Greece: Difference between revisions

Hellenic Republic Ελληνική Δημοκρατία Ellinikí Dhimokratía
Flag Coat of arms of Greece Coat of arms
Motto: Ελευθερία ή Θάνατος (Transliteration: [Eleftheria i thanatos] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help)) (Translation: "Freedom or Death")
Anthem: Ύμνος εις την Ελευθερίαν ("Hymn to Freedom")
Capital and largest city	Athens
Official languages	Greek
Government	Republic
• President	Karolos Papoulias
• Prime Minister	Kostas Karamanlis
Independence  From Ottoman Empire
• Declared	25 March 1821
• Recognized	1829
• Water (%)	0.8669
Population
• 2005 estimate	11,244,118[1] (74th)
• 2001 census	10,964,020 [2]
GDP (PPP)	2005 estimate
• Total	$245.88 billion (2005 official Eurostat data) (37th)
• Per capita	$22,800 (2005 official Eurostat data) (30th)
HDI (2004)	0.912 very high (24th)
Currency	Euro(€)2 (EUR)
Time zone	UTC+2 (EET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+3 (EEST)
Calling code	30
ISO 3166 code	GR
Internet TLD	.gr
1 Monarchy rejected by referendum December 8th, 1974. 2 Prior to 2001: Greek Drachma.

Greece (Template:Lang-el, [Elládha] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help) (IPA: [e̞ˈlaða]), or Ελλάς, [Ellás] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help) (IPA: [e̞ˈlas])), officially the Hellenic Republic (Ελληνική Δημοκρατία, [Ellinikí Dhimokratía] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help) (IPA: [e̞ˌliniˈci ðimo̞kraˈtiˌa]), is a country in south-eastern 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 of mainland Greece while the Ionian Sea lies to the west. Both, parts of the eastern Mediterranean basin, feature a vast number of islands.

Regarded as the cradle of western civilization and being the birthplace of Democracy, Western philosophy, the Olympic Games, Western Literature, Political Science and drama including both tragedy and comedy, Greece has a very long and remarkably rich history during which its culture has proven to be especially influential in Europe, Northern Africa and the Middle East. Today, Greece is a developed nation, member of the European Union since 1981 and a member of the Eurozone since 2001.

History

Main article: History of Greece

, see also Names of the Greeks for a different angle.

Prehistory and Antiquity

The shores of Greece's Aegean Sea saw the emergence of the first civilizations in Europe, namely the Minoan and the Mycenaen. Plato has described how the Greeks live round the Aegean Archipelago "like frogs around a pond"; their name has always been associated with the sea. After the internal struggle between Spartans and Athenians, all parts of Greece were united under the rule of Alexander the Great and aimed at the defeat of the 'eastern threat' of the Persians. Alexander led the Greeks to a victorious campaign which established a Greek Empire and introduced a new era in world history, the Hellenistic.

Byzantine period

Militarily, Greece declined allowing the Romans to conquer the land (168 BC onwards). Greece became a province of the Roman Empire, but Greek culture continued to dominate the eastern Mediterranean. When the Roman Empire finally split in two, the Eastern Roman Empire, known as the Byzantine Empire, centered around Constantinople (known in ancient times as Byzantium), remained Greek in nature, encompassing Greece itself.

The most famous of the surviving Byzantine mosaics of the Hagia Sophia in Constantinople - the image of Christ on the walls of the upper southern gallery. Christ is flanked by the Virgin Mary and John the Baptist. The mosaics were made in the 12th century.

During the period of the Byzantine Empire Greece experienced fluctuating fortunes, but it succeeded in Hellenising and institutionalizing most of its new invaders.

From the late 8th century, the Empire began to recover from the devastating impact of successive invasions, and the re-conquest of Greece began. Greeks from Sicily and Asia Minor were brought in as settlers. Slavs were either driven out or assimilated. By the middle of the 9th century, Greece was dominated by those of Hellenic heritage once more, and Greek cities began to recover due to improved safeguards against barbarous incursion and restored central governance. A number of contemporary Greek historians have chronicled those centuries.

The invasions of the Turks after the battle of Manzikert in 1071 and the ensuing civil wars largely passed the region by, and Greece continued its provincial existence unharmed. When the Byzantine Empire was rescued by the resolute leadership of the three Comnenus emperors Alexius I, John II and Manuel I Comnenus, Greece prospered. Archaeological evidence tells us that many of the medieval towns, including Athens, Thessaloniki, Thebes and Corinth, experienced a period of rapid and sustained growth, starting in the eleventh century and continuing until the end of the twelfth century. The growth of the towns attracted the Venetians, and this interest in trade appears to have further increased economic prosperity in Greece.

The 11th and 12th centuries are said to be the Golden Age of Byzantine art in Greece. During the Crusading epochs between 1204 and 1458, Greece was hit by a series of western European armies in the name of religion.

The end of an era arrived with the Fall of Constantinople on May 29 1453 to the Ottoman Empire. The empire had been for centuries the center of Christendom from the ancient classical world of the Roman Empire to the dawn of the Renaissance. Throughout this medieval era it had remained a source of constancy. But during the 15th century, Greece was gradually conquered by the Ottomans.

Ottoman period

File:Vryzakis.jpg

Theodore Vryzakis, The sortie of Messologhi

While the Ottomans were completing the main conquest of the Greek Mainland, two Greek migrations occurred. The first saw the Greek intelligentsia migrate to Western Europe — especially to Italy — and contribute to the advent of the Renaissance. The second migration of Greeks left the plains of the Greek peninsula and resettled in the mountains, the islands and Greek regions outside Ottoman control. In the mountainous regions, 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. The Orthodox Church, a religious institution with a keen sense of its national character, contributed to the Greeks from all geographical areas of the peninsula (i.e. mountains, plains, and islands) to preserve their ethnic, cultural and linguistic heritage during the years of the Ottoman rule (although at the time it was not strictly speaking a "Greek" church — the Greek Church was instituted after the liberation). Eventually, religion played an integral part in the formation of the Modern Greek and other post-Ottoman national identities.

Creation of the modern Greek state

The Ottomans ruled Greece until the early 19th century. On March 25, 1821 the Greeks rebelled and declared their independence, which was finally recognized in 1829. The elites of powerful European nations saw the Greek War of Independence, with its accounts of Turkish atrocities, in a romantic light (see, for example, the 1824 painting the Massacre of Chios by Eugène Delacroix). Scores of non-Greeks volunteered to fight for the cause. In 1830, the Russian ex-minister of foreign affairs, Ioannis Kapodistrias, himself a Greek noble from the Ionian Islands, was chosen as President of the new Republic following Greek independence. However, the Great Powers soon dissolved that republic and installed a "Greek" monarchy. The first king, Otto of Bavaria, was of the German House of Wittelsbach and the subsequent line was from the Germano-Danish House of Oldenburg. During the 19th and especially the early 20th centuries, in a series of wars with the Ottomans, Greece sought to enlarge its boundaries to include the ethnic Greek population of the Ottoman Empire (the Ionian Islands were donated by Britain upon the arrival of the new king from Denmark in 1863, and Thessaly was ceded by the Ottomans without a fight). As a result of the Balkan Wars of 1912-13 Crete, Chios, Samos, most of Epirus and southern Macedonia were incorporated into Greece. Greece would slowly grow in territory and population until reaching its present configuration in 1947.

In addition to a gradual territorial expansion, the War of Independence also set in motion significant internal changes including the establishment of major new cities and centers of trade. The first of these was Ermoupoli (also often spelled "Hermoupolis", located on the island of Syros (often called "Syra" in the 19th century). Many thousands of Greek islanders found themselves compelled to flee from their homes, and Syros was the island on which a great many eventually settled. Their numbers increased greatly following the massacre of Chios in 1822 and the devastation of Psara in 1824. The new city of Ermoupoli was soon established, more than half of its inhabitants originated from Chios. In a very short time Ermoupoli became the main city in Greece, with a vast economy and social life. Thousands of ships were built and launched at Syros in the 19th century. The Greek Steamship Company of Ermoupoli was the first in Greece. The first telegraph station in Greece was established there in 1858, eventually followed by the Eastern Telegraph Company in the 1870s with more than 100 employees making Syros a major hub in their globe-spanning telegraph network.

The second major city to grow forth from the springboard of the War of Independence was Athens itself and it became the capital. The third major centre to emerge was Piraeus with its three natural harbors. By the 1880s it had grown enormously as a centre for shipbuilding and as a general hub of shipping.

Rather later in the scheme of things was the late 19th century creation of the Corinth Canal between 1881 and 1893.

World War I and its aftermath

File:He-ref-chios-painting.jpg

Eugène Delacroix, Massacre at Chios

In World War I, Greece sided with the entente powers against the Ottoman Empire and the other Central Powers. In the war's aftermath, the Great Powers awarded a small part of Asia Minor to Greece, centered around the city of Smyrna (known as Izmir today) which had a majority of Greek population. At that time, however, the Turkish nationalists, led by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, denounced the Sultan's government in Istanbul and formed a new one in Ankara. During the Greco-Turkish War (1919–1922) the Turks eventually defeated the Greek armies and regained control of Asia Minor. 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 Greek territory left for Turkey in exchange for more than 1.22 million Greek residents of Asia Minor (excluding Constantinople, Imvros and Tenedos).

In 1936, General Ioannis Metaxas established an authoritarian conservative dictatorship in Greece known as the 4th of August Regime. Greece under Metaxas is compared to Spain at the time, although it lacked the political violence associated with Francisco Franco's regime.

Shortly before the outbreak of World War II, a free vote of the Greek people was held resulting in an overwhelming vote to restore the monarchy under King Constantine I's eldest son, King George II of Greece.

World War II

On 28 October 1940, the Italian dictator Mussolini called on the Greeks to allow the troops to enter the country and to surrender its arms. Though Greece was alone and most of Europe occupied by the Axis, the Greek government gave a simple negative response (see Oxi Day) — thereby immediately siding with the Allies. Oxi means "no" in Greek, which is what the Greeks told Mussolini. The Italian troops poured over from Albania. The Greek counter-attack along the Albanian front gave the Allies their first victory against the Axis forces (see Greco-Italian War). Eventually, Mussolini's armies were saved from defeat with the intervention of Italy's Axis ally, Germany, since Hitler and his generals needed to secure their strategic southern flank. German forces whose ranks included troops from Bulgaria and Italy successfully invaded Greece, overran and occupied Greece in April–May 1941 (Battle of Greece). Germany held onto the country until 1944 when German troops withdrew.

In May 1941, to reduce the threat of a counter-offensive by Allied forces in Egypt, the Germans attempted to seize Crete in a massive attack by paratroops. Allied forces, along with Cretan civilians, however, offered fierce resistance. Although Crete eventually fell, it is pointed out by historians and even the significant figures of the war that this, and the whole Greek campaign, delayed German plans significantly, with the result that the German invasion of the Soviet Union started fatally close to winter. In addition, the extremely heavy losses of paratroop forces sustained by the Germans in Crete foiled a planned German campaign in the Middle East against British-held Iraq and its oil fields.

During the years of Nazi occupation, hundreds of thousands of Greeks died in direct combat, in concentration camps, or of starvation. The winter of 1941–1942 was especially brutal, as the occupying forces carried out a country-wide, systematic confiscation of all foodstuffs as punishment for delaying critical German war plans in Eastern Europe. Ultimately, the threat of a general rebellion was used by the Archbishop Damaskinos of Athens to convince the Germans to relent and abandon the confiscation of food in the spring of 1942. Greek partisan resistance to the occupation was fierce, often with bitter retaliation from the occupiers. Perhaps the most ignominious example of this is the massacre at Kalavryta, where the entire male population (1258 men) of the city of Kalavrita was executed on a single day, 13th December 1943. The occupiers murdered the greater part of the Jewish community despite efforts by the Greek Orthodox Church and many Greeks to shelter their fellow Jewish Greek citizens. The Jewish community of Thessaloniki suffered the heaviest toll by far. During the war the Greek economy languished. After liberation, Greece experienced an equally bitter Greek Civil War between the communist-led Democratic Army and the Hellenic Army that lasted until 1949, when the communists were defeated in the battle of Grammos-Vitsi.

Post-war development and turmoil

During the 1950s and 1960s, Greece experienced gradual and consistent economic growth, aided by significant grants and loans by the United States through the Marshall Plan. However, starting in 1965, a series of turbulent political events unfolded that led to severe political uncertainty. The crisis eventually got out of hand for both the elected government and King Constantine II and ended dramatically in the early hours of April 21, 1967. That morning, a coordinated effort by a number of Colonels and other military officials succeeded in a coup d'etat and they soon managed to establish a fierce military junta. General elections planned by the conservative government to be held on May 28 never took place. In the following years, a number of supporters of the left wing as well as a number of politicians and communists were arrested and brutally tortured by the regime. Other politicians, however, evaded capture and found political refuge in such European countries as France and Sweden. Nevertheless, the then head of state, former King Constantine officially acknowledged the new regime and it was duly recognized by the international community. Diplomatic relations continued unabated. In 1973, however, the junta abolished the Greek monarchy. Later that same year, in October of 1973, the head of the junta, colonel George Papadopoulos appointed politician Spiros Markezinis as the Prime Minister. A few weeks later, on November 14, law students that opposed the regime realized that the obvious parody of this "government" would not end unless they took some serious form of action. Therefore they decided to take control of the Athens Law School and in so doing they inspired the students of the Athens Polytechnic School, who imitated them.

It should be noted that institutions of higher education in Greece are considered to provide political asylum. By November 16, however, the streets around the Polytechnic School resembled a battlefield, leaving no choice for the junta than to respond with military tactics. In the early hours of November 17, a tank smashed the gate of the historical building of the Athens Polytechnic School causing bloodshed. Twenty students were killed. However, the now-famous Athens Polytechnic Uprising marked the beginning of a series of events that would eventually result to the end of Papadopoulos' rule. One week later, on November 25 both Papadopoulos and Markezinis were overthrown by a countercoup headed by junta hardliner Brigadier Ioannides. A new head, Phaedon Gizikis, and a new Prime Minister, Adamantios Androutsopoulos, were appointed by the regime. Ioannides, however, had even more in his mind. The following July, he backed a planned coup d'etat to overthrow the Cypriot President, Archbishop Makarios. This gave a pretext for neighboring Turkey to intervene militarily, allegedly to protect the Turkish minority that resided on the island. Turkey invaded Cyprus on July 20, 1974 and managed to occupy the northern part or a third of its territory. The colonels did not succeed in either predicting the Turkish action or in effectively mobilizing their armed forces in order to prevent it. This signaled the end for the regime that collapsed within a matter of days.

Newfound stability

In the evening of July 23, 1974, ex Premier Constantine Karamanlis was invited back from Paris where he had found a political refuge. In the morning hours of the following day, the plane carrying him landed in Athens amidst massive celebrations by cheering crowds that could not believe that the ordeal they had to endure for seven years was over. Karamanlis was immediately appointed as the interim prime minister under President Gizikis. Karamanlis founded the conservative Nea Dimokratia party and he then won the elections. Democracy had finally been restored and a democratic republican constitution came into force in 1975. In addition, a referendum held that same year, confirmed the will of the overwhelming majority of the Greek people to abolish the monarchy — this time democratically. Therefore former King Constantine II and his family remained in Britain and were not allowed free access to the country until 2004. Meanwhile, yet another prominent figure of the past, charismatic politician Andreas Papandreou had also returned from the United States and he had already founded the Panhellenic Socialist Party or PASOK. Karamanlis won the 1977 parliamentary elections as well but he resigned in 1980, giving his way to George Rallis. However, Papandreou won the elections held on October 18, 1981 by landslide and he formed the first socialist government in the history of the nation. Papandreou dominated the Greek political course for almost 15 years, up until his death in June 23, 1996.

Greece as a member of the European Union

The country became the tenth member of the European Union on January 1, 1981. Over the course of the last 25 years, and particularly during this past decade, Greece has experienced a remarkable economic growth. Widespread investments in industrial enterprises and heavy infrastructure as well as funds from the European Union and growing revenues from tourism, shipping and a fast growing service sector have raised the standard of living to unprecedented levels. The country adopted the Euro in 2001.

Greco-Turkish relations

Main article: Greco-Turkish relations

Relations between Greece and neighboring Turkey had improved substantially, after successive earthquakes hit both countries in the summer of 1999. The so called "earthquake diplomacy" came after an unprecedented outpouring of sympathy and generous assistance provided by ordinary Greeks and Turks in each of those cases. Greece was the first one to take the initiative to provide valuable help after a monstrous, magnitude 7.4 earthquake leveled much of the Turkish northwest on August 17, 1999, killing more than 17,000 people. Turks also responded immediately after a magnitude 5.9 quake jolted Athens on September 7 of that same year, killing 143 people. These generous, brave acts took many foreigners by surprise and led to a considerable breakthrough in bilateral relations, marred by decades of hostility over territorial disputes and the situation in the divided island of Cyprus. In January 1996, the countries reached the brink of war after a Turkish military invasion on the tiny, uninhabited islets of Imia/Kardak, situated in the southeastern Aegean Sea. While Greece insisted that according to all treaties and conventions the islets belong to Greece, Turks claimed that the relevant articles were rather unclear. The crisis escalated within only a few days and it was only after the personal intervention of U.S President Bill Clinton that it came to an end.

Ten years later, Greece has become one of the key supporters of Turkey's struggle to enter the European Union. Yet, despite the confidence Greece and Cyprus have shown, voting YES for Turkey in order to begin its entry negotiations with the European Union in October 2005, certain key issues remain unresolved. Furthermore, Turkey still denies access to Cypriot vessels to its territory, an obligation towards the EU with a 2006 deadline. Turkey defends that this restriction regarding Cypriot vessels was taken after the trade embargo decision against the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC). The issue remains as a deadlock that EU, Greece and Turkey must agree on a common ground giving equal trade rights to both nations in Cyprus. Other unfulfilled obligations include Christian minority rights, acknowledgement of the Orthodox Church of Constantinople and the role of the Ecumenical Patriarch.

In May 2006, Greco-Turkish relations entered a new phase of tension, after the mid-air collision of a Greek F-16 with a Turkish F-16 resulting to the death of the Greek pilot. Constant airspace violations and provocations by Turkey as well as a multitude of internal political problems faced by the Turkish government, have led Greece fear that relations with that neighboring, Muslim country may have entered a cold war period.

The 2004 Olympic Games

Main article: 2004 Olympic Games

On September 5, 1997, the International Olympic Committee awarded the 2004 Olympic Games to Athens. Certain foreign media raised some concerns over Greece's ability to meet specific construction deadlines as well as its ability to handle a potential terrorist attack. By the end of the Games, a number of international media apologized, on page, for their harsh criticism of Greek preparations. In effect, the 2004 Olympic Games were widely hailed as a spectacular success. [3].

Politics

Template:Morepolitics The 1975 constitution includes extensive specific guarantees of civil liberties. The President of the Republic, elected by an increased majority of the Parliament for a term of five years, is nominally the Head of State.

However, it is the Prime Minister and cabinet, as well as the Vouli (parliament) that play the central role in the political process, while the president performs limited governmental functions, in addition to ceremonial duties.

Greeks elect the 300 members of the country's unicameral parliament (the [Vouli ton Ellinon] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help)) by secret ballot for a maximum of four years, but elections can occur at more frequent intervals. Greece uses a complex reinforced proportional representation electoral system, which discourages splinter parties and ensures that the party that leads in the national vote will win a majority of seats. A party must receive 3% minimum of the total national vote to gain representation. Typically, a 41%+ is sufficient to guarantee the rule by a single party.

Greek parliamentary politics hinge upon the principle of the "[dedilomeni] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help)", the "declared confidence" of Parliament to the Prime Minister and his/her administration. This means that the President of the Republic is bound to appoint as Prime Minister a person who will be approved by a majority of the Parliament's members (i.e. 151 votes). With the current electoral system, it is the leader of the party gaining a plurality of the votes in the Parliamentary elections who gets appointed Prime Minister. An administration may, at any time, seek a "vote of confidence"; conversely, a number of Members of Parliament may ask that a "vote of reproach" be taken. Both are rare occurrences with usually predictable outcomes as voting outside the party line happens very seldom.

On March 7, 2004, Kostas Karamanlis, president of the New Democracy party and nephew of the late Constantine Karamanlis, was elected as the new Prime Minister of Greece, thus marking his party's first electoral victory in nearly 11 years. Karamanlis took over Government from Kostas Simitis, who had been in office since January 1996.

Further information: List of political parties in Greece

Peripheries and prefectures

Main article: [[:Peripheries of Greece, and Prefectures of Greece]]

Greek peripheries and prefectures.

Peripheries

Greece consists of 13 administrative regions known as peripheries, which subdivide further into the 51 prefectures ([nomoi] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help), singular — [nomos] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help)). For more detailed maps of the peripheries and/or prefectures, see the Peripheries of Greece or Prefectures of Greece articles.

Autonomous region

Beyond these one autonomous region exists: Mount Athos ([Agio Oros] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help) — Holy Mountain) in Macedonia, a monastic state under Greek sovereignty.

Prefectures

The 51 [nomoi] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help) subdivide into 147 [eparchies] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help) (singular [eparchia] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help)), which contain 1,033 municipalities and communities: 900 urban municipalities ([demoi] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help)) and 133 rural communities ([koinotetes] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help)). Before 1999, Greece's local government structure featured 5,775 local authorities: 457 [demoi] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help) and 5,318 [koinotetes] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help), subdivided into 12,817 localities ([oikismoi] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help)).

Geography

Main article: Geography of Greece

Map of Greece

File:Greece-001.jpg

Greece as seen from orbit

Greece consists of a large mainland 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, Rhodes, Kos, Euboea, the Dodecanese and the Cycladic groups of the Aegean Sea as well as the Ionian Sea islands. Greece has more than 15,000 kilometres (9,300 mi) of coastline and a land boundary of 1,160 kilometres (721 mi). Approximately 27.9% of the nation's territory is covered by forests.[4]

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. (Actually the islands of the Aegean are peaks of underwater mountains that once consisted an extension of the mainland). 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 lye on top of those rocks. Meteora are situated in the Trikala prefecture. The Vikos-Aoos Gorge is yet another spectacular formation. The Vicos-Aoos Gorge is a popular hotspot for those in fond of extreme sports.

Mount Olympus is the tallest mountain in the country, located in the northern Pieria prefecture, near Thessaloniki. Mytikas in Olympus range has a height of 2,919 metres (9,570 ft) at its tallest 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 including the famous Dadia.

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.

Greece's climate consists of three types that influence well defined regions of its territory. Those 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 Crete during the winter months. The Alpine type is dominant mainly in Western Greece (Epirus, Central Greece, Thessaly, Western Macedonia as well as in the western and central parts of Peloponessus, including the prefectures of Achaea, Arcadia and parts of Laconia, where the Pindus range passes by). Finally the Temperate type affects Central and Eastern Macedonia as well as Thrace, mainly affecting the cities of Komotini, Xanthi and the towns of northern Evros; it features cold, damp winters and hot, dry summers. Athens is located in a transitional area featuring both the Mediterranean and the Alpine types. The city's northern suburbs are dominated by the Alpine type while the downtown area and the southern suburbs enjoy a typical Mediterranean type.

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.

Economy

Main article: Economy of Greece

Greece has one of the best-performing economies in the euro zone [5]. The country has a mixed capitalist economy with the public sector accounting for about 40% of the GDP. The Greek tourism industry remains thriving and its contribution in the GDP growth is considered important for foreign exchange earnings. Greece is a global leader in shipping (ranking first in terms of ownership of vessels and third by tonnage and flag registration) [6]. Exports of manufactured goods including telecommunications hardware and software, agricultural products and other foodstuff and fuels account for a significant part of Greek income.

The country is the largest investor in southeastern Europe as far as the previous sectors are concerned. After the end of the Greek Civil War in 1949 and for more than two decades Greece achieved the second highest economic growth rate in the world after Japan, resulting in a dramatic improvement of living standards (the "Greek economic miracle"). Since Greece became a full member of the European Union, on January 1, 1981, it has benefited from cohesion funds, along with Portugal, Spain and Ireland. Those funds have proven particularly helpful to the nation's economic development since the 1980s. Starting in 1989, Greece joined the ranks of (22 at that time) "developed countries".

File:1e gre.png

Greek 1 euro coin with Athena's symbol, the Owl

The country enjoys a high standard of living, ranking 24th on the 2005 Human Development Index and 22nd on The Economist's 2005 world-wide quality-of-life index[7]. Average per capita income in 2005 was estimated at $22,800 [8] or 85% of the EU average in PPS (Purchasing Power Standards). Greek Economy has seen uninterrupted strong growth since 1992 and above the EU average continuously since 1994. Part of the Greek economy's impressive growth is attributed to the fact that the previous government tightened fiscal policy regulations in the run-up to the country's entry into the Eurozone, set on January 1, 2001 (Greek euro coins). Also liberalization of domestic markets, a modernized banking system, as well as massive investment ahead of the 2004 Olympic Games, have fueled the economy even further. With the collapse of communism in the early 1990s, Greece has seen a huge influx of foreign labor force, mainly from neighboring Albania, but also from Pakistan and Eastern Europe.

Today the country is dealing with various challenges, including the reduction of unemployment which currently stands at 9.5%, the reform of the social security system, the partial privatization of the public sector, the overhauling of the tax system and the further reduction of bureaucratic inefficiencies. Forecasts predict that 2006 will be yet another year of substantial economic growth, estimated to reach 3.7%, which is above the European Union's average. Preliminary estimates of the International Monetary Fund for the year 2006 put the Greek GDP per capita in PPP at $23,518.

Reduction of the fiscal deficit to the Eurozone target of 3% of GDP has also become a key issue. Shortly after its election, the new conservative New Democracy government revealed to the Eurostat agency that the previous figures supplied to it by the PASOK government as the basis of the Greek entry into the Eurozone were not correct (although even according to the "corrected" numbers, when calculated with the methodology still in force at the time of the Greek application for entry, the country had actually met the criteria for entry into the Eurozone). Under a negotiated agreement, the EU gave Greece a two year deadline (budgets of 2005 and 2006) in order to bring the deficit in line with the criteria of the European stability pact. In 2005, the new government managed to reduce the fiscal deficit by almost two percentage points and the goal of reaching the 3% target by the end of 2006 is now deemed as certain by Eurostat.

The Bank of Greece, now a subsidiary of the European Central Bank, functions as the nation's central bank. This bank is not the same as the "National Bank of Greece", the country's largest commercial bank.

The 2006 Economic Agenda of the Greek government includes the privatization of several state owned companies as well as the creation of a new national airline that will replace Olympic Airlines.

Tourism

Main article: Tourism in Greece

Greece has traditionally been one of the most popular tourist destinations on a global basis and each year, particularly in the summer months, the nation's numerous cosmopolitan islands get crammed by millions of international visitors. Unparalleled natural beauties, golden beaches, idyllic sunsets, a legendary nightlife and the world famous Greek cuisine combined with a unique hospitality and an impressively developing tourism infrastructure make Greece an irresistible hotspot for many. The spectacular success of the 2004 Olympic Games boosted the country's international prestige even further and reaffirmed its status as one of the safest places to be. In 2004, Greece ranked 12th in terms of international tourist arrivals when more than 14.2 million visitors came to the country, many of which combining both vacations and attendance of Olympic athletic events. In 2005, however, those numbers increased by 14%, surpassing 16.1 million arrivals. In 2006, those figures are only expected to grow bigger. An interesting fact is that according to a survey conducted in China in 2005, Greece was voted as the Chinese people's number one choice.

Overall, this year the Greek Ministry of Tourism plans to invest more than 38 million euros in the advertisement of the tourism industry, one of the most essential sectors of the Greek economy. That is 4 times more than the amount spent in 2002 by the previous government. In addition, the government intends to promote winter tourism in Greece, which could potentially increase international arrivals even further.

Apart from Athens, other top ranking tourist destinations include the islands of Mykonos, Santorini, Rhodes, Crete, Corfu, Paros, Ios, Kos, Kefallonia, Zakynthos and Hydra as well as the northern Halkidiki peninsula.

Demographics

Main article: Demographics of Greece

The population of Greece is (officially) 98% Greek (excluding non-citizens), the main ethnic minorities being Turks, Pomaks, Vlachs, Jews, Armenians and various Roma groups. There are also various linguistic and cultural minorities members of whom largely determine themselves Greeks. Such groups include Arvanites, Vlachs and Slavophones (some of whom determine themselves as Bulgarians or Macedonian Slavs, although this is not recognized by the Greek government).

About 60-65% of immigrants to Greece have come from Albania (following the fall of communism) although some 200,000 have been documented as ethnic Greeks or [homogeneis] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help). The other principal nationalities are, according to residence permit data, Bulgarians, Armenians, Romanians, Ukrainians, Pakistanis and Georgians; overall, over 180 different nationalities have been recorded. The legal status of immigrants has been very tenuous since the 1990s (as throughout the European Union), with high levels of illegality). Since 1997 three legalization programs were enacted by the Greek state (a fourth went through in 2005).

Several prominent Greek sportsmen migrated to Greece as ethnic Greeks from Albania and Georgia in the 1990s, including legendary weightlifters Pyrros Dimas and Kakhi Kakhiashvili.

Religion

The majority of Greek citizens (95-98%) have at least nominal membership in the Greek Orthodox Church. Greek Muslims make up about 1.3% of the population, and live primarily in Thrace. Greece also has some Roman Catholics, mainly in the city of Patras, Corfu, and the Cyclades islands of Syros, Paros, Tinos, and Naxos; some Protestants and some Jews, mainly in Thessaloniki (which had a major Jewish population until the Holocaust). Some groups in Greece have started an attempt to reconstruct Hellenic polytheism, the ancient Greek pagan religion. See also: Greek Orthodox Church.

Prior to Ottoman rule, Greece was part of the Byzantine Empire. The civil and religious capital of the Empire was moved to Constantinople (modern day Istanbul) by Constantine I. Since Constantine’s time the Orthodox Christian faith has flourished and spread throughout Eastern Europe. Even under Turkish rule and repeated attempts at proselytization — firstly by the Jesuits and then by the Protestants — Orthodox Christianity survived and flourished.

The Greek Constitution reflects this relationship by guaranteeing absolute freedom of religion while still defining the "prevailing religion" of Greece as the Eastern Orthodox Church of Christ. Non-Greek Orthodox members of parliament are sworn in accordance to their own faith.

One small part of Greece, Mount Athos, is recognised by the Greek constitution as an Autonomous Monastic Republic, although foreign relations remain the prerogative of the Greek state. Spiritually, Mount Athos is under the Patriarchate of Constantinople and is therefore in communion with all the monasteries on Mount Athos and with the Orthodox Church based in various countries.

The Uniate Greek Byzantine Catholic Church, which is in union with Rome, has a few parishes and chapels in those Greek towns and on those Greek islands, which had been for a longer period of time under Venetian rule. Presently this particular Eastern rite Catholic community, which uses the Byzantine Greek liturgy, also takes care of the Ukrainian minority in Greece. Latin rite Catholics are a larger minority, to be found in the major towns.

Jews have been present in Greece for the last 2,300 years. The earliest reference to a Greek Jew is in an inscription, dated circa 300–250 BC found in Oropos, a small coastal town between Athens and Boeotia, and refers to him as "Moschos, son of Moschion the Jew" who was in all likelihood, a slave. The first Greek Jewish population became known as the Romaniotes and their language became known as Yevanic (from the Hebrew word for Greece: יון/Yavan). From the 16th century onwards, Salonica, a city in northern Greece, had one of the largest (mostly Sephardic by then) Jewish communities in the world and a solid rabbinical tradition. On the island of Crete, the Jews played an important part in the transport trade. During World War II, when Greece was occupied by Nazi Germany, 86% of the Greek Jews were sent to concentration camps by the occupating Axis forces ; only a minority survived and most of them have emigrated to Israel. Greece's Jewish community today is estimated at 4,500.

According to the most recent Eurostat "Eurobarometer" poll, in 2005 , 81% of Greek citizens responded that "they believe there is a God", whereas 16% answered that "they believe there is some sort of spirit or life force" and only 3% that "they do not believe there is a God, spirit, nor life force". This would make Greece one of the most religious countries in the European Union of 25 members, after Malta and Cyprus.

Culture

Main article: Culture of Greece

Greece has a particularly rich culture and it has produced a vast number of contributions to philosophy, astronomy, science, and the arts.

Further information: List of Greeks

See also

• List of cities in Greece
• Classics
• Greek products
  • List of Greek companies
• Education in Greece
• List of Greek dances
• List of museums in Greece
• Greek National Holidays
• List of research institutes in Greece
• List of universities in Greece
• Agriculture in Greece
• History of Greece
  • Ancient Greece
  • Greek mythology
  • Hellenistic civilization
  • Byzantine Empire
  • Byzantium
  • Ottoman Empire
  • Philhellenism
• Greek products
• Greek Language
• Communications in Greece
  • List of Greek language television channels
  • List of radio stations in Greece
• Greek newspapers
• Transportation in Greece
  • List of Greek roads
  • Rio-Antirio bridge
  • Greek Steamship Company founded in Ermoupoli (Hermoupolis), 1856
  • Corinth Canal
• Foreign relations of Greece
• Military of Greece
• Postage stamps and postal history of Greece
• Conscription in Greece
• Plateia Syntagmatos and Vouli ton Ellinon
• Greeks
• Minorities in Greece
• List of Greeks
• Greek American
• Greek Canadians
• Greek Australian
• Greek Jews
• Human rights in Greece
• Hellenic National Intelligence Service
• National Statistical Service of Greece
• Soma Hellinon Proskopon
• Eurovision Song Contest 2006

External links

• Chronology of Greece from the World History Database
• Encyclopaedia Britannica - Greece's country page
• Official Greek Tourist Organisation site
• Official Greek Statistics Site
• History of Greece: Primary Documents
• President of the Hellenic Republic
• Prime Minister of Greece
• Hellenic Parliament
• The Greek Heritage
• Hellenic History
• Open Directory Project: Greece
• Greek Royal Family (Deposed)
• Hellas Net: 360° Virtual tours from various areas of Greece
• Greece Sailing Guide
• Greece main cities list and satellite views