Mediterranean

The Mediterranean is a vast sea positioned between Europe to the north, Africa to the south, and Asia to the east. It covers an area of approximately 2.54 million square kilometers; at its longest it is 3,800 kilometers, and at its widest it is 800 kilometers. To the west it is connected to the Atlantic Ocean through the Strait of Gibraltar, to the east with the Black Sea through the Dardanelles Straits, and to the south, since 1869, when the Suez Canal was opened, to the Red Sea. It is a semi-closed sea with little input from pluvial waters (rainfall and rivers) and a high rate of evaporation; without the constant influx of Atlantic water it would have dried up a long time ago. Mediterranean currents are not strong, but are rather deep. During the summer months its waters are calm; around the equinoxes and during the winter months storms are common and can be strong. The effect of tides is minimal, and winds are fairly regular. Its major climatic characteristic is a high seasonal variability, with generally mild and wet winters and hot and dry summers. Until the advent of the steamship, long-distance navigation across the Mediterranean was mostly seasonal, whereas coastal navigation occurred throughout the year. The staples of its agricultural trade have not changed for millennia: grains, wine, citrus fruits, salt, and especially olive oil (which was used as foodstuff and in the soap and woolen industries).

THE TRADITIONAL PATTERNS OF TRADE

Since antiquity the Mediterranean region has been at the center of the political, economic, and cultural development of Europe. The existence of a peculiar "Mediterranean" civilization has been the object of a long and still unresolved debate initiated by the 1949 publication of Fernand Braudel's monumental The Mediterranean and the Mediterranean World in the Age of Philip II. Except during the Roman Empire (first century b.c.e. to fourth century c.e.) the Mediterranean has always been politically and religiously fragmented. These divisions, within a limited geographical space, shaped a world in which issues of trade and politics have always been very closely interconnected. During the medieval and early modern period religious and ethnic minorities—Jews and Armenians, in particular—played an important role, acting as intermediaries between different cultures and facilitating trade.

By the fifteenth century Spain and the Republic of Venice were the major commercial powers in the area. Spain controlled the western part of the Mediterranean, whilst Venice enjoyed a near-monopoly in procuring spices, sugar, silk, and other luxury Asian products for the European markets. During the sixteenth century European geographical expansion started to shift the center of the European economy away from the Mediterranean, favoring countries with an Atlantic coastline. The circumnavigation of Africa (1498) provided an alternative route to Asia, and disruptions in the land caravan trades that supplied the eastern Mediterranean emporia slowly changed the structures of global trade to the detriment of the Mediterranean. The influx of gold and silver from the Americas also transformed the financial structure of long-distance Mediterranean trade. A long crisis ensued, which led to a growing presence of non-Mediterranean ships in Mediterranean waters for the first time. English and Dutch naval technology (developed for oceanic trades) proved superior to local ones, especially after fire-power changed the nature of warfare. The Ottoman Empire widened its political and commercial influence in the southeastern Mediterranean, though almost exclusively Europeans handled its foreign trade. To counterbalance Venetian influence, the Ottoman rulers granted capitulations to the French (1569) and English (1581). Its very valuable internal trade was largely in the hands of minorities within the empire: Jews, Armenians, and Greeks in particular.

During the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries the Barbary States of northern Africa—tributaries of the Ottoman Empire—actively pursued a corsair war against Christian shipping. Christians retaliated, especially through the activities of the Knights of Malta and Saint Stephen (based in Leghorn). Corsair war disrupted trade and increased protection costs. Conflicts between Christians and Muslims also revived the Mediterranean slave trade.

During the seventeenth century Smyrne (Izmir) became the main Mediterranean entrepôt of the Ottoman Empire. Through a policy of low tariffs and no transit dues, the Grand Duchy of Tuscany succeeded in attracting Jewish traders and foreign merchants in Leghorn (1593). The whole basin, however, was enveloped in a general economic crisis, consequence of the shift of the previous century. Grain shortages facilitated the penetration of Dutch shipping, carrying Baltic grain especially to Italian markets. By the end of the seventeenth century English, Dutch, and French (in this order) dominated Mediterranean trade.

STRUCTURAL CHANGES

The eighteenth century saw Britain's maritime power growing in the Mediterranean, notwithstanding French opposition. The decline of all the traditional political and commercial powers of the area (Venice, the Ottoman Empire, and Spain) created an economic and political vacuum in the area, drawing in other European powers. The English obtained Gibraltar in the War of Spanish Succession (1701–1714). With the conquest of Hungary and Croatia, the center of the Austrian Empire moved to the southeast, and a free port was established in Trieste (1719) to take advantage of the terminal decline of Venice. The Russians invested in the rise of the Black Sea port of Odessa, thereby integrating Mediterranean trade with Russian internal trade. Military operations were always strictly connected with the protection of national trade interests. The French and English navies fought hard to keep the sea lanes opened for their merchant ships, and blockaded ports to cut off enemy trade.

Anglo-French confrontation—militarily and commercially—continued in the nineteenth century, heavily disrupting regular traffic. Greek Ottoman subjects took advantage of this, widening the scope of their ship owning interests and building the basis of their current domination in tramp shipping. But the true winners were the English who came to dominate the Mediterranean trade, especially after the opening of the Suez Canal (1869), which provided a direct sea route to the Indian Ocean. This lowered significantly the cost of raw materials coming into Europe to feed its ever-growing industrialization.

In the meantime, Western European states proceeded to colonize the southern shores of the Mediterranean, matching their commercial domination with a political one: France occupied parts of North Africa, and England large parts of the Middle East. After World War II (1939–1945) the Mediterranean regained its strategic importance, due to the newly discovered crude oil and natural gas deposits of North Africa and the Middle East. Trade and politics were once again closely intertwined in the decolonizing process. In 1956 Egypt nationalized the Suez Canal, rejecting foreign control.

The founding of the European Economic Community (1957), which later became the European Union (1993), transformed trade patterns in the Mediterranean. Membership in the European Union (EU) proved to be very advantageous, and its preferential commercial tariffs widened the gap between industrialized Europe and non-industrialized Africa and the Middle East. As a result, commercial relations between European and other Mediterranean countries declined, especially with northern and eastern European countries planning to join the EU. To address these problems, in 1995 a Euro-Mediterranean partnership was created between the fif-teen EU member states at that time (the Netherlands, Belgium, Italy, France, Spain, Portugal, Germany, Luxembourg, Austria, Ireland, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Greece, Great Britain) and twelve nonmember states, all bordering the Mediterranean (Turkey, Israel, Cyprus, Malta, Syria, Lebanon, Palestinian Authority, Jordan, Egypt, Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco). Its goal is to work towards the creation of a free-trade agreement between its signatories.

The Mediterranean today is, after the English Channel, the most trafficked sea route on the planet. Intra-Mediterranean sea borne trade represents only 20 percent of the total, as most of the traffic is transit trade. Hydrocarbons traffic is particularly heavy due to the sea's proximity to the world's largest oil and natural gas fields. Such heavy traffic is dangerous, and polluting goods is cause for constant concern for the coastal states, especially the ones which enjoy a large income from tourism.

SEE ALSO Ali, Muhammad; Arms, Armaments; Blockades in War; Bonaparte, Napoleon; Bullion (Specie); Caravan Trade; Climate; Coffee; Cotton; Egypt; Empire, British; Empire, Dutch; Empire, French; Empire, Ottoman; Empire, Portuguese; Empire, Spanish; Ethnic Groups, Armenians; Ethnic Groups, Jews; Fairs; France; Genoa; Gold and Silver; Greece; Guilds; Imperialism; Italy;Marseilles;Mercantilism;Millets and Capitulations;Morocco;Nantes;Pasha, Isma?il;Petroleum;Philip II;Piracy;Portugal;Privateering;Protection Costs;Shipbuilding;Shipping Lanes;Ship Types;Slavery and the African Slave Trade;Smuggling;Spain;Spices and the Spice Trade;Suez Canal;Sugar, Molasses, and Rum;Textiles;United States;Venice;Wars;Wheat and Other Cereal Grains;Wine.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Abulafia, David, ed. The Mediterranean in History. London: Thames and Hudson, 2003.

Braudel, Fernand. The Mediterranean and the Mediterranean World in the Age of Philip II. 2 volumes. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1995.

Carpentier, Jean, and Lebrun, François. Histoire de la Méditerranée (History of the Mediterranean). Paris: Éditions du Seuil, 1998.

Pierros Filippos, Meunier Jacob, Abrams Stan. Bridges and Barriers: The European Union Mediterranean Policy, 1961–1998. Aldershot: Ashgate, 1999.

Rapp, Richard T. "The Unmaking of the Mediterranean Trade Hegemony: International Trade Rivalry and the Commercial Revolution." Journal of Economic History 35, no. 3 (September 1975): 499–525.

Wainwright, John, and Thornes, John B. Environmental Issues in the Mediterranean: Processes and Perspectives from the Past and Present. London and New York: Routledge, 2004.

Maria Fusaro