Mediterranean

The Mediterranean is a sea of the Atlantic Ocean surrounded by the Mediterranean region and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Europe, on the south by Africa, and on the east by Asia. It covers an approximate area of 2.5 million km? , but its connection to the Atlantic is only 14 km wide. In oceanography, it is sometimes called the Eurafrican Mediterranean Sea or the European Mediterranean Sea to distinguish it from mediterranean seas elsewhere.

It was an important route for merchants and travelers of ancient times, allowing for trade and cultural exchange between emergent peoples of the region — the Mesopotamian, Egyptian, Phoenician, Carthaginian, Greek, Levantine, Roman and Moorish cultures. The history of the Mediterranean region is crucial to understanding the origins and development of many modern societies.

Composite satellite image of the Mediterranean Sea. Look up Mediterranean Sea in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. Name

The term Mediterranean derives from the Latin word mediterraneus, meaning "in the middle of earth" . This is either due to the sea being surrounded by land or that it was at the centre of the known world.

The Mediterranean Sea has been known by a number of alternative names throughout human history. For example the Romans commonly called it Mare Nostrum . Occasionally it was known as Mare Internum by . Other examples of alternate names include Mesogeios , meaning "inland, interior" in Greek.

Biblically, it has been called the "Hinder Sea", due to its location on the west coast of the Holy Land, and therefore behind a person facing the east, as referenced in the Old Testament, and sometimes translated as "Western Sea", , and also the "Sea of the Philistines" , due to the peoples occupying a large portion of its shores near the Israelites. However, primarily it was known as the "Great Sea" , or simply "The Sea" .

In Modern Hebrew, it has been called Hayam Hatikhon , "the middle sea", a literal adaptation of the German equivalent Mittelmeer