Only about one-fifth of Greece’s land area is made up of its 2,000 or so islands in the Aegean and Ionian Seas, which are part of the larger Mediterranean Sea.
The largest of these islands is Crete.
The country’s mainland lies on the tip of the Balkan Peninsula and is surrounded on the east, south, and west by the sea.
Much of inland Greece is mountainous.
Greece is called the birthplace of Western civilization.
More than 2,500 years ago, the ancient Greeks introduced the idea of democratic government, and they laid the groundwork for future civilizations in the areas of art, science, and philosophy.
