Greece

Greece is a country in southeastern Europe, lying at southern end of the Balkan peninsula. It consists of a mountainous mainland, the Peloponnesus peninsula and 2000 islands. The first Greek tribes arrived to the Greek mainland in the 3rd millenium BC. Until the Roman conquest in 146BC a number of civilisations succeded each other: the Aegean civilisation (Minoan civilisation on Crete 2700BC - 1400BC), the Mycenaean period (Bronze Age, 1600BC - 1100 BC), Greek Dark Ages (1100BC - 800BC), Classical period (800BC-300BC), the Hellenistic period (323BC - 146BC). In 324AD the Byzantine period started with the subdividion of the Roman Empire into western and eastern halves. In the 14th century Greece became part of the Ottoman Empire and only achieved independence in 1821. Modern Greece is a parliamentary republic.
Greece is a developed country, member of the EU and NATO. It plays a relatively minor economic role in Europe and the world, but its significance for the cultural, philosophycal and political development of Western countries has been enormous. Greece is regarded as the birthplace of democracy, Western philosophy, Western literature and historiography, political science, major scientific and mathematic principles, and Western drama.