25th March: Greece Independence Day

Today is Independence Day in Greece, so 10 things you didn't know about Greece:

1. The name of the country in English is derived from the Roman word meaning "land of the Greeks". The Greek people call their country Hellas or Ellada and its official name is Hellenic Republic.
2. 80% of Greece is mountainous (including the country's highest mountain, Mount Olympus at 2,919m which was once considered to be the home of the gods) and it has no navigable rivers. Greece has more than 2,000 islands, of which approximately 170 are inhabited. The largest is Crete (3,189 sq. miles) (8,260 sq. km.). Greece has about 9,000 miles (14,400km) of coastline, the 10th longest in the world. No point in Greece is more than 85 miles (137 kilometres) from water.
3. You probably know that the capital is Athens, but you may not know that over 40% of the population live there; or the legend of how the city got its name. The first king of Athens, Cecrops, wanted a patron deity. Two of the gods applied for the position, Poseidon, god of the sea, and Athena, goddess of wisdom. Cecrops asked these two to give the city a gift, and he would choose the most valuable one. Poseidon offered water - but it was sea water so not as useful as one might think. Athena gave the city olive trees, which Cecrops decided was much more valuable, and so the city took her name. Poseidon wasn't happy about it, and cursed the city so that it would suffer continual Water shortages.
4. Greece is the third largest producer of Olives in the world. There are estimated to be around 120,000,000 olive trees in Greece, and some of the olive trees planted in the 13th century are still producing olives today. Greece is the leading producer of sea sponges, and 7% of the world's marble.
5. The biggest earner for Greece, however, is tourism. Approximately 16.5 million tourists visit Greece each year, which is more than the country’s entire population.
6. Greece has over 100 archaeological museums, more than any other country in the world.
7. Greece’s currency, the drachma, was 2,650 years old and Europe’s oldest currency until it was replaced with the Euro in 2002, while Greek is one of the oldest languages in the world, having been spoken for 3,000 years.
8. The Greek flag includes nine blue-and-white horizontal stripes, which some scholars say stand for the nine syllables of the Greek motto “Eleftheria i Thanatos” or “Freedom or Death.” Blue represents Greece’s sea and sky, while white stands for the purity of the struggle of freedom. In the upper left-hand corner is the traditional Greek Orthodox cross.
9. Greece organised the first municipal dump in the Western world around 500 B.C.
10. For Greek people, their name day is more important than their birthday.