GEOGRAPHY
Greece is located in southeastern
Europe on the southern tip of the Balkan Peninsula. The Greek
mainland is bounded on the north by Bulgaria, The Former Yugoslav
Republic of Macedonia, and Albania; on the east by the Aegean
Sea and Turkey; and on the west and south by the Ionian and Mediterranean
Seas. The country consists of a large mainland; the Peloponnesus
Peninsula, connected to the mainland by the Isthmus of Corinth;
and more than 1,400 islands, including Crete, Rhodes, Corfu, and
the Dodecanese and Cycladic groups. Greece has more than 14,880
kilometers (9,300 mi.) of coastline and a land boundary of 1,160
kilometers (726 mi.).
About 80% of Greece is mountainous
or hilly. Much of the country is dry and rocky; only 28% of the
land is arable. Greece has mild, wet winters and hot, dry summers.
Temperatures are rarely extreme, although snowfalls do occur in
the mountains and occasionally even in Athens in the winter.
Greece is located at the
junction of three continents: Europe, Asia, and Africa. 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 Aegean Sea, Ionian Sea, and the
Mediterranean Sea, between Albania and Turkey
Map
references: Europe
Area:
total area: 131,940 sq km
land area: 130,800 sq km
comparative area: slightly smaller than Alabama
Land
boundaries: total 1,210 km, Albania 282 km, Bulgaria 494 km,
Turkey 206 km, The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia 228 km
Coastline: 13,676 km
Maritime
claims:
continental shelf: 200-m depth or to the depth of exploitation
territorial sea: 6 nm
International
disputes: complex maritime, air, and territorial disputes
with Turkey in Aegean Sea; Cyprus question; dispute with The Former
Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia over name, symbols, and certain
constitutional provisions; Greece is involved in a bilateral dispute
with Albania over border demarcation, the treatment of Albania's
ethnic Greek minority, and migrant Albanian workers in Greece
Climate: temperate; mild, wet winters; hot, dry summers
Terrain: mostly mountains with ranges extending into sea
as peninsulas or chains of islands
Natural
resources: bauxite, lignite, magnesite, petroleum, marble
Land use:
arable land: 23%
permanent crops: 8%
meadows and pastures: 40%
forest and woodland: 20%
other: 9%
Irrigated
land: 11,900 sq km (1989 est.)
Environment:
current issues: air pollution; water pollution
natural hazards: severe earthquakes
international agreements: party to - Air Pollution, Antarctic
Treaty, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Endangered Species, Environmental
Modification, Hazardous Wastes, Marine Dumping, Nuclear Test Ban,
Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Tropical Timber 83, Wetlands;
signed, but not ratified - Air Pollution-Nitrogen Oxides, Air
Pollution-Sulphur 94, Air Pollution-Volatile Organic Compounds,
Antarctic-Environmental Protocol, Desertification, Law of the
Sea.
Note: strategic location dominating the Aegean Sea and
southern approach to Turkish Straits; a peninsular country, possessing
an archipelago of about 2,000 islands.
