Editing History of the Mediterranean region

{{short description|Historical development of the Mediterranean}}
[[File:Antonio Millo Bacino del Mediterraneo.jpg|thumb|upright=1.35|Bacino del Mediterraneo, dall'Atlante manoscritto del 1582–1584 ca. [[Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale di Roma|Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale Vittorio Emanuele II]], [[Rome]] (cart. naut. 2 – cart. naut 6/1-2).]]
The '''history of the Mediterranean region''' and of the cultures and people of the [[Mediterranean Basin]] is important for understanding the origin and development of the [[Mesopotamia]]n, [[Ancient Egypt|Egyptian]], [[Canaanites|Canaanite]], [[Phoenicia]]n, [[History of ancient Israel and Judah|Hebrew]], [[Carthage|Carthaginian]], [[Minoan]], [[Ancient Greece|Greek]], [[Achaemenid Empire|Persian]], [[Illyrians|Illyrian]], [[Ancient Thrace|Thracian]], [[Etruscan civilization|Etruscan]], [[Iberian culture|Iberian]], [[Ancient Rome|Roman]], [[Byzantine]], [[First Bulgarian Empire|Bulgarian]], [[Arab Civilization|Arab]], [[Berbers|Berber]], [[Ottoman Empire|Ottoman]], [[Role of Christianity in civilization|Christian]] and [[Muslim world|Islamic cultures]]. The [[Mediterranean Sea]] was the central superhighway of transport, trade and cultural exchange between diverse peoples encompassing three continents:<ref>{{Cite book|title=The Ancient Economy: Evidence and Models (Social Science History)|last=Manning and Morris|first=J.G and Ian|publisher=Stanford University Press|year=2007|isbn=978-0-8047-5755-3}}</ref> [[Western Asia]], [[North Africa]], and [[Southern Europe]].

Various articles are available under the category: [[:Category:History of the Mediterranean|History of the Mediterranean]]

== Early history ==
{{Main|Ancient Near East}}
{{further|Fertile Crescent|Cradle of civilization|Mesopotamia|Ancient Egypt|History of the ancient Levant}}
[[File:Map of fertile crescent.svg|thumb|250px|The [[Fertile Crescent]] in the 2nd millennium BC.]]

[[Lézignan-la-Cèbe]] in France, [[Orce]]<ref>{{cite web|title=The Human Journey: Early Settlements in Europe|url=http://www.humanjourney.us/europe.html|website=www.humanjourney.us|access-date=24 March 2017|quote=Human fossil evidence from sites such as Atapuerca in Spain suggests that they were a form of [[Homo erectus]] (sometimes called [[Homo ergaster]]).}}</ref> in Spain, [[Monte Poggiolo]]<ref name="nationalgeographic.it">[http://www.nationalgeographic.it/scienza/2012/01/20/news/erano_padani_iprimi_abitanti_ditalia-807204/ National Geographic Italia – Erano padani i primi abitanti d'Italia] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190626220707/http://www.nationalgeographic.it/scienza/2012/01/20/news/erano_padani_iprimi_abitanti_ditalia-807204/ |date=2019-06-26 }}{{in lang|it}}</ref> in Italy and [[Kozarnika]] in Bulgaria are amongst the oldest [[Paleolithic]] sites in Europe and are located around the [[Mediterranean Basin]].

There is evidence of stone tools on [[History of Crete#Prehistoric Crete|Crete]] in 130,000 years BC,<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/16/science/16archeo.html|title=Discovery Dates Seafaring 100,000-Plus Years Ago|first=John Noble|last=Wilford|website=New York Times|date=15 February 2010|access-date=27 October 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181010193607/https://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/16/science/16archeo.html|archive-date=10 October 2018|url-status=live|df=dmy-all}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://www.wired.com/2010/01/ancient-seafarers/|title=Hominids Went Out of Africa on Rafts|magazine=Wired|access-date=27 October 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181119133604/https://www.wired.com/2010/01/ancient-seafarers/|archive-date=19 November 2018|url-status=live|df=dmy-all}}</ref> which indicates that early humans were capable of using boats to reach the island.

The cultural stage of [[civilization]] (organised society structured around urban centers) first arises in Southwest Asia, as an extension of the [[Neolithic]] trend, from as early as the [[8th millennium BC]], of proto-urban centers such as [[Çatalhöyük]]. Urban civilizations proper begin to emerge in the [[Chalcolithic]], in 5th-to-4th-millennium [[pre-dynastic Egypt|Egypt]] and in [[Ubaid period|Mesopotamia]].

The [[Black Sea]] area is a cradle of the European civilization. The site of [[Solnitsata]] (5500 BC - 4200 BC) is believed to be the oldest town in Europe - prehistoric fortified ([[Defensive wall|walled]]) stone settlement (prehistoric [[city]]).<ref name=Maugh>{{cite news |title=Bulgarians find oldest European town, a salt production center |first=Thomas H. |last=Maugh II |url=https://www.latimes.com/science/la-xpm-2012-nov-01-la-sci-sn-oldest-european-town-20121101-story.html |newspaper=[[The Los Angeles Times]] |date=1 November 2012 |access-date=1 November 2012}}</ref><ref name="wayback.archive-it.org">[https://wayback.archive-it.org/all/20120702232530/http://www.historyofinformation.com/expanded.php?category=Survival+of+Information Survival of Information: the earliest prehistoric town in Europe ]</ref><ref name=Squires>{{cite news |title=Archaeologists find Europe's most prehistoric town |first=Nick |last=Squires |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/bulgaria/9646541/Bulgaria-archaeologists-find-Europes-most-prehistoric-town-Provadia-Solnitsata.html |newspaper=[[The Daily Telegraph]] |date=31 October 2012 |access-date=1 November 2012}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://naim.bg/contentFiles/ARH_2012_1_res1.pdf |title=Salt, early complex society, urbanization: Provadia-Solnitsata (5500-4200 BC) (Abstract) |first=Vassil |last=Nikolov |publisher=[[Bulgarian Academy of Sciences]] |access-date=1 November 2012}}</ref> The first gold artifacts in the world appear from the 5th millennium BC, such as those found in a burial site from 4569 to 4340 BC and one of the most important archaeological sites in world prehistory – the [[Varna Necropolis]] near Lake Varna in [[Bulgaria]], thought to be the earliest "well-dated" find of gold artifacts.<ref name="La Niece">{{cite book |last=La Niece |first=Susan (senior metallurgist in the British Museum Department of Conservation and Scientific Research) |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oAfITjcHiZ0C |title=Gold |page=10 |publisher=Harvard University Press |access-date=10 April 2012 |isbn=978-0-674-03590-4 |date=15 December 2009}}</ref>

As of 1990, gold artifacts found at the [[Wadi Qana]] cave cemetery of the [[4th millennium BC]] in the West Bank were the earliest from the Levant.<ref name="Gopher, Tsuk, Shalev and Gophna">{{cite journal |last1=Gopher |first1=A. |first2=T. |last2=Tsuk |first3=S. |last3=Shalev |first4=R. |last4=Gophna |name-list-style=amp |title=Earliest Gold Artifacts in the Levant |date=August–October 1990 |journal=Current Anthropology |volume=31 |issue=4 |pages=436–443 |jstor=2743275 |doi=10.1086/203868|s2cid=143173212 }}</ref>

The [[Bronze Age]] arises in this region during the final centuries of the 4th millennium BC. The urban civilizations of the [[Fertile Crescent]] now have [[Bronze Age writing|writing systems]] and develop [[bureaucracy]], by the mid-3rd millennium leading to the development of the [[Empire#Bronze and Iron Age empires|earliest empires]]. In the 2nd millennium, the eastern coastlines of the Mediterranean are dominated by the [[Hittite Empire|Hittite]] and [[Egyptian Empire|Egyptian]] empires, competing for control over the city states in the [[Levant]] ([[Canaan]]). The [[Minoans]] are trading throughout much of the Mediterranean.

The [[Bronze Age collapse]] is the transition from the [[Late Bronze Age]] to the [[Early Iron Age]], expressed by the collapse of [[palace economy|palace economies]] of the [[Aegean civilization|Aegean]] and [[Anatolia]], which were replaced after a hiatus by the isolated village cultures of the ancient Near East. Some have gone so far as to call the catalyst that ended the Bronze Age a "catastrophe".<ref>{{cite book|last=Drews|first=Robert|author-link=Robert Drews|title=The End of the Bronze Age: Changes in Warfare and the Catastrophe CA 1200 B.C.|year=1995|publisher=[[Princeton University Press]]|location=United States|isbn=978-0-691-02591-9|page=264}}</ref> The Bronze Age collapse may be seen in the context of a technological history that saw the slow, comparatively continuous spread of iron-working technology in the region, beginning with precocious iron-working in what is now [[Romania]] in the 13th and 12th centuries.<ref>See A. Stoia and the other essays in M.L. Stig Sørensen and R. Thomas, eds., ''The Bronze Age—Iron Age Transition in Europe'' (Oxford) 1989, and [[Theodore Wertime|T.A. Wertime]] and J.D. Muhly, ''The Coming of the Age of Iron'' (New Haven) 1980.</ref> The cultural collapse of the [[Mycenaean kingdoms]], the [[Hittite Empire]] in [[Anatolia]] and [[Syria]], and the [[Ancient Egypt|Egyptian Empire]] in [[Syria]] and [[Israel]], the scission of long-distance [[trade route|trade]] contacts and sudden eclipse of literacy occurred between 1206 and 1150 BC. In the first phase of this period, almost every city between [[Troy]] and [[Gaza City|Gaza]] was violently destroyed, and often left unoccupied thereafter (for example, [[Hattusas]], [[Mycenae]], [[Ugarit]]). The gradual end of the Dark Age that ensued saw the rise of settled [[Neo-Hittite]] [[Aramaean]] kingdoms of the mid-10th century BC, and the rise of the [[Neo-Assyrian Empire]].

While the cultural advances during the Bronze Age had mostly been confined to the eastern parts of the Mediterranean, with the Iron Age, the entire coastal region surrounding the Mediterranean now becomes involved, significantly due to the [[Phoenicians|Phoenician]] expansion from the Levant, beginning in ca. the 12th century. [[Fernand Braudel]] remarked in ''The Perspective of the World'' that Phoenicia was an early example of a "world-economy" surrounded by empires. The high point of Phoenician culture and sea power is usually placed ca. 1200–800&nbsp;BC. Many of the most important Phoenician settlements had been established long before this: [[Byblos]], [[Tyre (Lebanon)|Tyre]], [[Sidon]], [[Simyra]], [[Arwad]], and [[Beirut|Berytus]], all appear in the [[Amarna tablets]].

The Phoenicians and the Assyrians transported elements of the Late Bronze Age culture of the Near East to Iron Age [[Archaic Greece|Greece]] and [[Iron Age Italy|Italy]], but also further afield to [[Ancient Libya|Northwestern Africa]] and to [[Tartessos|Iberia]], initiating the beginning of Mediterranean history now known as [[Classical Antiquity]].
They notably spread [[History of the alphabet|alphabetic writing]], which would become the hallmark of the Mediterranean civilizations of the Iron Age, in contrast to the [[Assyrian cuneiform|cuneiform]] writing of Assyria and the [[Chinese bronze inscriptions|logographic]] system in the Far East (and later the [[abugida]] systems of India).

== Classical antiquity ==
[[File:Phoenician_maritime_expansions_across_the_Mediterranean.jpg|thumb|250px|Phoenician settlements and trade routes across the Mediterranean starting from around 800 B.C.E]]
[[File:Greek Colonization Archaic Period.svg|thumb|250px|[[Greek colonisation|Greek territories and colonies]] during the Archaic period (750–550 BC)]]
Two of the most notable Mediterranean civilizations in [[classical antiquity]] were the [[Ancient Greece|Greek]] [[city-state]]s and the [[Phoenicia]]ns whose cities were also city-states. The Greeks spread to the shores of the [[Black Sea]], [[Southern Italy]] (the so-called "[[Magna Graecia]]") Gaul and [[Asia Minor]]. The Phoenicians spread through the western Mediterranean reaching [[North Africa]] and the [[Iberian Peninsula]] then beyond the Straits of Gibraltar. From the 6th century BC up to including the 5th century BC, many of the significant Mediterranean peoples were under Persian rule, making them dominate the Mediterranean during these years. Both the Phoenicians and some of the [[Greek city states]] in Asia Minor provided the naval forces of the [[Achaemenid Persian Empire]]. Persian dominance ended after the [[Greco-Persian War]] in the 5th century BC and Persia was crippled by Macedonia in the 4th century BC. The [[Odrysian Kingdom]] existed between the 5th century BC and the 1st century AD as the most important and powerful [[thracian]] state formation.

=== Persian period ===
{{further|Achaemenid Empire}}
From the 6th century BC up to including the first half of the 4th century BC, many of the significant Mediterranean peoples came under [[Achaemenid Empire|Achaemenid Persian]] rule, making them dominate the Mediterranean during all these years. The empire, founded by [[Cyrus the Great]], would include [[Macedonia (ancient kingdom)|Macedonia]], [[Thracians|Thrace]] and the western [[Black Sea]] coast (modern day southeastern and eastern [[Bulgaria]]), Egypt, [[Anatolia]], the Phoenician lands, the [[Levant]], and many other basin regions of the Mediterranean later on.<ref>''The Oxford Classical Dictionary'' by Simon Hornblower and Antony Spawforth,{{ISBN|0-19-860641-9}},"page 1515,"The Thracians were subdued by the Persians by 516"</ref><ref>Joseph Roisman, Ian Worthington [https://books.google.com/books?id=QsJ183uUDkMC&pg=PA345 ''A Companion to Ancient Macedonia''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170224121356/https://books.google.com/books?id=QsJ183uUDkMC&pg=PA345 |date=2017-02-24 }} pp. 342–345, John Wiley & Sons, 7 July 2011 {{ISBN|144435163X}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QsJ183uUDkMC&q=Achaemenid+Persians+ruled+balkans&pg=PA345|title=A Companion to Ancient Macedonia|page=345|isbn=978-1-4443-5163-7|access-date=17 December 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160422224651/https://books.google.com/books?id=QsJ183uUDkMC&pg=PA345&lpg=PA345&dq=Achaemenid+Persians+ruled+balkans&source=bl&ots=K7qasgPG1K&sig=lkiajbVuNcHEbI5Lz3MnvIUBG1U&hl=nl&sa=X&ei=sb6RVP2qHoPUaqeGgZgE&ved=0CEkQ6AEwBQ#v=onepage&q=Achaemenid%20Persians%20ruled%20balkans&f=false|archive-date=22 April 2016|url-status=live|df=dmy-all|last1=Roisman|first1=Joseph|last2=Worthington|first2=Ian|date=7 July 2011|publisher=John Wiley & Sons }}</ref> [[Darius the Great]] (Darius I) is to be credited as the first Achaemenid king to invest in a Persian fleet.<ref name=navy>{{cite book |author=Kaveh Farrokh |title=Shadows in the desert: ancient Persia at war |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=p7kltwf9yrwC |year=2007 |publisher=Osprey Publishing |isbn=978-1-84603-108-3 |page=68 }}{{Dead link|date=October 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> Even by then no true "imperial navy" had existed either in Greece or Egypt. Persia would become the first empire, under Darius, to inaugurate and deploy the first regular imperial navy.<ref name=navy /> Both the [[Phoenicians]] and the [[Greeks]] provided the bulk of the naval forces of the [[Achaemenid]] Persian Empire, alongside the [[Cyprus|Cypriots]] and Egyptians.<ref>Kaveh Farrokh (2007). ''Shadows in the Desert: Ancient Persia at War''. Osprey Publishing. p. 68. {{ISBN|978-1-84603-108-3}}.</ref> Full Persian dominance in the Mediterranean ended after the [[Greco-Persian War]] in the 5th century BC, and Persia eventually lost all her influence in the Mediterranean in the late 4th century BC following Alexander's conquests.

=== Hellenistic period ===
{{further|Hellenistic period|Hellenistic civilization|Ancient Carthage|Roman Republic}}
[[File:Europe map 220BC.PNG|thumb|250px|The Mediterranean region in 220 BC.]]

In the northernmost part of ancient Greece, in the ancient kingdom of [[Macedonia (ancient kingdom)|Macedonia]], technological and organizational skills were forged with a long history of [[cavalry warfare]]. The ''hetairoi'' ([[Companion cavalry]]) was considered the strongest of their time.<ref>Diodorus Siculus, Arrian</ref> Under [[Alexander the Great]], this force turned east, and in a series of decisive battles, it routed the Persian forces and took over as the dominant empire of the Mediterranean. Their Macedonia empire included present-day Greece, Bulgaria, Egypt, the Phoenician lands and many other basin regions of the Mediterranean and Asia Minor.

The major centres of the Mediterranean at the time became part of Alexander's empire as a result. His empire quickly disintegrated, and the Middle East, Egypt, and Greece were soon again independent. Alexander's conquests spread Greek knowledge and ideas throughout the region.

Research indicates that between 1,500 BC and 200 BC, the sea level was around 2.5 metres below current levels and rose rapidly to present levels between 200 BC and 200 AD. <ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Yasur-Landau |first1=Assaf |last2=Shtienberg |first2=Gilad |last3=Gambash |first3=Gil |last4=Spada |first4=Giorgio |last5=Melini |first5=Daniele |last6=Arkin-Shalev |first6=Ehud |last7=Tamberino |first7=Anthony |last8=Reese |first8=Jack |last9=Levy |first9=Thomas E. |last10=Sivan |first10=Dorit |date=2021-06-09 |title=New relative sea-level (RSL) indications from the Eastern Mediterranean: Middle Bronze Age to the Roman period (~3800–1800 y BP) archaeological constructions at Dor, the Carmel coast, Israel |journal=PLOS ONE |language=en |volume=16 |issue=6 |pages=e0251870 |doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0251870 |doi-access=free |issn=1932-6203 |pmc=8189516 |pmid=34106939|bibcode=2021PLoSO..1651870Y }}</ref>

=== Roman–Carthaginian rivalry ===
{{See also|Punic Wars|Roman Republic|Ancient Carthage|Carthage}}

These eastern powers soon began to be overshadowed by those farther west. In North Africa, the former Phoenician colony of [[Carthage]] rose to dominate its surroundings with an empire that contained many of the former Phoenician holdings. However, it was a city on the [[Italian Peninsula]], [[Rome]], that would eventually dominate the entire Mediterranean basin. Spreading first through Italy, Rome defeated Carthage in the [[Punic Wars]], despite [[Hannibal]]'s famous efforts against Rome in the [[Second Punic War]].

After the [[Third Punic War]], Rome then became the leading force in the Mediterranean region. The [[Ancient Rome|Romans]] soon spread east, taking [[Greece]], and spreading [[Latin]] knowledge and ideas throughout the place. By this point the coastal trading cultures were thoroughly dominant over the inland river valleys that had once been the heart of the great powers. Egyptian power moved from the Nile cities to the coastal ones, especially [[Alexandria]]. Mesopotamia became a fringe border region between the Roman Empire and the Persians.

=== Roman ''Mare Nostrum'' ===
[[File:The Roman Empire ca 400 AD.png|thumb|250px|The ''Mare nostrum'', surrounded by [[Roman Empire|Roman]] territory in c. 400 AD.]]
{{further|Mare Nostrum|Roman Empire}}

When [[Augustus]] founded the [[Roman Empire]], the Mediterranean Sea began to be called ''[[Mare Nostrum]]'' ([[Latin]]: "Our Sea") by the Romans. Their empire was centered on this sea and all the area was full of commerce and naval development. For the first time in history, an entire sea (the Mediterranean) was free of piracy. For several centuries, the Mediterranean was a "Roman Lake", surrounded on all sides by the empire.

The empire began to crumble in the 3rd century. It recovered briefly, only to begin its decline again. By 435 AD it had lost southern France and all of Iberia to the Visigoths, and much of North Africa to the Vandals, thus ending its monopoly over the Mediterranean coast. Despite this, the Roman Empire did not collapse until May 29, 1453 AD.

=== Sasanian and Byzantine times ===
{{Main|Sasanian Empire|Byzantine Empire}}
The Eastern Roman or [[Byzantine empire]] began its domination of the Levant during its [[Byzantine-Sassanid Wars|wars with neighbouring Sassanid Persia]]. The rule through the 6th century AD saw climatic instability, causing inconsistent production, distribution, and a general economic decline.<ref>Daniel Fuks, Avner Ayalon, et al., "Dust clouds, climate change and coins: consiliences of palaeoclimate and economy in the Late Antique southern Levant", ''Journal of the Council for British Research in the Levant'' 49/2 (Oct. 2017): 205-223.
Download citation https://doi.org/10.1080/00758914.2017.1379181</ref> The Sasanians gained territory on Mediterranean land regularly, but the Eastern Romans remained superior in the Mediterranean sea for centuries. In the first quarter of the 7th century CE, the Sasanians took swaths of the Mediterranean region from the Eastern Romans during the [[Byzantine–Sasanian War of 602–628]], though the Sasanians lost territories by the end of the war. Ultimately, Byzantine domination in the region was forever finished by invasions of the Arabs and later the Turks.<ref>Crawford, Peter (2013). ''The War of the Three Gods: Romans, Persians and the Rise of Islam''. Pen and Sword.</ref>

== Middle Ages ==

{{further|Islamic Golden Age|Early Muslim conquests|Caliphate|Byzantine Empire|Republic of Venice|First Bulgarian Empire}}
[[File:Map of expansion of Caliphate.svg|thumb|250px|The expansion of the [[Caliphate]] in the Mediterranean region from 622 to 750 AD. {{legend|#a1584e|Expansion under [[Muhammad]], 622–632}} {{legend|#ef9070|Expansion during the [[Rashidun Caliphate]], 632–661}} {{legend|#fad07d|Expansion during the [[Umayyad]] Caliphate, 661–750}}]]

=== Early Arab (Islamic) period ===
Another power was rising in the east, that of [[Islam]], whilst the [[Eastern Roman Empire]] and [[Sassanid]] Persian empires were both weakened by centuries of stalemate warfare during the [[Roman–Persian Wars]]. In a series of rapid [[Early Muslim conquests|Muslim conquests]], the [[Rashidun army|Arab armies]], motivated by Islam and led by the [[Caliph]]s and skilled military commanders such as [[Khalid ibn al-Walid]], swept through most of the Middle East; [[Byzantine-Arab Wars|reducing Byzantine lands]] by more than half and completely [[Islamic conquest of Persia|engulfing the Persian lands]].

The Arab invasions disrupted the trade relations between Western and Eastern Europe while cutting the trade route with Oriental lands. This however had the indirect effect of promoting the trade across the [[Caspian Sea]]. The export of grains from [[Egypt]] was re-routed towards the [[Eastern world]]. Oriental goods like silk and spices were carried from Egypt to ports like [[Republic of Venice|Venice]] and [[Constantinople]] by sailors and Jewish merchants. The [[Viking expansion|Viking raids]] further disrupted the trade in western Europe and brought it to a halt. However, the [[Norsemen]] developed the trade from Norway to the [[White Sea]], while also trading in luxury goods from [[Al-Andalus|Spain]] and the Mediterranean. The [[Byzantine Empire under the Isaurian dynasty|Byzantines in the mid-8th century]] retook control of the area around the north-eastern part of the Mediterranean. Venetian ships from the 9th century armed themselves to counter the harassment by Arabs while concentrating trade of oriental goods at Venice.<ref>{{cite book|last=Couper|first=Alastair|title=The Geography of Sea Transport|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WFVACwAAQBAJ&q=The+Geography+of+Sea+Transport&pg=PA37|publisher=Routledge|year=2015|isbn=978-1-317-35150-4|pages=33–37|access-date=2018-09-20|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180913112908/https://books.google.com/books?id=WFVACwAAQBAJ&pg=PA37&dq=The+Geography+of+Sea+Transport&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjxmJiKorfdAhXHXrwKHWxpBvQQ6AEIJjAA|archive-date=2018-09-13|url-status=live}}</ref>

The powerful and long-lived Bulgarian Empire was the main European rival in the region of the Mediterranean [[Balkan peninsula]] between the 7th and the 14th centuries, creating an important [[Golden Age of medieval Bulgarian culture|cultural]], [[Third Rome|political]], [[Cyrillic script|linguistic]] and religious legacy during the [[Middle Ages]].

In [[Anatolia]], the Muslim [[Siege of Constantinople (718)|expansion was blocked]] by the still capable Byzantines with the help of the [[Tervel of Bulgaria]]. The Byzantine provinces of [[Muslim conquest of Syria|Roman Syria]], [[Umayyad conquest of North Africa|North Africa]], and Sicily, however, could not mount such a resistance, and the Muslim conquerors swept through those regions. At the far west, they crossed the sea taking [[Umayyad conquest of Hispania|Visigothic Hispania]] before being [[Battle of Tours|halted in southern France]] by the [[Franks]]. At its greatest extent, the [[Caliphate|Arab Empire]] controlled three-quarters of the Mediterranean coast, and fostered an economic [[Indo-Mediterranean|interrelationship between the Indian Ocean and Mediterranean]].<ref>Subhi Y. Labib (1969), "Capitalism in Medieval Islam", ''The Journal of Economic History'' '''29''' (1), p. 79–96 [80].</ref> Much of North Africa became a peripheral area to the main Muslim centers in the Middle East, but [[Al Andalus]] and Morocco soon broke from this distant control and became highly advanced societies in their own right.
 	
Between 831 and 1071, the [[Emirate of Sicily]] was one of the major centres of Islamic culture in the Mediterranean. After its conquest by the Christian [[Normans]], the island developed its own distinct culture with the fusion of Latin and Byzantine influences. Palermo remained a leading artistic and commercial centre of the Mediterranean well into the Middle Ages.

[[File:Byzantine-Arab naval struggle.svg|thumb|250px|Map of the main Byzantine-Muslim [[Arab–Byzantine wars|naval operations and battles]] in the Mediterranean, 7th to 11th centuries]]

The [[Fatimids]] maintained trade relations with the [[Italian city-states]] like [[Duchy of Amalfi|Amalfi]] and [[Republic of Genoa|Genoa]] before the Crusades, according to the [[Cairo Geniza]] documents. A document dated 996 mentions Amalfian merchants living in [[Cairo]]. Another letter states that the Genoese had traded with [[Alexandria]]. The caliph [[Ma'ad al-Mustansir Billah|al-Mustansir]] had allowed Amalfian merchants to reside in [[Jerusalem]] about 1060 in place of the Latin [[hospice]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Balard|first=Michel|editor-first1=Marcus Graham|editor-last1=Bull|editor-last2=Edbury|editor-first2=Peter|editor-last3=Phillips|editor-first3=Jonathan|title=The Experience of Crusading, Volume 2 — Defining the Crusader Kingdom|publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]]|year=2003|isbn=978-0-521-78151-0|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JEN-0A3icQUC&q=amalfi+cairo&pg=PA233|pages=23–35|access-date=2018-09-20|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180913112733/https://books.google.com/books?id=JEN-0A3icQUC&pg=PA233&dq=amalfi+cairo&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiK8aeUqbfdAhVET7wKHY9gDNEQ6AEIOTAD|archive-date=2018-09-13|url-status=live}}</ref>

=== Muslim–Christian rivalry ===
More organized and centralized states gradually began to form in Europe during the later [[Middle Ages]]. Motivated by religion and dreams of conquest, the kings of Europe launched a number of [[Crusades]] to try to roll back Muslim power and retake the [[Holy Land]]. The Crusades were unsuccessful in this goal, but they were far more effective in weakening the already tottering Byzantine Empire that began to lose increasing amounts of territory to the [[Seljuk Turks]] and later to the [[Ottoman Turks]]. They also rearranged the balance of power in the Muslim world as Egypt once again emerged as a major power in the eastern Mediterranean.

The Crusades led to flourishing of trade between Europe and the ''[[outremer]]'' region.<ref>{{cite book|last=Housley|first=Norman|author-link=Norman Housley|title=Contesting the Crusades|publisher=[[Blackwell Publishing]]|year=2006|isbn=978-1-4051-1189-8|pages=152–54}}</ref> Genoa, Venice and [[Republic of Pisa|Pisa]] created colonies in regions controlled by the Crusaders and came to control the trade with the Orient. These colonies also allowed them to trade with the Eastern world. Though the fall of the Crusader states and attempts at banning of trade relations with Muslim states by the Popes temporarily disrupted the trade with the Orient, it however continued.<ref>{{cite book|first=James|last=Brundage|title=Medieval Italy: An Encyclopedia|publisher=Routledge|year=2004|isbn=978-1-135-94880-1|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=E2CTAgAAQBAJ&q=through+all+these+military+triumphs+and+reverses,+italian+merchants+constituted+the+mainstay&pg=PT303|page=273|access-date=2018-09-20|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180913112742/https://books.google.com/books?id=E2CTAgAAQBAJ&pg=PT303&dq=through+all+these+military+triumphs+and+reverses,+italian+merchants+constituted+the+mainstay&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwi8juzbr7fdAhXFgbwKHSGcBMQQ6AEIJjAA|archive-date=2018-09-13|url-status=live}}</ref>

The [[Zirid dynasty|Zirid state]] in eastern Maghreb developed around the great metropolis of [[Kairouan]] collapsed in mid 12th century, with a henceforth fragmented [[Ifriqiya]] becoming a ground for competing external powers from then on.{{Sfn|Baadj|2015|p=1}} The high Middle Ages also saw the successive rise of two Berber powers, the [[Almoravids]] and the [[Almohads]], in the Western Maghreb, fostering the developments of cities such as [[Marrakech]] and [[Fez, Morocco|Fez]] upon their control over [[Trans-Saharan trade]].<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BvTjCQAAQBAJ|pages=1–2|first=Amar S.|last=Baadj|publisher=[[Brill Publishers|Brill]]|location=Leiden|isbn=978-90-04-29620-6|title=Saladin, the Almohads and the Banū Ghāniya: The Contest for North Africa (12th and 13th centuries)|year=2015}}</ref> Cities in southern Iberia such as [[Almería]] (under Almoravid rule) also thrived in the [[High Middle Ages]].<ref>{{Cite book|first=Christine|last=Mazzoli-Guintard|chapter=Almería, ¿ciudad-mundo en los siglos XI y XII?|title=Carolvs, Homenaje a Friedrich Edelmayer|date=May 2016|location=Alcalá la Real|publisher=Ayuntamiento de Alcalá la Real|isbn=978-84-89014-76-3|pages=241–249|chapter-url=https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-02399107/document}}</ref> The 12th century also saw increasing naval and trading progress on the part of Christian powers in the northern shores of the Mediterranean (including Genoa, Pisa, and [[Crown of Aragon|Aragon]]), seemingly offering a challenge to the balance of power in the Western Mediterranean.{{Sfn|Baadj|2015|p=2}}

=== Slavery ===
[[File:Marche aux esclaves d alger gravure.jpg|thumb|250px|[[slavery in Algeria|Slave market]] in [[Algiers]], c. 1684]]
{{further|Saqaliba|History of slavery in the Muslim world|Barbary slave trade|Venetian slave trade|Genoese slave trade}}
Slavery was a strategic and very important part of all Mediterranean societies during the Middle Ages. The threat of becoming a slave was a constant fear for peasants, fishermen and merchants. Those with money or who had financial backing only feared the lack of support, should they be threatened with abduction for ransom.

There were several things which could happen to people in the Mediterranean region of the Middle Ages:
# When [[wikt:corsair|Corsairs]], [[pirate]], [[Barbary corsairs]], [[French corsairs]] or [[commerce raiders]] plied their trade, a peasant, fisherman or coastal villager, who had no financial backing, could be abducted or sold to slave traders, or adversaries, who made large profits on an international market;
# If the captive was wealthy or had influential supporters, the captive could be ransomed. This would be the most advantageous plan, since the money exchange was immediate and direct, not long and drawn out as in the slave market business;
# The captive could be used immediately by the corsair for labour on the ship rather than traded. In battles during this era, prisoners of war were often captured and used as slaves.

Emperors would take large numbers of prisoners, parade them through the capital, hold feasts in honour of their capture and parade diplomats in front of them as a display of victory.<ref name="Europe and the Islamic World: A History ">{{cite book|author1=Tolan, John |author2=Veinstein, Gilles |author3=Henry Laurens |title="Europe and the Islamic World: A History".|date=2013|publisher=[[Princeton University Press]]|isbn=978-0-691-14705-5|pages=67–68}}</ref>

=== Late Middle Ages ===
{{further|Maritime republics|Republic of Genoa|Crown of Aragon|Ottoman Empire}}

[[File:Republik Venedig Handelswege01.png|thumb|250px|[[Republic of Genoa|Genoese]] (red) and [[Republic of Venice|Venetian]] (green) maritime trade routes in the [[Mediterranean]].]]
The "Repubbliche Marinare" ([[Maritime republics]]) of [[Republic of Amalfi|Amalfi]], [[Duchy of Gaeta|Gaeta]], [[Republic of Venice|Venice]], [[Republic of Genoa|Genoa]], [[Republic of Ancona|Ancona]], [[Republic of Pisa|Pisa]] and [[Republic of Ragusa|Ragusa]] developed their own empires in the Mediterranean shores. The Islamic states had never been major naval powers, and trade from the east to Europe was soon in the hands of Italian traders, especially the Genoese and the Venetians, who profited immensely from it. The [[Republic of Pisa]] and later the [[Republic of Ragusa]] used diplomacy to further trade and maintained a libertarian approach in civil matters to further sentiment in its inhabitants.

The [[Republic of Venice]] got to dominate the eastern mediterranean shores after the [[Fourth Crusade]].{{Sfn|Banaji|2007|p=62-63}}

Between 1275 and 1344 a struggle for the control of the [[Strait of Gibraltar]] took place. Featuring the [[Marinid Sultanate]], the [[Nasrid Kingdom of Granada]], the [[Crown of Castile]], the [[Crown of Aragón]], the [[Kingdom of Portugal]] and the [[Republic of Genoa]], it was characterized by changing alliances between the main actors.{{Sfn|López|1996–1997|p=405}} The iberian cities of [[Tarifa]], [[Ceuta]], [[Algeciras]] or [[Ronda]] and the African port of [[Ceuta]] were at stake.{{Sfn|López|1996–1997|p=405}} The Western Mediterranean sea was dominated by the [[Crown of Aragon]]: thanks to their possessions of [[Kingdom of Sicily|Sicily]], the [[Kingdom of Naples]], the [[Kingdom of Sardinia (1324–1720)|Kingdom of Sardinia]], the [[Balearic Islands]], the [[Duchy of Athens]] the [[Duchy of Neopatria]], and several northern African cities.

In 1347 the [[Black Death]] spread from [[Constantinople]] across the mediterranean basin.{{Sfn|Sola|2006|p=46}}

Ottoman power continued to grow, and in 1453, the Byzantine Empire was extinguished with the [[fall of Constantinople]]. The Ottomans already controlled Greece, [[Second Bulgarian Empire|Bulgaria]] and much of the [[Balkans]] and soon also began to spread through North Africa. North Africa had grown wealthy from the trade across the [[Sahara Desert]], but the [[Portugal|Portuguese]], who, along with other Christian powers, had been engaged in a long campaign to evict the Muslims from Iberia, had found a method to circumvent this trade by trading directly with [[West Africa]]. This was enabled by a new type of ships, the [[caravel]], that made trade in the rough Atlantic waters profitable for the first time. The reduction in the Saharan trade weakened North Africa and made them an easy target for the Ottomans.

Ceuta was ultimately taken by the Kingdom of Portugal in 1415, searching to undermine Castilian, Aragonese, and Genoese interests in the area.{{Sfn|Banaji|2007|pp=49; 63–64}}

During the Middle Ages, rival Christian and Muslim kingdoms forbade the trade of particular goods to enemy kingdoms including weaponry and other contraband items. The popes forbade the export of these commodities to the Islamic world. The Ottomans too forbade the export of weapons and other strategic items, declaring them ''memnu eşya'' or ''memnu olan'' to Christian states even in peace treaties, however friendly states could import some of the prohibited goods through [[Capitulations of the Ottoman Empire|capitulations]]. Despite these prohibitions, trade of contraband occurred on both sides. The European merchants traded in illegal goods with Muslims. The Ottomans were unable to suppress the trade with smuggling being undertaken mainly in the winter when the [[Ottoman Navy]] stationed at the [[Imperial Arsenal|Istanbul Arsenal]] was unable to stop Ottoman and non-Ottoman vessels from indulging in the trade.<ref>{{cite book|title=Encyclopedia of the Ottoman Empire|author=Ga ́bor A ́goston |author2=Bruce Alan Masters |page=145|publisher=Infobase Publishing}}</ref>

== Modern era ==
{{further|Ottoman Empire|Portuguese Empire|Spanish Empire|Italian Empire}}

[[File:OttomanEmpireIn1683.png|thumb|250px|[[Ottoman Empire]] territories acquired between 1300 and 1683.]]
[[File:ItalianMareNostrum.jpg|thumb|250px|Greatest extent of Italian control of the Mediterranean littoral and seas (within green line and dots) in summer/fall 1942. Allied-controlled areas in red.]]
The growing naval prowess of the European powers confronted further rapid Ottoman expansion in the region when the [[Battle of Lepanto]] checked the power of the Ottoman navy. However, as [[Braudel]] argued forcefully, this only slowed the Ottoman expansion instead of ending it. The prized island of [[Cyprus]] became Ottoman in 1571. The last resistance in [[Tunisia]] ended in 1574 and almost a generation long siege in [[Crete]] pushed Venetians out of this strategic island in 1669.

A [[balance of power in international relations|balance of power]] was then established between the [[Spanish Empire|Spanish Crown]] and the [[Ottoman Empire]] until the 18th century, each dominating their respective half of Mediterranean, reducing Italian navies as naval powers increasingly more irrelevant. Furthermore, the Ottoman Empire had succeeded in their objective of extending Muslim rule across the North African coast.

The development of long-range seafaring had an influence upon the entire Mediterranean. While once all trade from the east had passed through the region, the [[Portuguese discoveries|circumnavigation of Africa]] allowed [[gold]], [[spice]]s, and [[dye]]s to be imported directly to the Atlantic ports of western Europe. The Americas were also a source of extreme wealth to the western powers, from which some of the Mediterranean states were largely cut off.

The base of European power thus shifted northward and the once wealthy [[Italy]] became a peripheral area dominated by foreigners. The Ottoman Empire also began a slow decline that saw its North African possessions gain de facto independence and its European holdings gradually reduced by the territorial gains of Austria and the Russian Empire. In the wake of the aftermath of the 1768–1774 [[Russo-Turkish War (1768–1774)|Russo-Turkish War]], the Russian empire gained direct access to the Black Sea.<ref>{{Cite journal|url=https://www.csis.org/analysis/geostrategic-importance-black-sea-region-brief-history|website=CSIC|title=The Geostrategic Importance of the Black Sea Region: A Brief History|first=Boris|last=Toucas|date=2 February 2017}}</ref>
{{See also|French conquest of Algeria}}
By the nineteenth century the European States were vastly more powerful, and began to colonize North Africa. France spread its power south by starting their conquest of the [[Regency of Algiers]] in 1830 and later gaining control over the [[Beylik of Tunis]]. Following the British capture of Gibraltar (1713), Malta (1814) and Cyprus (1878), the British Empire occupied Egypt as a result of the 1882 [[Anglo-Egyptian War]]. The [[Suez Canal]] was opened during this period, with far-reaching consequences for trade between Asia, East Africa and Europe. The Mediterranean countries were preferred because of the shorter route, and port cities such as [[Trieste]] with their direct, fast access to Central and Northern Europe were booming.<ref>Mary Pelletier "A brief history of the Suez Canal" In: Apollo 3.7.2018; Hans Reis "Der Suezkanal – die wichtigste von Menschen geschaffene Wasserstrasse wurde vor 150 Jahren gebaut und war oft umkämpft" In: Neue Zürcher Zeitung 17.11.2019.</ref> [[Kingdom of Italy|Italy]] conquered [[Libya]] from the Ottomans in 1911. Greece [[Greek War of Independence|achieved independence in 1832]]. The Ottoman Empire finally collapsed in the [[First World War]], and its holdings were carved up among France and Britain. The [[rump state]] of the wider Ottoman Empire became the independent state of [[Turkey]] in 1923. Yugoslavia was created from the former Austro-Hungarian empire at the end of the First World War.

During the first half of the twentieth century the Mediterranean was at the center of the expansion of the [[Kingdom of Italy]], and was one of the main areas of battle during [[World War II]] between the [[Axis powers of World War II|Axis]] and the [[Allies of World War II|Allies]]. Post-world war period was marked by increasing activity in the Eastern Mediterranean, where naval actions formed part of ongoing Arab–Israeli conflict and Turkey had [[Turkish invasion of Cyprus|occupied the northern part of Cyprus]]. Cold War tensions split the Mediterranean into pro-American and pro-Soviet factions, with Turkey, Greece, Spain, Italy and France being [[NATO]] members. Syria was socialist and a pro-Soviet regime, offering the Soviets [[Tartus|a port for their navy]] from an agreement in 1971. Yugoslavia was Communist but in neither the Soviet nor American camps. Egypt tilted towards the Soviets during the time of [[Nasser]] but then turned towards American influence during the time of [[Anwar Sadat|Sadat]]. Israel and Egypt both received massive American military aid. American naval power made the Mediterranean a base for the [[United States Sixth Fleet]] during the Cold war.

Today, the Mediterranean Sea is the southern border of the [[European Union]] and represents one of the largest area by Trade in the World. The Maltese prime minister described the Mediterranean sea as a "cemetery" due to the large amounts of migrants who drown there.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.aljazeera.com/news/europe/2013/10/migrant-deaths-prompt-calls-eu-action-2013101361646517233.html|title=Migrant deaths prompt calls for EU action|publisher=Al Jazeera|date=13 October 2013|access-date=27 October 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180801061324/https://www.aljazeera.com/news/europe/2013/10/migrant-deaths-prompt-calls-eu-action-2013101361646517233.html|archive-date=1 August 2018|url-status=live|df=dmy-all}}</ref> Following the [[2013 Lampedusa migrant shipwreck]], the Italian government, has decided to strengthen the national system for the patrolling of the Mediterranean Sea by authorizing [[Operation Mare Nostrum]], a military and humanitarian operation in order to rescue the migrants and arrest the traffickers of immigrants.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.eurasia-rivista.org/loperazione-mare-nostrum/20335/ |title=L'OPERAZIONE MARE NOSTRUM &#124; eurasia-rivista.org |access-date=2014-08-01  |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140718050114/http://www.eurasia-rivista.org/loperazione-mare-nostrum/20335/ |archive-date=2014-07-18 }}</ref>

== See also ==
* [[Eastern Mediterranean]]
* [[History of Anatolia]]
* [[History of Europe]]
* [[History of the Middle East]]
* [[History of North Africa]]
* [[History of the Levant]]
* [[History of Western civilization]]
* [[Life zones of the Mediterranean region]]
* [[Mediterranean Basin]]
* [[Union for the Mediterranean]]

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

== Bibliography ==
* {{Cite journal|journal=[[Historical Materialism (journal)|Historical Materialism]]|volume=15|year=2007|pages=47–74|title=Islam, the Mediterranean and the Rise of Capitalism|first=Jairus|last=Banaji|url=http://eprints.soas.ac.uk/15983/1/Islam%20and%20capitalism.pdf|location=Leiden|publisher=[[Koninklijke Brill]]|doi=10.1163/156920607X171591|issn=1465-4466}}
* {{Cite journal|title=De nuevo sobre la "guerra del Estrecho" la contribución financiera del reino de Valencia en la última fase del conflicto (1332–1344)|first=María Dolores|last=López|journal=Anales de la Universidad de Alicante. Historia medieval|issn=0212-2480|issue=11|year=1996–1997|pages=405–416|url=https://rua.ua.es/dspace/bitstream/10045/6840/1/HM_11_23.pdf|publisher=[[University of Alicante]]|location=Alicante}}
* {{Cite book|chapter=The Mediterranean, dynamic centre of the 14th century|first=Emilio|last=Sola|pages=40–49|title=Ibn Khaldun: The Mediterranean in the 14th Century: Rise and Fall of Empires|editor=María Jesús Viguera Molins (Coord.)|year=2006|isbn=84-96556-34-4|publisher=Foundation José Manuel Lara}}

== Further reading ==

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* {{cite book |last=Abulafia |first=David |author-link=David Abulafia |year=2011 |title=The Great Sea: A Human History of the Mediterranean |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |isbn=978-0-19-532334-4 |ref=none}}
* Bohlman, Philip V.; Keller, Marcello Sorce; Azzaroni, Loris (eds.), ''Musical Anthropology of the Mediterranean: Interpretation, Performance, Identity'', Bologna, Edizioni Clueb – Cooperativa Libraria Universitaria Editrice, 2009.
* [[Fernand Braudel|Braudel, Fernand]]. ''The Mediterranean in the Age of Philip II''. 2 vol 1972, the classic history by the leader of the French [[Annales School]]
* {{cite book |last=Broodbank |first=Cyprian |author-link=Cyprian Broodbank |title=The Making of the Middle Sea: A History of the Mediterranean from the Beginning to the Emergence of the Classical World |date=2013 |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |isbn=978-0-19-999978-1 |ref=none}}
* Burke, III, Edmund. "Toward a Comparative History of the Modern Mediterranean, 1750–1919," ''Journal of World History'' (2012) 23:4.pp.&nbsp;907–939. DOI: 10.1353/jwh.2012.0133
* Chambers, Iain. ''Mediterranean Crossings: The Politics of an Interrupted Modernity'' (Duke University Press, 2008).
<!--FGHIJK-->
* Horden, Peregrine and Nicholas Purcell. ''The Corrupting Sea: A Study of Mediterranean History''. Malden, MA: Blackwell, 2000.
* Horden, Peregrine and Purcell, Nicholas. "The Mediterranean and 'the New Thalassology'" ''American Historical Review'' (2006) 111#3 pp 722–740 [https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1086/ahr.111.3.722 online]
<!--MNOPQ-->
* Marino, John A. (2003) "The Exile and His Kingdom—The Reception of Braudel's Mediterranean," ''Sixteenth Century Journal'' 34:4.
<!--RSTUVW-->
* [[Barnaby Rogerson|Rogerson, Barnaby]]. ''The Last Crusaders: The Hundred-Year Battle for the Center of the World'' (Overlook Press; 2010) 482 pages. Traces power struggles in the Mediterranean between 1450 and 1590.
* [[Jean-Pierre Thiollet|Thiollet, Jean-Pierre]]. ''Je m'appelle Byblos''.
* Schlicht, Alfred, "Die Araber und Europa" Stuttgart 2008 ([[Kohlhammer Verlag]])
* Sorce Keller, Marcello. "Mediterranean", Janet Sturman (ed.) ''The SAGE Encyclopedia of Music and Culture''. Los Angeles: SAGE Reference, 2019, Vol. III, 618–623.
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== External links ==
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20080417092230/http://tam.arbolingo.com/timeline/ Ancient Mediterranean Civilizations Timeline (10000 BC – 700 AD)]
* [http://www.ancientopedia.com/ ''Ancient Mediterranean History Encyclopedia'']
* [http://www.historyworld.net/wrldhis/PlainTextHistories.asp?historyid=ab44 History of the Mediterranean] at historyworld.net

{{History of Europe}}

[[Category:History of the Mediterranean| ]]
[[Category:History of Africa|Mediterranean]]
[[Category:History of Europe|Mediterranean]]
[[Category:History of West Asia by region|Mediterranean]]
[[Category:Mediterranean]]