The term
Lower Greece was mentioned in 16th century western correspondence when the region was under Ottoman rule, it included
Northern Epirus and
Western Macedonia. The term Northern Greece may also, according to context, incorporate the region of
Epirus. When Epirus is included, it is broadly coterminous with the "New Lands" (Νέες Χώρες), i.e. the territories added to the
Kingdom of Greece after the
Balkan Wars of 1912–13, as opposed to pre-1912 "
Old Greece" (Παλαιά Ελλάδα). This distinction survives in the ecclesiastical domain, where the dioceses of the "New Lands"
de jure still adhere to the
Patriarchate of Constantinople, but are
de facto under the
Church of Greece.
Voreia Ellada is also one of the four
Greek NUTS regions, created for statistical purposes by the
European Union. Until 2014, it encompassed the four
administrative regions Eastern Macedonia and Thrace,
Central Macedonia,
Western Macedonia and
Thessaly. Coming into effect in January 2015, the Greek NUTS regions were redefined, with Voreia Ellada now encompassing
Epirus instead of Thessaly. This NUTS division is not used by Greece for any administrative purposes. == Linguistics ==