Situated in the far south of the Balkan peninsula, Greece combines the towering mountains of the mainland with over 1,400 islands, the largest of which is Crete.

Post-World War II Greece saw rapid economic and social change, with tourism and shipping becoming major contributors to the economy.

The global financial crisis of the late 2000s had a devastating effect on Greece, as the legacy of high public spending and widespread tax evasion combined with the credit crunch and the resulting recession to leave the country with a crippling debt burden.

Greece is famous for its ancient philosophers, like Plato, Pythagoras, Socrates, and Aristotle, to name a few. It is known as the birthplace of democracy in the West; they invented the Olympic Games and theater. Ancient Greeks invented monumental temples with Greek columns. Greece uses a writing system that is unreadable for most people. The country is also famous for Greek food and wine; the Greek Islands; ancient oracle sites like Delphi and Dodona; the Acropolis of Athens; the Twelve Olympians, deities of the Greek pantheon; the nine Greek Muses, and Homer, the earliest poet of the West.