The country of Greece is a paradise for tourists who are interested in Art, culture and literature. Far away from the beaches, an amazing country lies to be discovered.

Greece is located in southeastern Europe, bordered by Albania, Turkey, Bulgaria and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. Greece it is constitutes the Balkan Peninsula, is surrounded by thousand of little islands, in which less than 200 are inhabited.

Greece is a mountainous country, with a major pick at over 1,500m above sea level.
Greece is perhaps one of the more ancient history countries in Europe.

History

Antiquity of Greece dates back to 3000 BC when the powerful Cycladic, Minoan and Mycenaean civilizations flourished. Those cultures described in legend and history set the foundations for the Classic Greek civilization that followed is widely acknowledged as the origin of western civilization.
The Classical Years (5th - 4th Century B.C.) were characterized by the cultural and political dominance of Athens, so much so that the second half of the 5th Century B.C. was subsequently called the “Golden Age” of Pericles. With the end of the Peloponnesian War in 404 B.C., Athens lost its leading role.
In the 4th Century B.C., The Macedonians, with Philip II and his son Alexander the Great, began to play a leading role in Greece. Alexander’s campaign to the East and the conquest of all the regions as far as the Indus River radically changed the situation in the world, as it was at that time.
The Hellenistic period of Greek history begins with the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC and ends with the conquering f the Greek peninsula and islands by Rome 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 division of the empire into East and West with the move of the Capital from Rome to Constantinople and the subsequent collapse of the Western Roman Empire were developments that constantly accentuated the position of the Greeks in the empire and eventually allowed them to become identified with the Byzantine Empire that lasted for more than 1000 years.
The Ottomans gradually began to seize parts of the empire from the 14th Century A.D., and completed the breakup of the empire with the capture of Constantinople in 1453
Greece achieved independence from the Ottoman Empire in 1829.after an 8 year Independence struggle since the beginning of the revolution in 1821.
An independent Greek Kingdom was formed in 1830, but with limited sovereign land. During the 19th C. and the beginning of the 20th C., new areas with compact Greek populations were gradually inducted into the Greek State. Greece’s sovereign land would reach its maximum after the end of Word War I in 1920.
The Greek State took its current form after the end of World War II with the incorporation of the Dodecanese Islands.
In 1974, after the seven-year dictatorship period, democratic elections and a referendum created a parliamentary republic and abolished the monarchy. In 1981, Greece joined the EC (now the EU); it became the 12th member of the European Economic and Monetary Union in 2001

Facts About Greece
Name of the country: Elliniki Dimokratia (Ellas, Ellada)
People: Ellines (Hellenes) Women: Ellenides Men: Ellines
Size: 131.940 sq. km (land 99%, sea 1%)
Coastline: 13,676 km
Population: just under 11000000 (46% men, 54% women)
Language: Greek (Ellinika)
Coordinates: 39 00N 22 00E
Highest mountain: Mt Olympus, 2917 m
Capital: Athens
Currency: EURO €
Religion: 98% Greek Orthodox, 1,3 Muslim, 0,7 Other
Government: parliamentary republic, until 1974 monarchy