Agrupamento de Escolas Dr. Ferreira da Silva - PORTUGAL
The Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea stretches from the Atlantic Ocean, in the West, to Asia, on the East, and it separates Europe from Northern Africa. It has a length of 3700 km and it comprises an area of 2 966 000 km2. It is linked by the Strait of Gibraltar, which separates Spain from Morocco, to the Atlantic Ocean. It is also connected to the Red Sea and to the Indian Ocean through the Suez Canal, as well as to the Black Sea, in the Northeast, through the Dardanelles, the Marmara Sea and the Bosphorus. It includes many minor seas: the Balearic, the Tyrrhenian, the Ionian, the Adriatic, the Aegean, the Marmara and the Black Sea. Extensive and numerous, the islands include the Balearic, Corsica, Sardinia, Sicily, the Ionian, Crete, the Cyclades, Rhodes and Cyprus.
Countries bordering the Mediterranean Spain, France, Monaco, Italy, Malta, Slovenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Croรกcia, Montenegro, Greece, Albania, Turkey, Cyprus, Syria, Israel, Lebanon Palestine, Libia, Egypt, Tunisia, Israel, Algeria and Morocco.
The Mediterranean Climate The Mediterranean climate is temperate with fairly significant precipitation in winter and autumn in contrast with the summer season, when temperatures are often higher (around 20ยบC) and the weather is drier. In summer, the heat causes a major evaporation of the marine waters. Depending on the season of the year, dry and hot winds from the African desert dominate (sirocco) as well as the cold winds from the Northeast (bora and mistral).
Agrupamento de Escolas Dr. Ferreira da Silva - PORTUGAL
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The Mediterranean agriculture Agriculture in Mediterranean areas is facing serious risks as a result of the unpredictable weather conditions. Soil erosion and desertification are increasing. Soft soils are very typical and their capacity of retaining water is not enough to keep agricultural productivity. For agricultural holdings located in this region, the agro-environmental measures increase the expected total income. The adoption of these measures has a very strong impact in the production income.
The importance of the Mediterranean Sea The Phoenicians The Phoenician culture had a great impact on the Mediterranean basin’s cultures at the beginning of the Iron Age. The Phoenician mythology seems to be associated to the Greek mythology. The Phoenician temples dedicated to Melqart in many Mediterranean ports became known, during the classical period of Greek history, as sacred to Heracles. Stories such as the rape of Europa and the arrival of Cadmus also show Phoenician influences.
The Mediterranean Economic recovery, after its collapse by the end of the Bronze Age, seems to be the result of the effort made by Phoenician merchant princes, who reestablished the long distance trading, like the one between Egypt and Mesopotamia during the 10th century B.C. The Ionian revolution, at least in the legendary history, led by philosophers like Thales of Miletos and Pitagoras, both children of Phoenician parents. Phoenician motifs are also present in the oriental style period of Greek art and played a formative role in the Etruscan civilization, in the Tuscany region, in the Italian peninsula.
Agrupamento de Escolas Dr. Ferreira da Silva - PORTUGAL
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There are many countries and cities in the world whose names derive from the Phoenician language, such as Altiburius, city in Algeria, Southeast from Carthage, form the Phoenician “Iltabrush”; Bosa, in Sardinia, from the Phoenician “Bis’en”; Cadiz, in Spain, from the Phoenician “Gadir”; Dhali (Idalion), in the centre of Cyprus, from the Phoenician “Idyal”; Erice, in Sicily, from the Phoenician “Eryx”; Malta, from the Phoenician “Malat” (refuge); Marion, city in western Cyprus, from the Phoenician “Aymar”; Oed Dekri, in Algeria, from the Phoenician “Idiqra”; and Spain, form the Phoenician “I-Shaphan” (Land of the Hiraces) and later Latinized to Hispania.
The Byzantines The Byzantine Empire came as the continuation of the Roman Empire during the late Antiquity and the Middle Ages. Its capital city was Constantinople (modern Istanbul), originally known as Byzantium. Between 324 and 330 A. D., Constantine transferred the main capital from Rome to Byzantium, later known as Constantinople (City of Constantine) and New Rome. Christianity became the official religion of the empire. At first, the eastern part of the Roman Empire (commonly named as the Western Roman Empire in the East) survived the fragmentation and collapse of the Roman Empire in the West (5th century) and kept on flourishing, continuing to exist for more than a thousand years until its fall in face of the Ottoman Turks’ expansion in 1453. The 6 th century is marked by the byzantine presence in the Mediterranean, disseminating its culture, art and technique strongly marked by Eastern and Hellenic influences, therefore forming a civilizational unit.
The Byzantine Empire dominated almost all its southern and eastern parts, basically controlling the trading routes in the East and North of Africa, the coast of the Iberian and the Italian peninsulas, forming a siege and infiltration in the Ostrogoth kingdom. The most important ports in the Mediterranean are Byzantine, with the exception of the ones in Barcelona, Marseille, Genoa and Pisa.
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The Romans Around the “Mare Nostrum”, as the Romans used to call the Mediterranean Sea, the western civilization developed. The mild climate, the rugged coastline offering abundance of ports and of geographical position – between Europe, Africa and Asia – made commercial and cultural trading among coastal people easy for centuries.
In the two centuries previous to the Christian era, Rome imposed itself to the Greek and Carthaginian civilizations and managed to unify the Mediterranean in political terms. Christianity extended itself around the whole empire and was also assimilated by the barbarian tribes who, from the 5th century, entered Western Europe. The Muslims later conquered the south of the Mediterranean, fact that didn’t stop a prosperous and flourishing trade. As a result, many coastal cities such as Valencia, Barcelona, Marseille, Nice, Genoa, Naples, Venice, Alexandria, Tripoli, Tunis, and Algiers developed.
The Egyptians The country is well known for its ancient civilization and for some of the most famous monuments in the world, such as the pyramids in Giza and the Great Sphinx. In the south, the city of Luxor holds many ancient sites like the temple of Karnak and the Valley of the Kings. Egypt is regarded by many as a political and cultural important country in the Middle East and Northern Africa.
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The Greeks The Greek (or Hellenic) lived in the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula and its civilization developed from the mixture of several populations that had settled there in the last 8000 years. Nevertheless, the oldest cultural features that can be called “Greek� only appeared after the year 2000 B.C. Ancient Greece embraced the peoples who inhabited the Aegean basin and the surrounding islands and it lasted from the birth of the Minoan civilization in the Bronze Age until it was taken by the Romans in 146 B.C. From 500 B.C. the Greek culture influenced the Mediterranean world in such a way that it ended up forming one of the most solid grounds of the whole Western Civilization. The ancient Greeks formed the first long lasting civilization in Europe, which was the basis of the western culture in later times. They gave important contribution in the art, literature, philosophy and science areas, despite never achieving the political unification. The most important social experiences took place in Greece, cradle of famous philosophers, wise men and writers.
Agrupamento de Escolas Dr. Ferreira da Silva - PORTUGAL
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