 History
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. |
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