Situated at the crossroads between the West and the East, Greece has been subjected to multiple and contradictory political, economic, and cultural influences since it became an independent state in 1830. Although for most of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries the Greek economy was predominantly agricultural and Greek society bore traditional characteristics, the country modernized rapidly during the second half of the twentieth century. Since the 1950s Greece has grown economically, and in 1974 a successful transition to democracy opened the way for the firm placement of the country among the core Western democracies. Greece was admitted to the European Community

(MAP BY MARYLAND CARTOGRAPHICS/THE GALE GROUP)

(now the European Union) in 1981, became a member of the euro zone (by which the euro became the legal currency) in 2001, and hosted the Olympic Games in August 2004.

Basic Country Characteristics

Greece is a relatively small country situated in southeastern Europe. Its...