A country of southeast Europe on the southern Balkan Peninsula and including numerous islands in the Mediterranean, Aegean, and Ionian Seas. Settled by Achaeans, Aeolians, Ionians, Minoans, and Dorians by 1000 BC, the region grew as an amalgam of independent city-states, many of which established colonies throughout the Mediterranean by the eighth century BC. Classical Greek culture, centered around Athens, reached a high point in the fifth century BC before being conquered by Philip II of Macedon in 338 BC. The area was later controlled by the Roman and Byzantine Empires before being absorbed into the Ottoman Empire after 1453. In 1829, Greece gained its independence and established a constitutional monarchy. The king was deposed following a military coup in 1967, and a democratic republic was established in 1975. Athens is the capital and the largest city.