THE MEDITERRANEAN REGION
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The Mediterranean Sea is bordered by three continents and 21 countries:  Gibraltar, Spain, France, Montecarlo, Italy, Slovenia, Croatia, Yugoslavia, Albania, Greece, Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, Israel, Egypt, Libya, Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco and the island-States of Malta and of Cyprus, each with its own language, culture and history.

There are six large islands: Majorca, Corsica, Sardinia, Sicily, Crete and Cyprus, plus a total of around 3300 smaller islands: Spain 8, Italy 60, Croatia 1185 and Greece 2000.  Famous cites on the Mediterranean Sea include Rome, Venice, Constantinople (Istanbul), Carthage, Cairo and Athens.  The Mediterranean was in fact
the birth-place of Modern Man and of Western Culture.

Being a closed sea, the Mediterranean does not have the length of fetch of the oceans, which can whip up monstrous seas in a storm. There are no hurricanes or tornadoes either in the Mediterranean to worry sailors and the many islands will often provide shelter in their lee side from any uncomfortably disturbed sea. What’s more, there are no sharks or poisonous fish to haunt swimmers, which you will find in most other tropical waters.

Some of the most ancient civilizations (see Aegean civilization) flourished around the Mediterranean. It was opened as a highway for commerce by merchants trading from Phoenicia. Carthage, Greece, Sicily, and Rome were rivals for dominance of its shores and trade; under the Roman Empire it became virtually a Roman lake and was called Mare Nostrum [our sea]. Later, the Byzantine Empire and the Arabs dominated the Mediterranean. Between the 11th and 14th cent., Italian city trading states such as Genoa, Venice, and Barcelona dominated the region; they struggled with the Ottomans for naval supremacy, particularly in the E Mediterranean. Products of Asia passed to Europe over Mediterranean trade routes until the establishment of a route around the Cape of Good Hope (late 15th cent.).

With the opening of the Suez Canal (1869) the Mediterranean resumed its importance as a link on the route to the East. The development of the northern regions of Africa and of oil fields in the Middle East has increased its trade. Its importance as a trade link and as a route for attacks on Europe resulted in European rivalry for control of its coasts and islands and led to campaigns in the region during both world wars. Since World War II the Mediterranean region has been of strategic importance to both the United States and, until its dissolution, the Soviet Union. In 1995 countries bordering the Mediterranean signed a pact agreeing to protect it by eliminating toxic waste disposal there over a 10-year period.

The Mediterranean Sea is an intercontinental sea situated between Europe to the north, Africa to the south, and Asia to the east. It covers an area, including the Sea of Marmara but excluding the Black Sea, of about 970,000 square miles (2,512,000 square km). 

To the west the Mediterranean Sea is connected to the Atlantic Ocean by the Strait of Gibraltar, which at its narrowest point is only 8 miles (13 km) wide and has a relatively shallow channel. To the northeast the Dardanelles, the Sea of Marmara, and the strait of the Bosporus link the Mediterranean Sea to the Black Sea. The Suez Canal connects it with the Red Sea to the southeast. The Mediterranean's greatest recorded depth is in the Ionian Basin south of Greece at 16,800 feet (5,121 m) below sea level. 

A submarine ridge between the island of Sicily and the African coast divides the Mediterranean Sea into eastern and western parts. The western Mediterranean has three submarine basins separated from each other by submerged ridges, including from west to east, the Alborán, the Algerian, and the Tyrrhenian basins. The Ionian Basin (northwest of which is the Adriatic Sea) and the Levantine Basin (northwest of which is the Aegean Sea) compose the eastern part of the Mediterranean Sea. Majorca, Corsica, Sardinia, Sicily, Crete, Cyprus, and Rhodes are the largest islands in the Mediterranean. 

The Mediterranean once was thought to be a remnant of the Tethys Sea, which formerly girdled the Eastern Hemisphere; it is now known to be a structurally younger basin. The sea's continental shelves are relatively narrow. The widest shelf, off the Gulf of Gabes (Qabis) on the eastern coast of Tunisia, extends 170 miles (275 km); the bed of the Adriatic Sea is also mostly continental shelf. The floor of the Mediterranean consists of sediments made up of lime, clay, and sand, under which is blue mud. The sea's coasts are generally steep, rocky, and deeply indented. The Rhône, Po, and Nile rivers have formed the only large deltas in the Mediterranean Sea. The continuous inflow of surface water from the Atlantic Ocean is the sea's major source of replenishment. The most constant component of circulation in the Mediterranean Sea is the current formed by this inflow from the Strait of Gibraltar along the north coast of Africa. The whole Mediterranean basin is tectonically active, and earthquakes are common. 

The climate is characterized by mild, wet winters and hot, dry summers. The air flow into the Mediterranean is through gaps in the mountain ranges, except over its southern shores east of Tunisia. Much of North Africa rarely receives more than 10 inches (250 mm) of rainfall annually, whereas on the rugged Dalmatian coast of Croatia, some areas receive 100 inches (2,500 mm). 

The low concentration of phosphates and nitrates, necessary for marine pastures, limits the quantity of marine life in the Mediterranean. Small-scale fishing operations predominate, with the most important species including hake, flounder, sole, turbot, sardine, anchovy, bluefin tuna, bonito, and mackerel; shellfish, corals, sponges, and seaweed are also harvested. Overexploitation of the sea's marine resources remains a serious problem. 

Petroleum deposits have been found off Spain, Sicily, Libya, and Tunisia, and natural gas has been discovered in the Adriatic Sea. Specialty crops of the region include olives, citrus fruits, grapes, and cork. Tourism is a major source of income for many of the countries bordering the Mediterranean.