The Mediterranean Sea is the inland sea that separates Europe from North Africa, with Asia to the east; it has an extreme length of 3,860 kilometres (2,400 mi), and its total area is 2,966,000 km².
It is linked to the Atlantic Ocean in the Strait of Gibraltar, the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean by the Suez Canal, and the Black Sea (in the Dardanelles and the Sea of Marmara). The main branches are the Adriatic, Aegean, Ionian and Tyrrhenian seas, and its coastline stretches for 46,000 km, crossing 22 countries. At present the Mediterranean Sea is highly polluted.
The Mediterranean Sea is known as the cradle of civilization, it was opened as a route for the trade of the merchants of Phoenicia. For successive centuries Carthage, Greece, Sicily and Rome were the rivals that competed for dominance of its coasts and trade. It became dominated by the Byzantine Empire and the Arabs, between the eleventh and fourteenth centuries from Barcelona to the Italian city-states of trade, such as Venice and Genoa, dominated the Mediterranean. Control of its islands, coasts, and trade routes was vital during the two world wars, leading to major campaigns. Since World War II the region has been of great strategic importance to the U.S. and Western European countries.
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Authors: Val
