Geography of Greece
Greece is located in southeastern Europe on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula. The Greek mainland is bounded in the north by Bulgaria, the Republic of Macedonia, and Albania; in the east by Turkey; and in the west and south by the Ionian and Mediterranean Seas. The country ranges aproximately in latitude from 35°00′N to 42°00′N and in longitude from 19°00′E to 28°30′E (This fact shows its natural and climate rich varieties, these themes are discussed below).
The country consists of a large mainland; the Peloponnesos, a peninsula connected to the mainland by the Isthmus of Corinth; and around 3,000 islands, including Crete, Rhodes, Corfu, and the Dodecanese and Cycladic groups. Greece has around 15,000 kilometers (9,300 mi.) of coastline.
About 80% of Greece is mountainous or hilly, thus making Greece one of the most montainous countries of Europe. Western Greece contains lakes and wetlands. Pindus, the central mountain range, has an average elevation of 2,650 m, being the last prolongation of the Alps (Dynaric Alps). The range continues by means of the Islands of Kythera, Antikythera to find its final point in the Island of Crete and Rhodes. (Actually the islands of the Aegean are peaks of underwater mountains that consist an extension of the mainland).
The Central and Western Greece area contains high, steep peaks dissected by many canyons and other karstic landscapes, including the Meteora and the Vikos gorge the later being the second largest one on earth after the Grand Canyon in the US.
Mount Olympus forms the highest point in Greece at 2,925 m above sea level. Also northern Greece presents another high range, the Rhodope, located in Eastern Macedonia and Thrace; this area is covered with vast and thick century old forests like the famous Dadia.
Plains are also found mainly in Eastern Thessaly, Central Macedonia and Thrace.
Greece's climate is divided into three well defined classes the Mediterranean, Alpine and Temperate, the first one features mild, wet winters and hot, dry summers. Temperatures rarely reach extremes, although snowfalls do occur occasionally even in Athens, Cyclades or Crete during the winter. Alpine is found primarily in Western Greece (Epirus, Central Greece, Thessaly, Western Macedonia as well as central parts of Peloponessus like Achaea, Arkadia and parts of Lakonia where the Alpine range pass by). Finally the temperate climate is found in Central and Eastern Macedonia as well as in Thrace at places like Komotini, Xanthi and northern Evros; with cold, damp winters and hot, dry summers. It's worth to mention that Athens is located in a transition area between the Mediterranean and Alpine climate, thus finding that in its southern suburbs weather is of Mediterranean type while in the Northern suburbs of the Alpine type.
About 50% of the Greek land is covered by forests with a rich varied vegetation which spans from Alpine coniferous to mediterranean type vegetation.
Seals, sea turtles and other rare marine life live in the seas around Greece, while Greece's forests provide a home to Western Europe's last brown bears and lynx as well as other species like Wolf, Roe Deer, Wild Goat, Fox and Wild Boar among others.
Greece's foreign policy, despite its joining NATO in 1952 and its accession to the European Community in 1981, has remained focused on the Balkans and the eastern Mediterranean region.
Greece maintains full diplomatic, political, and economic relations with its south-central European neighbors. It provided a 250-man military contingent to IFOR/ SFOR in Bosnia and assigned a 1,200-man unit to KFOR in Kosovo. Diplomatic relations with Bulgaria were restored in 1965 after a 24-year break when Bulgaria renounced its claim to Greek territory in Thrace and Macedonia. Since the breakup of the Soviet Union, Greece has had good relations with Russia and has opened embassies in a number of the former Soviet republics, which it sees as potentially important trading partners.
Location: Southern Europe, bordering the Ionian Sea, and the Mediterranean Sea, between Albania and Turkey
Geographic coordinates: 39°00′N 22°00′E / 39.000°N 22.000°E
Map references: Europe
Area:
total:
310,000 km²
land:
130,860 km² mainland-islands
water:
1,140 km² lakes-rivers
178,000 km² Aegean basin-Islets-Ambrakikos Kolpos-Korinthiakos Kolpos-Patraikos Kolpos all of them located within the boundaries of the territory (Attention: this is not referred neither to the territorial waters nor the Ionian sea territorial waters; just the enclosed Aegean region within the country itself bordered by the Peloponessus, Kythera and other tens of sorrounding islets, Crete, Karpathos and other sorrounding islets, Rhodes, the Dodecanese and the NE Aegean Islands with the exception of Imvros (Gökçeada) and Tenedos(Bozcaada) both belonging to Turkey. Out of this area to the east, the Aegean continues but that part out of the aforementioned Aegean basin belongs to Turkey)
Area - comparative: slightly bigger than Arizona
Land boundaries:
total:
1,935 km
border countries:
Albania 282 km, Bulgaria 494 km, Turkey 931 km (206 km in the Evros river at NE Greece and 725 km in the Aegean from Thrace to Rhodes), The Republic of Macedonia 228 km
Coastline: 15,021 km
Maritime claims:
continental shelf:
200-m depth or to the depth of exploitation
territorial sea:
12 nautical miles
Climate: Three well defined climatological areas; Mediterranean, Alpine, and Mid European Temperate
Terrain: mostly mountains with ranges extending into the sea as peninsulas or chains of islands
Elevation extremes:
lowest point:
Mediterranean Sea 0 m
highest point:
Mount Olympus 2,925 m
Natural resources: bauxite, coal in lignite form, magnesite, petroleum, marble, zinc, nyckel, lead, hydropower, wheat, fruit and vegetables, tobacco, olives, salt, sugar beets, grapes, cotton, livestock
Land use:
arable land:
19%
permanent crops:
8%
forests and woodland:
50%
other:
23% (1993 est.)
Irrigated land: 13,140 km² (1993 est.)
Natural hazards: severe earthquakes
Environment - current issues: air pollution; water pollution
Environment - international agreements:
party to:
Air Pollution, Air Pollution-Nitrogen Oxides, Air Pollution-Sulphur 94, Antarctic-Environmental Protocol, Antarctic Treaty, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Desertification, Endangered Species, Environmental Modification, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Marine Dumping, Nuclear Test Ban, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Tropical Timber 83, Tropical Timber 94, Wetlands
signed, but not ratified:
Air Pollution-Persistent Organic Pollutants, Air Pollution-Volatile Organic Compounds, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol
Geography - note: strategic location dominating the Aegean Sea and southern approach to Turkish Straits; a peninsular country, possessing an archipelago of about 3,000 islands