The polis became the defining feature of Greek political life for hundreds of years. As they grew larger, these villages began to evolve. Some built walls. Most built a marketplace an agora and a community meeting place. They developed governments and organized their citizens according to some sort of constitution or set of laws.
They raised armies and collected taxes. And every one of these city-states known as poleis was said to be protected by a particular god or goddess, to whom the citizens of the polis owed a great deal of reverence, respect and sacrifice. The largest, Sparta , controlled about square miles of territory; the smallest had just a few hundred people.
However, by the dawn of the Archaic period in the seventh century B. Also, most had overthrown their hereditary kings, or basileus, and were ruled by a small number of wealthy aristocrats. These people monopolized political power. For example, they refused to let ordinary people serve on councils or assemblies. They also monopolized the best farmland, and some even claimed to be descended from the Greek gods. Emigration was one way to relieve some of this tension.
Land was the most important source of wealth in the city-states; it was also, obviously, in finite supply. The pressure of population growth pushed many men away from their home poleis and into sparsely populated areas around Greece and the Aegean. Between B. By the end of the seventh century B.
Each of these poleis was an independent city-state. In this way, the colonies of the Archaic period were different from other colonies we are familiar with: The people who lived there were not ruled by or bound to the city-states from which they came. The new poleis were self-governing and self-sufficient. As time passed and their populations grew, many of these agricultural city-states began to produce consumer goods such as pottery, cloth, wine and metalwork.
Trade in these goods made some people—usually not members of the old aristocracy—very wealthy. When the Western Roman empire collapsed under the impact of Germanic invasions in the fifth century, Constantinople became the new centre of the Roman empire, known as the Byzantine empire.
The collapse of the western empire led to some turmoil in the east, but the Byzantines gradually regained control over Greece until the treacherous attack on Constantinople in by the Frankish crusaders western Europeans. The Franks split up Greece, but fighting among themselves and against Serbs, Albanians and Turks left them fatally weakened.
On 29 May Constantinople fell to the Ottoman branch of the Turkish invaders, who had been mopping up the remaining territories of the old Byzantine empire, and for nearly years Greece was under Ottoman control. By the 19th century, the empire was economically on its last legs, and on 25 March , Greece declared its independence.
Greece used various means to extend its territory into the Ionian islands, Thessaly, Macedon, Crete and the Aegean — a disastrous advance into Turkey failed — and it reached its present configuration in German occupation of Greece in the second world war ended in , but a violent and complicated civil war at once broke out between broadly communists and western-backed government forces , resulting in a Greek government inclined to the west, but with significant anti-western sentiment still in force.
In a military junta "the colonels" overthrew the government and ended the monarchy. In , the regime imploded, and since Greece has been a democratic republic. It joined the EU in and adopted the euro in Tensions with Turkey remain.
Greece's population is around 11 million. The majority of people living in the country are ethnic Greeks with some people from foreign countries like Albania and Bulgaria staying in the country at the moment. The most spoken language in Greece is Greek , as well as the official language of the state. But there are also people who speak Bulgarian and Turkish close to the borders with Bulgaria and Turkey.
Greek language has a history of almost 4, years. English is widely spoken as a foreign language, along with other languages such as French, German, Italian and Spanish among others. These five languages are also provided around the country's schools. Education in Greece is required from the ages of 5 to There are other Christian groups in Greece, too, the largest being Catholic Christians; the majority lives in the Cyclades and the Ionian Islands.
The country's oldest religious minority is the Jewish community , however, it is no longer the largest non-Christian group. There are also some Muslims residing in the Northern Greek region of Thrace, close to the Turkish borders. Greek cuisine is a typical Mediterranean cuisine, similar to those of Italy, the Balkans, Turkey, and the Middle East.
The majority of national foods are based around olive oil, vegetables and herbs, grains and bread, wine, fish, and various meats.
Also important are olives, cheese, aubergine, courgette, and yoghurt. Greek desserts are characterized by the dominant use of nuts and honey. Greek salad is widely known around the globe.
The most famous sport among Greeks is probably football. Greeks also tend to listen to foreign music a lot, while Greek music is famous in countries in the Balkans and the Middle East. Greece attracts more than 16 million tourists each year.
Greece has been an attraction for international visitors for a long time because of its rich and long history and more recently for its glorious Mediterranean coastline and beaches. The most popular destinations for tourists are the Cyclades, Athens, Crete, Rhodes, the Ionian Islands, where the island of Corfu is, and other coastal regions of the country as well as places of archaeological interest.
Wikipedia has related information at Greece. Wikivoyage has travel information related to: Greece.
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