History of the Mediterranean region

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Bacino del Mediterraneo, dall'Atlante manoscritto del 1582–1584 ca. 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

Western Asia, North Africa, and Southern Europe
.

Early history

Main article: Ancient Near East
Further information: Fertile Crescent, Cradle of civilization, Mesopotamia, Ancient Egypt, and History of the ancient Levant
The Fertile Crescent in the 2nd millennium BC.

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 Crete in 130,000 years BC,[4][5] which indicates that early humans were capable of using boats to reach the island.

The cultural stage of

Egypt and in 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 (walled) stone settlement (prehistoric city).[6][7][8][9] The first gold artifacts in the world appear from the 5th millennium BC, such as those found in a burial site from 4569–4340 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.[10]

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.[11]

The

Minoans
are trading throughout much of the Mediterranean.

The

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

Amarna tablets
.

The Phoenicians and the Assyrians transported elements of the Late Bronze Age culture of the Near East to Iron Age

Classical Antiquity
. They notably spread
cuneiform writing of Assyria and the logographic system in the Far East (and later the abugida
systems of India).

Classical antiquity

Greek territories and colonies during the Archaic period (750–550 BC)

Two of the most notable Mediterranean civilizations in

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 information: 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

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 information:
Hellenistic civilization, Ancient Carthage, and Roman Republic
The Mediterranean region in 220 BC.

In the northernmost part of ancient Greece, in the ancient kingdom of

cavalry warfare. The hetairoi (Companion cavalry) was considered the strongest of their time.[19] 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.

Roman–Carthaginian rivalry

See also: Punic Wars, Roman Republic, Ancient Carthage, and 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 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

The Mare nostrum, surrounded by Roman territory in c. 400 AD.
Further information: Mare Nostrum and Roman Empire

When

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, however, in the fifth century and Rome collapsed after 476 AD.

Sasanian and Byzantine times

Main articles: Sasanian Empire and Byzantine Empire

The Eastern Roman or

wars with neighbouring Sassanid Persia. The rule through the 6th century AD saw climatic instability, causing inconsistent production, distribution, and a general economic decline.[20] 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.[21]

Middle Ages

Further information: Islamic Golden Age, Early Muslim conquests, Caliphate, Byzantine Empire, Republic of Venice, and First Bulgarian Empire
Umayyad
Caliphate, 661–750

Another power was rising in the east, that of

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 Venice and Constantinople by sailors and Jewish merchants. The 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 Spain and the Mediterranean. The 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.[22]

The powerful and long-lived Bulgarian Empire was the main European rival in the region of the Mediterranean

political, linguistic and religious legacy during the Middle Ages
.

In

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.

Map of the main Byzantine-Muslim naval operations and battles in the Mediterranean, 7th to 11th centuries

The

al-Mustansir had allowed Amalfian merchants to reside in Jerusalem about 1060 in place of the Latin hospice.[24]

More organized and centralized states gradually began to form in Europe during the later

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.[25] Genoa, Venice and 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.[26]

The

Marrakech and Fez upon their control over Trans-Saharan trade.[28] Cities in southern Iberia such as Almería (under Almoravid rule) also thrived in the high middle ages.[29] 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 Aragon), seemingly offering a challenge to the balance of power in the Western Mediterranean.[30]

Slavery

Slave market in Algiers, c. 1684

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:

  1. When
    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;
  2. 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;
  3. 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.[31]

Late Middle Ages

Further information: Maritime republics, Republic of Genoa, Crown of Aragon, and Ottoman Empire
Genoese (red) and Venetian (green) maritime trade routes in the Mediterranean.

The "Repubbliche Marinare" (

Amalfi, Gaeta, Venice, Genoa, Ancona, Pisa and 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.[32]

Between 1275 and 1344 a struggle for the control of the

Duchy of Neopatria
, and several northern African cities.

In 1347 the Black Death spread from Constantinople across the mediterranean basin.[34]

Ottoman power continued to grow, and in 1453, the Byzantine Empire was extinguished with the

Sahara Desert, but the 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.[35]

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. 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 Istanbul Arsenal was unable to stop Ottoman and non-Ottoman vessels from indulging in the trade.[36]

Modern era

Further information: Ottoman Empire, Portuguese Empire, Spanish Empire, and Italian Empire
Ottoman Empire territories acquired between 1300 and 1683.
Greatest extent of Italian control of the Mediterranean littoral and seas (within green line & 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

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 was then established between the 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

circumnavigation of Africa allowed gold, spices, and dyes
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, the Russian empire gained direct access to the Black Sea.[37]

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.[38] Italy conquered Libya from the Ottomans in 1911. Greece 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

Nasser but then turned towards American influence during the time of 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.[39] 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.[40]

See also

References

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Bibliography

Further reading

External links

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