11. The The southernmost exten sion of the Balkan Peninsula and its adjacent territory and islands is the habitat of the Greeks of Greece, Epirus, western Thracc, Cyprus, the islands of the dEgean and the west ern coast of Asia Minor, who, whatever the actuality, regard themselves as the descendants of the Greeks of the age of Pericles and Aris tc,tle. The Greeks were conquered by the Ro mans in 146 s.c., but retained most phases of their culture and imposed it upon the Byzan tine empire, founded by Constantine in 330 A.D. The Greeks remained under the control of the Eastern empire until the occupation of Hellas by the Turks between 1423 and 1460, except for a short period following the fourth crusade (1204-61), when a Latin empire was estab lished, and the later temporary conquest of a part of Greece by Stephen Dushan in the mid dle of the 14th century. By their own gallant efforts and through the aid of Russia, France and England the Greeks were awarded their independence in the Treaty of Adrianople (1829) and established as a kingdom in 1832. Re ceiving some territory by the Treaty of Berlin (1878) the Greeks have since made great strides in advance, especially after 1909 under the lead ership of their exceedingly able and statesman Ince premier, Eleutherios Venizelos who reor ganized the Greelc state and prepared it for the victorious war against the Turks in 1912-13, by which Greece was greatly increased in popula tion, territory and prestige. The modem
Greelc prides himself not only upon his cul tural heritage from classical Greece, but also maintains lus direct physical descent from the Attic Greelcs. In spite of many invasions of the Greek Peninsula between classical Hines and to-day by non-Greek. peoples, such as Avars and Slays, it is true that in some districts, es pecially in Thessaly, Attica and the Pelopon nesus, the modern Greek has retained the char actenstics of the original Mediterranean race to a remarlcable degree. The 4Greelcs) of Asia can scarcely be regarded as Greek in race, but rather in their national feeling and in some su perficial aspects of their culture. The Greeks spealc a language which is a debased form of the ancient Attic Greek, but since the Hellenic revival of the last century it has been systemati cally improved and brought back closer to the classical form. In religion the Greeks belong almost without exception to the Greek Ortho dox Church. There are about 4,500,000 Greeks in the Greek state, about 2,000,00() in the ..Egean /slands and along the coast of Asia Minor, some 150,000 in Epirus, nearly 200,000 in Macedonia, about 350,000 in the city of Constantinople and about 400,000 in western Thrace, where they constitute a majority of the population.