The Mediterranean basin covers portions of three continents:Africa,Asia, andEurope.[1] It is not the same as thedrainage basin of the Mediterranean Sea; the drainage basin is larger, as rivers including theNile andRhône reach further into Africa and Europe. Conversely, the Mediterranean basin includes regions not in the drainage basin, such asIraq,Jordan, andPortugal.
It has a varied and contrasting topography. The Mediterranean region offers a varied landscape of high mountains, rocky shores, impenetrable scrub, semi-arid steppes, coastal wetlands, sandy beaches and a myriad of islands of various shapes and sizes dotted amidst the clear blue sea. Contrary to the classic sandy beach images portrayed in most tourist brochures, the Mediterranean is surprisingly hilly. Mountains can be seen from almost anywhere.[2]
By definition, the Mediterranean basin extends fromMacaronesia in the west to theLevant in the east, although some places may or may not be included depending on the view, as is the case with Macaronesia: some definitions only include theCanary Islands andMadeira[3] while others include the whole Macaronesia (with theAzores andCape Verde).[4]
The northern portion of theMaghreb region of north-western Africa has a Mediterranean climate, separated from theSahara Desert, which extends acrossNorth Africa, by theAtlas Mountains. In the eastern Mediterranean, the Sahara extends to the southern shore of the Mediterranean, with the exception of the northern fringe of the peninsula ofCyrenaica inLibya, which has a dry Mediterranean climate.
InWest Asia, it covers the western and southern portions of theAnatolian Peninsula, as far asIraq,[5] but excluding the temperate-climate mountains of central Turkey. It includes the MediterraneanLevant at the eastern end of the Mediterranean, bounded on the east and south by theNegev andSyrian deserts.
The Mediterranean basin was shaped by the ancient collision of the northward-moving African–Arabian continent with the stable Eurasian continent. As Africa–Arabia moved north, it closed the formerTethys Sea, which formerly separated Eurasia from the ancient super continent ofGondwana, of which Africa was part. At about the same time, 170 mya in theJurassic period, a small Neotethys ocean basin formed shortly before the Tethys Sea was closed at the eastern end. The collision pushed up a vast system of mountains, extending from thePyrenees in Spain to theZagros Mountains inIran. This episode of mountain building, known as theAlpine orogeny, occurred mostly during theOligocene (34 to 23 million years ago (mya)) andMiocene (23 to 5.3 mya) epochs. The Neotethys became larger during these collisions and associated folding and subduction.
About 6 mya during the late Miocene, the Mediterranean was closed at its western end by drifting Africa, which caused the entire sea to evaporate. There followed several (debated) episodes of sea drawdown and re-flooding known as theMessinian Salinity Crisis, which ended when the Atlantic last re-flooded the basin at the end of the Miocene.[6] Recent research has suggested that a desiccation-flooding cycle may have repeated several times[7][8] during the last 630,000 years of the Miocene epoch, which could explain several events of large amounts of salt deposition. Recent studies, however, show that repeated desiccation and re-flooding is unlikely from ageodynamic point of view.[9][10]
The end of the Miocene also marked a change in the Mediterranean basin's climate. Fossil evidence shows that the Mediterranean basin had a relatively humid subtropical climate with summer rainfall during the Miocene, which supportedlaurel forests. The shift to a Mediterranean climate occurred within the last 3.2–2.8 million years, during thePliocene epoch, as summer rainfall decreased. The subtropical laurel forests retreated, although they persisted on the islands ofMacaronesia off the Atlantic coast of Iberia and North Africa, and the present Mediterranean vegetation evolved, dominated by coniferous trees andsclerophyllous trees and shrubs, with small, hard, waxy leaves that prevent moisture loss in the dry summers. Much of these forests and shrublands have been altered beyond recognition by thousands of years of human habitation. There are now very few relatively intact natural areas in what was once a heavily wooded region.
The Mediterranean basin is the largest of the world's fiveMediterranean forests, woodlands, and scrub regions. It is home to a number of plant communities, which vary with rainfall, elevation, latitude, and soil.
Scrublands occur in the driest areas, especially areas near the seacoast where wind and salt spray are frequent. Low, soft-leaved scrublands around the Mediterranean are known asgarrigar inCatalan,garrigue inFrench,phrygana inGreek,tomillares inSpanish, andbatha inHebrew.
Shrublands are dense thickets of evergreen sclerophyllshrubs and small trees and are the most common plant community around the Mediterranean. Mediterranean shrublands are known asmàquia in Catalan,macchia inItalian,maquis in French, and "matorral" in Spanish. In some places, shrublands are the mature vegetation type, and in other places the result of the degradation of former forest or woodland by logging orovergrazing, or disturbance by major fires.
Woodlands are usually dominated byoak andpine, mixed with other sclerophyll and coniferous trees.
Forests are distinct from woodlands in having a closed canopy, and occur in the areas of highest rainfall and inriparian zones along rivers and streams where they receive summer water. Mediterranean forests are generally composed of evergreen trees, predominantly oak and pine. At higher elevations Mediterranean forests transition to mixed broadleaf and tall conifer forests similar to temperate zone forests.
Neanderthals inhabited western Asia and the non-glaciated portions of Europe starting about 230,000 years ago. Modern humansmoved into western Asia from Africa less than 100,000 years ago. Modern humans, known asCro-Magnons, moved into Europe approximately 50–40,000 years ago.
The most recent glacial period, theWisconsin glaciation (Würm in Southern European contexts), reached itsmaximum extent approximately 21,000 years ago, and ended approximately 12,000 years ago. A warm period, known as theHolocene climatic optimum, followed the ice age.
A strengthening of the summermonsoon 9000–7000 years ago increased rainfall across theSahara, which became agrassland, with lakes, rivers, and wetlands. After a period of climatic instability, the Sahara settled into a desert state by the4th millennium BCE.
One of the earliest modern studies of the Mediterranean wasFernand Braudel'sLa Méditerranéee et le monde méditerranéen à l époque de Philippe II (The Mediterranean and the Mediterranean World in the Age of Philip II), published in 1949.S.D. Goitein's multivolume study of theCairo Geniza documents was another important contribution in the area of Mediterranean Jewish culture.[14]
Wheat is the dominant grain grown around the Mediterranean basin. The characteristic tree crop is theolive; and the grape, for wine, completes the "trinity" of basic ingredients of traditional Mediterranean cuisine.[15]
^Duarte, A.; Fernandes, J.; Bernardes, J.; Miguel, G. (2016)."Citrus as a Component of the Mediterranean Diet".Journal of Spatial and Organizational Dynamics.IV (4):289–304.Archived from the original on 2018-10-01. Retrieved2019-02-28.
Dallman, Peter F. (1998).Plant Life in the World's Mediterranean Climates.Berkeley, California: University of California Press.{{cite book}}:|work= ignored (help)
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