Greece, Italy, Portugal, Spain Sections 2-4

Section Vocabulary Athens (p. 408) democracy pope (p. 412) Vatican City (p. 412) Rome (p. 414) parliamentary monarchy (p. 418) Madrid (p. 418) Lisbon (p. 418)

Greece

Greece is home to one of the world’s oldest civilizations. Ancient Greeks were artists, thinkers, writers, and scholars. Today, Greece is a mix of the old and the new. Greece’s capital city is Athens. 1/3 of the population lives in or around Athens.

Greece’s economy has struggled recently. They have a lack of natural resources. Only 1/5 of the land can be farmed. Few mineral resources (gold, coal) Greece depends on shipping and tourism.

Italy

Ancient Rome was one of the world’s oldest and most successful civilizations. During World War II, Italy was a dictatorship (autocracy) under Mussolini. Since WWII, Italy has been a democracy, a government system in which the people vote for their leaders. Today, Rome is the capital city of Italy.

The pope, the spiritual head of the Roman Catholic church, lives on the Italian Peninsula. Vatican City is a country INSIDE Rome. It is the smallest country in the world.

Spain and Portugal Spain and Portugal share the Iberian Peninsula although they are separate countries. They both went on to build large empires. Brazil  Portugal Spain  many countries in North & South America Spain and Portugal were very rich because of their colonies. When their colonies became independent, the money flow decreased. Spain and Portugal are poorer than a lot of European countries today.

Spanish is spoken in Spain (and most of Spain’s former territories). Portuguese is spoken in Portugal & Brazil. Madrid is the capital city of Spain. Lisbon is the capital city of Portugal.

Today Spain is a parliamentary monarchy, which means that the king rules with the help of an elected parliament (law- making group). King Felipe of Spain Spanish Parliment