Kingdom of Greece: Map & History

History

Otto's reign would prove troubled, but managed to last for 30 years before he and his wife, Queen Amalia, left the way they came, aboard a British warship. During the early years of his reign, a group of Bavarian Regents ruled in his name and made themselves very unpopular by trying to impose German ideas of rigid hierarchical government on the Greeks, while keeping most significant state offices away from them. Nevertheless, they laid the foundations of a Greek administration, army, justice system and education system. Otto was sincere in his desire to give Greece good government, but he suffered from two great handicaps, him being a Roman Catholic while most Greek people were Orthodox Christian, and the fact that his marriage to Queen Amalia remained childless.

Economy

agriculture is here in the most undeveloped condition. Even in the immediate neighbourhood of Athens, it is common to find the wooden plough and the rude mattock which were in use 2,000 years ago. Fields are ploughed up or scratched over, and crops replanted season after season until the exhausted soil will bear no more. Fertilizers are not used to any appreciable extent, and the farm implements are of the very rudest description. Irrigation is in use in some districts, and, as far as I can ascertain, the methods in use can be readily learned by a study of the practices of the ancient Egyptians. Greece has olives and grapes in abundance, and of quality not excelled, but Greek olive oil and Greek wine will not bear transportation.

Culture

Modern Greek art began to be developed around the time of Romanticism. Greek artists absorbed many elements from their European colleagues, resulting in the culmination of the distinctive style of Greek Romantic art, inspired by revolutionary ideals as well as the country's geography and history. The most important artistic movement of Greek painting in the 19th century was academic realism (Greek academic art of the 19th century), often called in Greece "the Munich School" because of the strong influence from the Royal Academy of Fine Arts, Munich (German: Münchner Akademie der Bildenden Künste), where many Greek artists trained.

Background

The Greek-speaking Eastern Roman Empire, also known as the Byzantine Empire, which ruled most of the Eastern Mediterranean region for over 1100 years, had been fatally weakened since the sacking of Constantinople by the Latin Crusaders in 1204.

The Ottomans captured Constantinople in 1453 and advanced southwards into the Balkan peninsula capturing Athens in 1458.