Facts about Greece (for Kids)

Geography
Greece is located at the southernmost tip of Europe and has one of the most unique geographic formations of any country in Europe. Including the islands, it has an area of 50,959 square miles and a population of 10.2 million (1991 census). An estimated five million Greeks live abroad.

Greece is washed on three sides by seas: by the Ionian Sea to the west, the Aegean Sea to the east and the Mediterranean Sea to the south. To the north lie Albania, former Yugoslavia and Bulgaria. To the northeast is Turkey.
At the crossroads of three continents, Greece is a stepping-stone to Asia and Africa. Some four-fifths of Greece's land territory is mountainous. Its coastline, with its many gulfs and inlets, is one of the longest of any country in Europe.

The main geographic divisions of Greece are (1) the northern region which includes Epirus, Macedonia and Thrace; (2) Central Greece and Thessaly; (3) the Peloponnese which is separated from the mainland by the Corinth Canal; and (4) the islands of the Aegean Sea to the east of the mainland, the Ionian islands to the west, and Crete, the largest Greek island, to the south.

The highest mountain in Greece is Mount Olympus (9,754 ft.), seat of the gods of Greek mythology. Mount Parnassus (7,066 ft.) has on its lower slope the ancient site of Delphi, once dedicated to the god Apollo and famous for its oracle. On the peninsula of Chalkidiki, located in the north-east, is Mount Athos, where a number of monasteries of the Greek Orthodox Church form, as they have for centuries, an autonomous monastic community.

The largest city and capital of Greece is Athens, with a population of over three million. The second largest city, Thessaloniki, with nearly one million inhabitants, is located in northern Greece and is an important seaport, cultural and business centre. Other large cities include Piraeus, the main port of Greece, Patras, Volos, Larissa and Iraklion.

The seas adjoining Greece are studded with thousands of islands, islets and rocks, accounting for 8,919 square miles of Greece's total area. Famous among the islands of the Aegean are Crete; Cos, where Hippocrates, the father of medicine, was born; Patmos, where St. John wrote the Book of Revelation; Rhodes, Myconos, Hydra. Corfu is the best known of the Ionian islands.

None of Greece's rivers is navigable. They include Aliakmon, Axios, Strymon, and the Evros which forms the frontier between Greece and Turkey. The lakes of Kastoria, Ioannina and Prespa are the largest in Greece.

The climate of Greece is temperate Mediterranean. In general, summers are hot and dry, while winters, in most parts of the country, are mild. Most of the rain comes in autumn and winter.

History
Greece, also known as Hellas, is the birthplace of democracy. Greece's democratic ideals inspired among others the fathers of the U.S. Constitution. Its history stretches back almost 4,000 years to a time when the people who inhabited the island of Crete had developed a notable civilization known as Minoan.

The people of the mainland, called Hellenes or Greeks, were influenced by the Minoan civilization and developed it further. They organized great naval and military expeditions, and explored the Mediterranean and the Black Sea, reaching as far as the Caucasus Mountains. One of those expeditions, the siege of Troy, is narrated in the first great European literary work, Homer's Iliad. During these expeditions Greek settlements were founded throughout the Mediterranean, Asia Minor and the coast of North Africa.

During the Classical period (5th century B.C.), Greece was composed of city-states, the largest being Athens, Sparta and Thebes. A fierce spirit of independence and love of freedom enabled the Greeks to defeat the Persians in battles which influenced the history of civilization Marathon, Thermopylae, Salamis and Plataea.

In the second half of the 4th century B.C., the Greeks, led by Alexander the Great, conquered most of the then known world. Alexander, however, did not enslave the nations he conquered but sought to Hellenize them. In 146 B.C. Greece fell to the Romans.

In 330 A.D. Emperor Constantine moved the capital of the Roman Empire to Constantinople, setting the foundations of the Byzantine Empire . Byzantium soon became purely Greek. It transformed the precious heritage of ancient Greece into a vehicle for the new Christian civilization which slowly spread to Western Europe.

The Byzantine Empire fell to the Turks in 1453 and the Greeks remained under the Ottoman yoke for nearly 400 years. During this time, their language, their religion and their national conscience defied extinction.

On March 25, 1821, the Greeks revolted against the Turks, and by 1828 had won their independence. As the new state comprised only a tiny fraction of the country, the struggle for the liberation of all the lands inhabited by Greeks continued. In 1864, the Ionian islands were ceded to Greece; in 1881 parts of Epirus and Thessaly. Crete, the islands of the Eastern Aegean and Macedonia were added in 1913 and Western Thrace in 1919. After World War II the Dodecanese islands were also returned to Greece. During World War II Greece fought heroically against Facsism and Nazism alongside the Allies. Greece has been a member of the European Union since 1981.

Government
The 1975 Constitution defines the country's political system as a parliamentary republic headed by the President of the Republic, who is elected by the Parliament every five years. Popular sovereignty is the foundation of government.
The government as a whole and its members must enjoy the confidence of the Parliament (Vouli) which consists of only one House with 300 members.
A new Parliament is elected every four years by popular vote. The leader of the majority party becomes the Prime Minister who forms a government which wields the real political power in Greece. The judiciary is independent.

Religion
Ninety-eight percent of the people adhere to the Greek Orthodox faith.
Freedom of religion is guaranteed by the Constitution, and other religious groups, such as Catholics, Protestants, Jews and Moslems, have their own places of worship.