Mediterranean Basin

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Mediterranean Region
)
"Mediterranean Region" redirects here. For other uses, see Mediterranean Region (disambiguation).
Not to be confused with the drainage basin of the Mediterranean Sea.
Physical and political map of the Mediterranean Basin

In biogeography, the Mediterranean Basin (/ˌmɛdɪtəˈreɪniən/ MED-ih-tə-RAY-nee-ən), also known as the Mediterranean Region or sometimes Mediterranea, is the region of lands around the Mediterranean Sea that have mostly a Mediterranean climate, with mild to cool, rainy winters and warm to hot, dry summers, which supports characteristic Mediterranean forests, woodlands, and scrub vegetation. It was a very important part of Mediterranean civilizations.

Geography

Semi-arid climate       Humid subtropical climate
  Subarctic climate       Humid continental climate
  Tundra

The Mediterranean Basin covers portions of three continents: Europe, Africa, and Asia. It is distinct from the drainage basin, which extends much further south and north due to major rivers ending in the Mediterranean Sea, such as the Nile and Rhône. Conversely, the Mediterranean Basin includes regions not in the drainage basin.[1]

It has a varied and contrasting topography. The Mediterranean Region offers an ever-changing landscape of high mountains, rocky shores, impenetrable scrub, semi-arid steppes, coastal wetlands, sandy beaches and a myriad of islands of various shapes and sizes dotted amidst the clear blue sea. Contrary to the classic sandy beach images portrayed in most tourist brochures, the Mediterranean is surprisingly hilly. Mountains can be seen from almost anywhere.[2]

By definition, the Mediterranean Basin extends from Macaronesia in the west, to the Levant in the east, although some places may or may not be included depending on the view, as is the case with Macaronesia: some definitions only include Madeira and the Canary Islands[3] while others include the whole Macaronesia (with the Azores and Cape Verde).[4]

In Western Asia, it covers the western and southern portions of the peninsula of Anatolia, as far as Iraq,[5] but excluding the temperate-climate mountains of central Turkey. It includes the Mediterranean Levant at the eastern end of the Mediterranean, bounded on the east and south by the Syrian and Negev deserts.

The northern portion of the

Sahara Desert, which extends across North Africa, by the Atlas Mountains. In the eastern Mediterranean the Sahara extends to the southern shore of the Mediterranean, with the exception of the northern fringe of the peninsula of Cyrenaica in Libya
, which has a dry Mediterranean climate.

Europe lies to the north of the Mediterranean. The European portion of the Mediterranean Basin loosely corresponds to

Adriatic, and the Balkan and Rila-Rhodope mountains of the Balkan Peninsula divide the Mediterranean from the temperate climate regions of Western, Northwestern or Northern Europe, Central Europe, and Eastern Europe
.

Geology and paleoclimatology

The Mediterranean Basin was shaped by the ancient collision of the northward-moving African–Arabian continent with the stable Eurasian continent. As Africa–Arabia moved north, it closed the former

mya)) and Miocene
(23 to 5.3 mya) epochs. The Neotethys became larger during these collisions and associated folding and subduction.

About 6 mya during the late Miocene, the Mediterranean was closed at its western end by drifting Africa, which caused the entire sea to evaporate. There followed several (debated) episodes of sea drawdown and re-flooding known as the

geodynamic point of view.[9][10]

The end of the Miocene also marked a change in the Mediterranean Basin's climate. Fossil evidence shows that the Mediterranean Basin had a relatively humid subtropical climate with summer rainfall during the Miocene, which supported

sclerophyllous
trees and shrubs, with small, hard, waxy leaves that prevent moisture loss in the dry summers. Much of these forests and shrublands have been altered beyond recognition by thousands of years of human habitation. There are now very few relatively intact natural areas in what was once a heavily wooded region.

Flora and fauna

See also: Category:Environment of the Mediterranean

Macaronesian floristic regions
.

The Mediterranean Region was first proposed by German botanist August Grisebach in the late 19th century.

The

Drosophyllaceae, recently segregated from Droseraceae, is the only plant family endemic to the region. Among the endemic plant genera are:[dubious – discuss
]

The genera

East Mediterranean, South Mediterranean and Crimeo-Novorossiysk.[11]

The Mediterranean Basin is the largest of the world's five Mediterranean forests, woodlands, and scrub regions. It is home to a number of plant communities, which vary with rainfall, elevation, latitude, and soil.

  • Hebrew
    .
  • macchia in Italian, maquis in French, and "matorral" in Spanish. In some places, shrublands are the mature vegetation type, and in other places the result of the degradation of former forest or woodland by logging or overgrazing
    , or disturbance by major fires.
  • grasses
    .
  • Woodlands are usually dominated by oak and pine, mixed with other sclerophyll and coniferous trees.
  • riparian
    zones along rivers and streams where they receive summer water. Mediterranean forests are generally composed of evergreen trees, predominantly oak and pine. At higher elevations Mediterranean forests transition to mixed broadleaf and tall conifer forests similar to temperate zone forests.

The Mediterranean Basin is home to considerable

endemic vascular plant species. Conservation International designates the region as a biodiversity hotspot
, because of its rich biodiversity and its threatened status. The Mediterranean Basin has an area of 2,085,292 km2, of which only 98,009 km2 remains undisturbed.

Endangered mammals of the Mediterranean Basin include the Mediterranean monk seal, the Barbary macaque, and the Iberian lynx.

Ecoregions

The WWF identifies 22 Mediterranean forests, woodlands, and scrub ecoregions in the Mediterranean Basin, most of which featuring sclerophyll plant species:

Map of the Mediterranean Basin's ecoregions. 1201: Aegean and Western Turkey sclerophyllous and mixed forests. 1202: Anatolian conifer and deciduous mixed forests. 1203: Canary Islands dry woodlands and forests. 1204: Corsican montane broadleaf and mixed forests. 1205: Crete Mediterranean forests. 1206: Cyprus Mediterranean forests. 1207: Eastern Mediterranean conifer-sclerophyllous-broadleaf forests. 1208: Iberian conifer forests. 1209: Iberian sclerophyllous and semi-deciduous forests. 1210: Illyrian deciduous forests. 1211: Italian sclerophyllous and semi-deciduous forests. 1212: Mediterranean acacia-argania dry woodlands and succulent thickets. 1213: Mediterranean dry woodlands and steppe. 1214: Mediterranean woodlands and forests. 1215: Northeastern Spain and Southern France Mediterranean forests. 1216: Northwest Iberian montane forests. 1217: Pindus Mountains mixed forests. 1218: South Apeninne mixed montane forests. 1219: Southeastern Iberian shrubs and woodlands. 1220: Southern Anatolian montane conifer and deciduous forests. 1221: Southwest Iberian Mediterranean sclerophyllous and mixed forests. 1222: Tyrrhenian-Adriatic sclerophyllous and mixed forests.

History

Main article: History of the Mediterranean region

Neanderthals inhabited western Asia and the non-glaciated portions of Europe starting about 230,000 years ago. Modern humans moved into western Asia from Africa less than 100,000 years ago. Modern humans, known as Cro-Magnons, moved into Europe approximately 50–40,000 years ago.

The most recent glacial period, the Wisconsin glaciation, reached its maximum extent approximately 21,000 years ago, and ended approximately 12,000 years ago. A warm period, known as the Holocene climatic optimum, followed the ice age.

Food crops, including

7th millennium BCE. Poppy and oats were domesticated in Europe from the 6th to the 3rd millennium BCE. Agricultural settlements spread around the Mediterranean Basin. Megaliths
were constructed in Europe from 4500 – 1500 BCE.

A strengthening of the summer

4th millennium BCE
.

Historiography

One of the earliest modern studies of the Mediterranean was

S.D. Goitein's multivolume study of the Cairo Geniza documents was another important contribution in the area of Mediterranean Jewish culture.[12]

Agriculture

Further information: Mediterranean cuisine

Figs are another important fruit tree, and citrus, especially lemons, are grown where irrigation is present. Grapes are an important vine crop, grown for fruit and to make wine. Rice
and summer vegetables are grown in irrigated areas.

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Mediterranean.

References

  1. ^ Portugal, Jordan and Iraq
  2. ISBN 978-92-79-11587-5. Archived
    (PDF) from the original on September 19, 2017. Retrieved August 6, 2015.
  3. ISBN 978-2-8317-0912-3. Archived
    from the original on 26 May 2023. Retrieved 29 November 2020.
  4. CEPF. Archived
    from the original on 24 June 2022. Retrieved 29 November 2020.
  5. ISBN 978-0-19-107874-3
    . the Eastern Mediterranean conifer-sclerophyllous-broadleaf forest ecoregion, which extends slightly into Iraq
  6. hdl:1874/1632. Archived
    from the original on 2024-01-01. Retrieved 2019-04-05.
  7. doi:10.1029/2007GL029885
    .
  8. S2CID 129573384. Archived
    (PDF) from the original on 2021-05-07. Retrieved 2021-05-06.
  9. ISSN 0091-7613
    .
  10. S2CID 205227033. Archived
    from the original on 2012-11-10. Retrieved 2011-12-15 – via sites.google.com.
  11. ^ Тахтаджян, А. Л. "Флористические деления суши и океана". Древнесредиземноморское подцарство (in Russian). Archived from the original on 2008-06-16. Retrieved 26 January 2019.
  12. ^ Wacks, David A. (2019). Medieval Iberian Crusade Fiction and the Mediterranean World. University of Toronto Press. p. 4.

Further reading


External links
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