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Greece or the Hellenic Republic is a country in southeastern Europe member of the North Atlantic Treaty, the European Union and the euro area. Greece is located in the Balkan Peninsula, south of Bulgaria, the Republic of Macedonia and Albania, to the west of Turkey. It has a coastline of 13,676 km from the Aegean Sea, Ionian and Mediterranean.
Considered by many as the cradle of Western civilization, Greece has a long and rich history, during which has widespread influence on three continents.
This culture had a major influence on the Roman Empire and the Romans, who were able to pass though the Greek army in 168 BC fallen were themselves conquered by civilization. When he was a province of the Roman Empire, Greek culture dominated the eastern Mediterranean, and the empire was divided into two, the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantine, centered in Constantinople, received a Greek nature. From the fourth century to the fifteenth century, the Byzantine Empire survived attacks from the west and east until May 29, 1453, of Constantinople fell to the Ottomans. Store Ottoman rule until 1821 when the Greeks declared their independence. After the Greek War of Independence in 1828, Greece choose the path of monarchy înfiinţându the Kingdom of Greece (1833). In the nineteenth century and early twentieth century, Greece is trying to acquire the Greek-speaking population of the Ottoman Empire, gradually increasing in territory and population, until 1947, when its size reaches today.
After the Second World War, Greece went through a civil war that lasted until 1949 and then joined NATO in 1952 On 21 April 1967 the army took power after a coup, forming so -numitul Colonels' regime. In 1973 the regime abolished the Greek monarchy. Cyprus problem led to the collapse of the military dictatorship in 1974 and the establishment of a democratic republic in 1975 after a plebiscite (or referendum). Greece joined the EU in 1981 and adopted the euro in 2001 (see Greek euro coins).
