Ancient beginnings
Greece gave the world democracy, philosophy, theatre and the Olympic Games. Classical Athens, the Minoans of Crete and the Mycenaeans laid the foundations of European thought and art.
Hellenistic and Roman eras
Alexander the Great spread Greek culture across the known world. Later Greece became part of the Roman and then the Byzantine Empire, a thousand-year Christian civilisation centred on Constantinople.
Ottoman rule and independence
After centuries under Ottoman rule, Greece won independence in 1830. The modern nation grew through the 20th century into the maritime, tourism-rich country of today.