The Greeks (Greek: Έλληνες, IPA: [ˈe̞line̞s]) are a nation and ethnic group native to Greece, Cyprus and neighbouring regions. In addition, Greeks have established a plethora of vibrant expatriate communities around the world, forming a large Greek diaspora.
Greek colonies and communities have been historically established in most corners of the Mediterranean but Greeks have always been centered around the Aegean Sea, where Greek has been spoken since antiquity. Until the early 20th century, Greeks were uniformly distributed between the Greek peninsula, the western coast of Asia Minor, Pontus, Cyprus and Constantinople, regions which coincided to a large extent with the borders of the Byzantine Empire of the late 11th century and the Eastern Mediterranean areas of the ancient Greek colonization.