In the plains, water has long been a problem. In poljes (basins Stymphalus of Tripoli or Copais example), the katavothres (ponors) were (before the work of the nineteenth century ) unable to evacuate the winter rains that created seasonal lakes and marshes. The Great Plains (Thessaly, Macedonia and Thrace) are cut by small mountain ranges that require winter rainwater to flow through narrow gorges. Before the alterations, they were retained upstream of the gorge, creating seasonal lakes. Similarly, downstream along the coasts, lagoons and marshes with standing water were very common. Major drainage and irrigation have been conducted since the mid- nineteenth century and accelerated first in the 1920s and the 1960s to make the Greek plains of cultivation and breeding just as traditionally been the case . The formation of rivers is limited by the low level of rainfall and the fragmentation of relief. The major rivers are so many little and some may find their source outside the Greek territory. Ago in Greece twenty-one lakes, fourteen artificial covering an area of 59,900 hectares. They are in a great northern half of the country. Greece's climate is typically Mediterranean (mild, wet winters and hot dry summers). However, there are a variety of sub-climates related to the relief of molecular chain of Pindus, Taygetos Parnon and Lefka Ori blocking influences from the west and busiest in precipitation . The west side Ionian ( Epirus , Aetolia-Akarnania , western Peloponnese and western Crete) is the wettest, with rainfall between 1 000 and 1 400 mm of rain per year. The north-east ( Thrace , Halkidiki , east of Euboea sometimes up to Tinos and Andros ) receives depressions giving it a rainfall of 800 to 1 400 mm of rain per year, depending on altitude. The driest region is therefore in the Attic to Cyclades (400 to 600 mm of rain per year) . The winters are colder in the north: isothermal January-March on the Rhodopes , 4 across the Northern Plains, 7 in Thessaly , 10 for central Greece and the Athens area and isotherm January to 13 for Crete and the Cyclades. This situation is related to the influence of the Balkans and North Africa to the south. Terrain plays a role again for the summer temperature differences. The northeast is the coolest (July isotherm at 24 for Thrace), but also the northwest (isothermal at 25 for any Epirus and the Ionian coast). Thessaly (and to Thessaloniki in the north), Central Greece, Attica and the Peloponnese are all in the isotherm at 27 , with a balloon at 28 for Laconia. Northeast winds cool temperatures in the Aegean . Greece has a rich history, from ancient Greece to modern Greece through the empire of Alexander the Great , the Roman Empire , the Ottoman domination , the Kingdom of Greece , the Civil War and the dictatorship of Colonels. Some sites Paleolithic are now known in Greece. The traces of human presence dating back as far at 700 000 BP in the Chalkidiki peninsula, where a skull was discovered prnandertalien Petralona () . Moreover, traces more recent, dating from 40,000 BC. AD were found. Three Caves Valley Louros were occupied during the Paleolithic. A skull of Neanderthal man was discovered in the vicinity of Thessaloniki . From the seventh millennium BC. AD , sites, announcing a " Neolithic Revolution "already well underway in the East, show the appearance of shepherds and farmers cultivating including vines and olive trees. The Greek archaeologist Christos Tsountas suggested in the late nineteenth century , after having compared various discoveries on many islands, the Cyclades have been subsumed in a cultural unit in the third millennium BC. BC : Cycladic civilization , dating from the Bronze Age. It is famous for its marble idols, found to Portugal and at the mouth of the Danube , which proves its dynamism. It is a bit older than the Minoan civilization of Crete. The beginnings of the Minoan civilization were influenced by the Cycladic civilization: Cycladic figurines were imported to Crete and local artisans imitated techniques Cycladic, sites and Aghia Photia Archanes provided archaeological evidence . Similarly, the cemetery of Agios Kosmas in Attica found graves containing type Cycladic Cycladic objects may indicate either the presence of a Cycladic settlement, a significant proportion of the population of Cycladic origin, in any case influence Cycladic some . Are traditionally distinguished three main periods (equivalent to those which divide the continent Helladic and Minoan Crete) : Minoan civilization develops in Crete from 2700 to 1200 BC. AD. Taking its name from the name of legendary King Minos , it was revealed by the English archaeologist Arthur John Evans in the early twentieth century. The Mycenaean civilization is a pre-Hellenic civilization of the Helladic recent (end of the Bronze Age ). It derives its name from the city of Mycenae , located in the Peloponnese. This civilization was to write the linear B. The historiography of modern called Dark Ages (Dark Ages, " Dark Ages "after the term Anglo-Saxon origin), in ancient Greece , the period that goes from the twelfth century BC. AD to eighth century BC. AD Invasions that lead to the destruction of the Mycenaean civilization marked the beginning of the period. The submycnien begins in 1200 BC. AD and extends up until about 1015. It is followed by the Proto-geometric. It ends with the emergence of Athens as a cultural center, to 875 , characterized by the success of a new form of pottery called geometric , and the advent of the age of cities. Denotes the word "archaic" one of the five eras of Greek history, set the basic styles of pottery. It starts around 620 and ends at 480. The term is sometimes used in a broader sense for the period that lies between 750 and 480. With regard to ancient Greece, the classical period corresponds to most of the fifth and fourth centuries BC. AD , that is to say since the fall of tyranny in Athens in 510 until the death of Alexander the Great in 323. The expression of "classical period" is a name after the chronological period to which it refers. The Greeks were aware that the world that existed before the era of Alexander the Great and the expansion of the Greek world, could be considered a "golden age". More contemporary classical times used to describe the period during which the values and basic institutions of the Greek world found their full expression and came to maturity. Considered the reference period, there is no break between the different eras. "Classical Period" is a historical expression convenient for historians of these periods. The Hellenistic period ( IV - the first century BC. ), if we exclude the figures of Alexander the Great and Cleopatra , is relatively unknown. It is often regarded as a period of transition, sometimes even of decline or decadence, between the brilliance of the classical period Greek and power of the Roman Empire. But the splendor of cities like Alexandria , Antioch , Pergamum , the importance of economic exchanges, cultural mixes, the dominant role of the Greek language and its dissemination will profoundly change the face of the Middle East including Ancient later in the Roman rule. The Hellenistic period was defined by the historians of the nineteenth century (the term "Hellenistic" is used for the first time by the German historian Johann Gustav Droysen in Geschichte des Hellenismus ( 1836 and 1843 ), using a criterion linguistic and cultural knowledge to the dramatic increase in regions where people speak Greek ( / hellnzein) and thus the phenomenon of expansion of Hellenism. However, this phenomenon of Hellenization populations and encounters between ancient civilizations Oriental and Greek continues including in the "Greco-Roman Empire," in the words of Paul Veyne. The chronological boundaries of the Hellenistic period are conventional and policies: they begin with the conquests of Alexander the Great and end when the suicide of the last great ruler Hellenistic, Queen of Egypt Cleopatra VII , was replaced by Roman rule. The period of Roman rule in Greece conventionally extends 146 BC. AD after the sack of Corinth until the rebuilding of Byzantium by Constantine I and his proclamation as the second capital of the Roman Empire in 330 AD. AD. In 395 , the death of Theodosius I , the Roman Empire was divided into two parts : the Western Roman Empire , which disappears in 476 , and the Eastern Roman Empire known as the XVI century Byzantine Empire (in Greek / Basileia Rman: Roman Empire) which lasted until 1453 and even until 1461 at Trebizond and Mistra. The term Byzantine comes from Byzantium , the ancient name of the capital Constantinople. During the thousand years between the year 395 in the year 1453 , a number of values and knowledge were retained by the Romans rule of written law governed by the Code of Justinian, Emperor responsible to the Senate, no serfdom free farming communities, farming techniques developed (irrigation), Romanesque architecture, aqueducts, water supply, while water-borne sewerage and lighting in cities, use a bathroom (which we call "Turkish baths"), semaphores and headlights, transmission ancient knowledge, philosophy and classical Greek Hippocratic medicine at the universities of Constantinople, Trebizond and Mistra ... Such knowledge was also transmitted to the Arabs who in turn have communicated to the West. The disappearance of the western part of the Roman Empire and the withdrawal of Roman legions , and the constant threats on their borders led the Byzantines to develop an army strong, the tactic has evolved and began to be elaborated independently from the sixth century. As the Roman Empire , the Byzantine Empire was a Christian state that, after the schism of 1054 , remained faithful ( Orthodox ) to the dogmas of Christianity 's first millennium. Ottoman Greece is the term used to designate the period of domination ottoman. Much of Greece was part of the Ottoman Empire from the fourteenth century, even before then the Capture of Constantinople , until the end of the war of Greek independence in the early 1830s. The Greek people have long been subjected to Turkish sultans who militarily occupy their territories being concerned mainly law enforcement and requiring tax population. Wars break out between the sultans and people looking to get rid of the power of these leaders. National sentiment, influenced by national movements and liberal Europe, manifested by the revolutionary initiative of Greece. Note however that a significant part of present remained until very late in the Venetian sovereignty. In particular Corfu, Ithaca and the Ionian islands were never part of the Ottoman Empire. The Venetian Crete remained until the mid-seventeenth century and the Peloponnese (Morea) recovered for 30 years until 1715 by the Venetians. In 1821 , Greeks, Christians, Orthodox rebelled against the domination of the Ottoman Empire. This revolt was successful and the de facto independence was proclaimed at the National Assembly of Epidaurus in 1822. European public opinion was quite favorable to the movement, just like Chateaubriand , Jean-Gabriel Eynard , Lord Byron , Francois Pouqueville or Colonel Fabvier few of the many Philhellenes. The Russian was, in turn, interested in the fate of Orthodox Greeks. However, no country, like the France of Villele , did not move because of political and diplomatic weight of the Holy Alliance , particularly the Austria of Metternich , staunch supporter of order and balance. Greeks living outside the Ottoman Empire, for example, the elite of Constantinople (the Phanariotes ) or inhabitants of the Ionian Islands as Ioannis Kapodistrias or Trikoupis Spiridon , quickly came to the aid of revolutionary. For two years, the Greeks multiplied victories. However, they began to tear. The Sublime Porte called using its powerful Egyptian vassal Mehemet Ali. For the Greeks, a phase of repression began. But the Russians wanted more and more eagerly respond. The British , meanwhile, wanted to limit Russian influence in the region. A naval expedition demonstration was suggested in 1827 by the Treaty of London (1827). A fleet joint Russian, French and British met and destroyed, without having really looked for the fleet-Egyptian turquo at the battle of Navarino. The France intervened in a spirit of crusade , by the French expedition to the Morea ( Peloponnese ) in 1828. Russia declared war on the Turks that year. His victory was confirmed by the Treaty of Andrinopole in 1829 , which increased its regional influence. These European actions precipitated the creation of the Greek State. The London Conference ( 1830 ), which gathered representatives of British, French and Russian, in effect allowed the assertion of Greek independence as Prussia and Austria authorized him. France, Russia and the United Kingdom then kept a significant influence on the young kingdom. The dictatorship of the Colonels is the name given to political power in place in Greece from 1967 to 1974 , which also caused the exile of King Constantine II ascended the throne in 1964. This dictatorship is based on the assumption of power by a junta of officers then dominated by Georgios Papadopoulos. After the dictatorship, Greece is experiencing strong economic growth and living standards never before achieved, especially with the rise of foreign tourism in Greece. She joined the EU in 1981 adopted the European currency in 2001. The country, which is the origin of the Olympic Games, is hosting the competition in 2004 in Athens. From 2007, the country is hit by the global economic crisis came from the United States , and in 2009 she experienced a severe fiscal crisis and is forced to seek assistance from the European Union. Consequently, Greece shook the stability of the euro throughout Europe. However, the reasons for the Greek crisis far deeper than economic crisis: public accounts rigged and uncontrolled spending. Greece is a republic Parliamentary since the constitution of 1975. The latter guarantees of civil liberties in detail. However, the weight of the Orthodox Church is still very important: there is no separation between church and state in Greece (and Article 3 of the Constitution governs the relationship between the two authorities , it return to NATO in 1980 . Greece is administratively divided into: The number of tourists to Greece increased by 8.5% in 2008 compared to 2007. Three-quarters come from the EU (mainly the United Kingdom for 15% and Germany 13%) With an estimated population of 11,125,200 inhabitants as of 1 January 2006 , Greece showed an increase of 42,500 (0.38%) population compared to the previous year, of which only 2500 due to the balance natural, the rest from immigration. The fertility rate is one of the lowest in Europe (1.28), and the country is threatened with rapid depopulation if sustained immigration did not generate a strong increase significantly since the late 1980s. Greece is mainly populated by one of the cultural and language groups of the Eastern Roman Empire , conquered by the Turks and insurgents against the Ottoman Empire : the Milliyet hellnophones the Orthodox , who were defined as Rome (o Greek, Turkish Rum) during the Middle Ages , but from the eighteenth century, under the influence of the Enlightenment, was vindicated again as "Hellenes" or "Greeks" in French. Before the Enlightenment, meant only pagans , polytheists . Minority languages : Bulgarian , Slav-Macedonian , Albanian , Aromanian , Turkish , yvanique (Judeo-Greek), Ladino ( Judeo-Spanish ) and tzakone. Minority religious groups: Muslims (120 000), Jews, Roman Catholics, Protestants (98% of Greeks are Orthodox Christians). Minority language groups, Greek citizens but does not claim the national community Greek Albanians , Pomaks (Bulgarian-speaking Muslims), claiming a national identity Slavonians Bulgarian or Slav-Macedonian government not recognized by the Greek Roma (called Gypsies), Armenians and Jews. Minority language groups claiming the national community Greek Hellenic- Arvanites Albanian, Aromanian (known as Vlachs ) and Slavo-Hellenic (slavophones who do not claim as Bulgarian or as Slavo-Macedonian ). The Greeks are overwhelmingly confessional Christian Orthodox (98% of the population). The weight of the two Orthodox Churches ( Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople and Archdiocese of Athens and All Greece ), who share the Greek territory, has always been very important in Hellenic society: there is no separation between Church and State in Greece and Article 3 of the Constitution governs the relationship between the two authorities . It should nevertheless be stressed that the Greek Constitution guarantees freedom of religion under Article 13 , . Very small minority, other religions are: Greece is with France the only nation to have competed in every Olympic Games since their inception in 1896. In all, Greece has won 138 medals (37 gold, 62 silver and 39 bronze). As a nation birthplace of the Olympic Games, Greece always opens the parade of nations during the opening ceremonies of the Olympics. The Greek national football team won the Euro 2004. Greece was at the same time European champions in football and basketball, a feat that only the Soviet Union and Spain have done. Greece has the code: 
Relief
Mountains
Ubiquitous Sea
Plains
Rivers and lakes
Climate
History
History of Greece 
Pre-Hellenic Greece Prehistory of Greece -3200 Cycladic civilization -2700 Minoan civilization -1550 Mycenaean civilization Ancient Greece -1200 Dark Ages -800 Archaic -510 Classical period -323 Hellenistic -146 Roman Greece Medieval Greece (C) 330 Byzantine Empire 1202 Fourth Crusade 1453 Ottoman Greece Modern Greece 1799 Republic of the Seven Islands 1822 Revolutionary War 1832 Kingdom of Greece 1936 Plan of August 4 1941 Occupation 1946 Civil War 1967 Dictatorship of the colonels 1974 Hellenic Republic Prehistory
Protohistory
Cycladic Civilization
Minoan Civilization
Mycenaean Civilization
Dark Ages
Archaic Greece
Age of Cities
Hellenistic Greece
Archaeological works and recent historical period that lead to reevaluate and in particular two aspects characteristic of the period, the existence and the weight of great kingdoms ruled by dynasties of Greek or Macedonian ( Ptolemaic , Seleucid , Antigonids , Attalides , etc..) but also the role of hundreds of cities whose importance, contrary to a long widespread, is far from declining. The Roman domination
Byzantine Empire
The end of the Byzantine Empire
Ottoman Domination
Revolutionary War
Greece and contemporary
Dictatorship of the Colonels
Economic Growth
Politics
Subdivisions
Economy
External Trade
Tourism
Demographics
Minorities
Religions
Culture
Date French name Local Name Notes January 1 New year Theophany (Baptism of Christ) The cross is thrown into the sea and the river March 7 (in 2011 ) Clean Monday Start of Lent March 25 National Day (Annunciation) Commemoration of the Revolution of 1821 , introduced in 1838 April 21 (2006) Good Friday Day of all living April 23 (2006) Easter Date based on the Julian calendar April 24 (2006) Monday of Easter May 1 Ancient festival of May and incidental work Monday following the seventh Sunday after Easter ( June 11 in 2006 ) Pentecost Orthodox August 15 Dormition October 28 National Day ( No Day ) Rejection of the ultimatum of Mussolini's Italian troops and retreat of 60 km in Albania November 17 Anniversary of the student uprising of the Polytechnic against the military junta in 1973. Holiday in schools only. December 25 Christmas Sport
Miscellaneous Data
Codes
Bibliography
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