Etymology

The region has traditionally been known as Roúmeli (Ρούμελη), a name deriving from the Turkish word Rumelia or Rumeli, meaning "the land of the Rum [the Romans, i.e. the Byzantine Greeks]". The official name Stereá Elláda ("Continental" or "Mainland" Greece), derives from the fact that Central Greece was, along with the Peloponnese peninsula, the first region to form the modern Greek state.