Greece, the modern kingdom, is one of the countries that for centuries were politically included within the limits of the Turkish Empire. In its present form it represents but a portion of that country, famous in history, as the Greece of the Ancients--that classic land which holds the most conspicuous place in the pages of ancient history--but still it is inclusive of the greatest names belonging to the glorious past. It is the country of Athens, Sparta, Corinth, Thebes and Argos. It is separated from Turkey by a winding boundary, extending from the Gulf of Arta on the west to the Gulf of Salonica on the east. The earliest settlers were the Pelasgi, who were in course of time replaced by the Hellenes. They, in turn, were succeeded by the Phoenicians, who swayed the country. Athens, Sparta, Thebes and Corinth came into existence and became the centers of political government, of the most progressive advancement in civilization. Civil discords brought on first the Peloponnesian War, about 434 B.C., and made them prey to the Macedonians. Successively invaded by Goths, Vandals and Normans the country came into the possession of the Turks in 1481, though for two centuries the power of the Turk was questioned by the Venetians. Revolt was had from the Ottoman yoke in 1821, and independence was secured by the interference of foreign powers after the defeat of the Turk at the Navarino, in 1827. Through the succeeding years it has been a protected monarchy. ONE OF THE BALKAN GROUP. Roumania, the largest of the Balkan group, lying between Russia on the north, and Bulgaria on the south, is the home of the Gacians, descendants of the warlike tribes who for years held their own against Greek and Roman. After the fall of Rome the province became a melting pot, through which the hordes of invaders, passing from Russia to Asia, were in a sense made one people. The Goths, the Huns, the Lombards, the Bulgars and the Magyars traversed the region, leaving many settlers. It became divided into two provinces, Moldavia and Wallachia, known as the Danubian provinces. Both provinces were conquered by the Turks in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, and under Peter the Great the Russians attempted the conquest of the provinces. In 1859 the two provinces were united under a prince whose independence both Turkey and Russia recognized, and in 1881 the country declared itself a kingdom. The province of Wallachia derives its name from the people who early settled there, the Wallachs. The Roumanians claim descent from Vlachi, a colony of Romans, who settled in Thrace, and, in the twelfth century, emigrated to the Danube. The name Roumania is derived from the word Roman, the country having originally been "the Land of the Roumani." Roumania has a population of about 7,600,000 and comprises 64,000 square miles.