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The Greeks

© P Jerome Jayanth

The Greeks are one of the most ancient and fabled people on earth. Their civilization can rightly be called one of the cradles of modern civilization. It was classical Greece that produced the best philosophical brains in history. The Greeks were also the people who laid the foundations of modern mathematics.

The History of the Modern Greek people can be traced to the founding of the modern state of Greece in 1830. Modern Greece is very different from the city-states which comprised it in antiquity.

The majority of the Greeks are Orthodox Christians. The language they speak is Greek which is little different from the Greek used in the classics. It uses the same alphabet. In the 19th century Greek purists sought to purify the Greek language and make it more similar to ancient Greek. The introduced the "Katherevousa" form of Greek. This created a controversy as this differed from the spoken form of Greek called "Demotike". In 1976 the Demotike form of Greek was made the official form Since the 2nd world war a majority of the Greeks have migrated to the cities. About 10 percent have emigrated to the Americas or Western Europe.

The Greeks boast of a 100% literacy rate. The crime rate is low though it is rising. The Greeks have one of the best doctor-patient ratio(one doctor for 305) people. The Government provides housing.

A Greek Town

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