"Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic (Greek: Ελληνική Δημοκρατία), also known as Hellas (Greek: Ελλάς), is a sovereign state located in Southern and Southeast Europe. Its population ...
is approximately 10.7 million as of 2018; Athens is the nation´s capital and largest city, followed by Thessaloniki.
Situated on the southern tip of the Balkan Peninsula, Greece is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. It shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to the northeast. The Aegean Sea lies to the east of the mainland, the Ionian Sea to the west, the Cretan Sea and the Mediterranean Sea to the south. Greece has the longest coastline on the Mediterranean Basin and the 11th longest coastline in the world at 13,676 km (8,498 mi) in length, featuring a large 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). The country consists of nine geographic regions: Macedonia, Central Greece, the Peloponnese, Thessaly, Epirus, the Aegean Islands (including the Dodecanese and Cyclades), Thrace, Crete, and the Ionian Islands.
Greece is considered the cradle of Western civilisation, being the birthplace of democracy, Western philosophy, Western literature, historiography, political science, major scientific and mathematical principles, Western drama and notably the Olympic Games. From the eighth century B.C., the Greeks were organised into various independent city-states, known as poleis (singular polis), which spanned the entire Mediterranean region and the Black Sea. Philip of Macedon united most of the Greek mainland in the fourth century BC, with his son Alexander the Great rapidly conquering much of the ancient world, from the eastern Mediterranean to India. Greece was annexed by Rome in the second century B.C., becoming an integral part of the Roman Empire and its successor, the Byzantine Empire, which adopted the Greek language and culture. The Greek Orthodox Church, which emerged in the first century A.D., helped shape modern Greek identity and transmitted Greek traditions to the wider Orthodox World. Falling under Ottoman dominion in the mid-15th century, the modern nation state of Greece emerged in 1830 following a war of independence.
Greece is a unitary parliamentary republic and developed country with an advanced high-income economy, a high quality of life, and a very high standard of living. Its economy is the largest in the Balkans, where it is an important regional investor. A founding member of the United Nations, Greece was the tenth member to join the European Communities (precursor to the European Union) and has been part of the Eurozone since 2001. It is also a member of numerous other international institutions, including the Council of Europe, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the World Trade Organization (WTO), the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), and the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie (OIF).
Greece´s unique cultural heritage, large tourism industry, prominent shipping sector and geostrategic importance[a] classify it as a middle power. The country´s rich historical legacy is reflected in part by its 18 UNESCO World Heritage Sites.
^ "Country Comparison: Area". The World Factbook. Central Intelligence Agency. Retrieved 7 January 2013.^ Απογραφή Πληθυσμού – Κατοικιών 2011. ΜΟΝΙΜΟΣ Πληθυσμός [Results of Population-Housing Census 2011 concerning the permanent population of the country] (PDF) (in Greek). 20 March 2014. Retrieved 25 October 2016.^ "Announcement of the results of the 2011 Population Census for the Resident Population" (PDF). Hellenic Statistical Authority. 28 December 2012. Archived from the original (PDF) on 13 November 2013. Retrieved 24 August 2013.^ a b c d "Report for Selected Countries and Subjects". IMF. 20 October 2018.^ "INCOME INEQUALITY 2018 Survey on Income and Living Conditions (Income reference period 2017)". Piraeus: Hellenic Statistical Authority. 21 June 2019. Retrieved 4 September 2019.^ "Table 2. Human Development Index Trends, 1990-2017". Human Development Reports. New York: United Nations Development Programme. 14 September 2018. Retrieved 20 September 2018.^ "The Strategic Importance of Greece". geopoliticalfutures.com. Retrieved 6 March 2017.^ "The Geopolitics of Greece: "One cannot afford anymore to manage the Greek crisis without due consideration of its geopolitical consequences"". janelanaweb.com. Retrieved 6 March 2017.^ "The Geostrategic Value of Greece and Sweden in the Current Struggle between Russia and NATO". atlanticcouncil.org. Retrieved 6 March 2017.^ "The Geopolitical Importance of Greece through the Ages". academia.edu. Retrieved 6 March 2017.^ "The Role of Greece in the Geostrategic Chessboard of Natural Gas". naturalgasworld.com. Retrieved 6 March 2017.^ "Geopolitical Consequences Of ´Grexit´ Would Be Huge". bmiresearch.com. Retrieved 6 March 2017.^ "Greece can still be a geopolitical asset for the EU". europesworld.org. Archived from the original on 11 January 2017. Retrieved 6 March 2017.^ "Greece and NATO: a long lasting relationship". nato.int. Retrieved 6 March 2017.Cite error: There are <ref group=lower-alpha> tags or {{efn}} templates on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=lower-alpha}} template or {{notelist}} template (see the help page)." - (en.wikipedia.org 16.09.2019)
- Latitude38.5
- Longitude23
- Population11000000