The population historically has been mobile.

Sailors, shepherds, and merchants traveled

as a matter of occupation, while peasants frequently moved in response to wars, land tenure
policies, and agricultural opportunities. Market towns such as Corinth and Athens have endured
for millennia, but smaller settlements appeared and disappeared with regularity. Over the last
century, internal migration has overwhelmingly been from mountains to plains, inland to coastal
areas, and rural to urban settlements. In this process, hundreds of new villages were founded
while others were abandoned, and some towns and cities grew greatly while others declined.
A strongly centralized settlement system revolving around the capital, Athens, has
emerged from these moves. The population became predominantly urban after World War II,
with only 25 percent living in rural settlements in 1991. The concentration of economic
opportunities, international trade, governmental functions, and educational and health facilities in
only a few cities has led to the decline of many regional centers and the growth of Athens as a
primate city. In 1991, Greater Athens contained 3.1 million people, a third of the population,
while the next largest city, Thessaloniki, contained 396,000.
There are distinctive regional architectural styles, such as the pitched roofs of the
Arcadian mountains and the flat, rolled ones of the Cyclades. Until recently, much housing was
small and owner-built from mud brick, stone, and ceramic tile. Over the last fifty years, the use
of industrially produced materials and the construction of more elaborate dwellings has
accompanied a dramatic increase in commercial building. International architectural movements
have also been influential.
Rural settlements are still characterized by single-family houses, but urban areas contain
apartment buildings of five to ten stories. A high value is placed on home ownership, and most
urban apartments are owned, not rented. Families tend to buy or remodel homes only after saving
the funds needed to do so.
There is a strong public-private distinction in spatial arrangements. Homes are considered
private family spaces. Single-family houses often contain walled courtyards that have been
replaced in urban apartments with tented balconies. Plazas, open-air markets, shops, churches,
schools, coffeehouses, restaurants, and places of entertainment are the major public gathering
spots.
An interior view of a home on Crete. Greek homes are private spaces, and hospitality is seen as
both a pleasure and a responsibility.
LOCATION AND GEOGRAPHY; Greece encompasses 50,935 square miles (131,957 square
kilometers). The terrain is 80 percent mountainous, with its highest point, at Mount Olympus.
Only 25 percent of the land surface is arable, and another 40 percent serves as pasture. There are
more than 2,000 islands, 170 of which are inhabited, and a long coastline.
The climate is predominantly Mediterranean. Hot, dry summers alternate with cold, rainy
winters.