Country
Greece
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Greece, also known as Hellas and officially the Hellenic
Republic, is a country in south-eastern Europe. Situated on the
southern end of the Balkan Peninsula, Greece has land borders with
Albania, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) and
Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to the east. The Aegean Sea lies
to the east of mainland Greece, the Ionian Sea to the west, and the
Mediterranean Sea to the south. Greece has the twelfth longest
coastline in the world at 13,676 km (8,498 mi) in length, featuring
a vast number of islands (approximately 1400, of which 227 are
inhabited), including Crete, the Dodecanese, the Cyclades, and the
Ionian Islands among others. Eighty per cent of Greece consists of
mountains, of which Mount Olympus is the highest at 2,917 m (9,570
ft).
Modern Greece traces its roots to the civilisation of ancient
Greece, generally considered the cradle of Western civilization. As
such, it is the birthplace of democracy, Western philosophy, the
Olympic Games, Western literature and historiography, political
science, medicine, major scientific and mathematical principles and
Western drama, including both tragedy and comedy. This legacy is
partly reflected in the 17 UNESCO World Heritage Sites located in
Greece. The modern Greek state was established in 1830, following a
victorious uprising against Ottoman rule.