The Mediterranean Sea has many names. These include names in Egyptian, Greek, Latin, Hebrew, Persian, Arabic, and Turkish. The sea was an important route for merchants and travelers in ancient times, as it facilitated commercial and cultural exchange between the peoples of the region. The history of the Mediterranean region is crucial for understanding the origins and development of many modern societies. The Roman Empire maintained nautical hegemony over the sea for centuries and is the only state that has controlled its entire coastline.
Proto-Indo-European root that means average. Perhaps it is related to the root PIE *me- (to measure). Proto-Indo-European root What does it mean to dry. When new deep waters form, older waters mix with the intermediate waters that cover them and eventually leave the Mediterranean.
Because of its latitude and its landlocked position, the Mediterranean is especially sensitive to astronomy-induced climatic variations, which are well documented in its sedimentary record. The Mediterranean Sea has an average depth of 1,500 m (4,900 ft) and the deepest recorded point is 5,267 m (17,280 ft) deep in the Calypso, in the Ionian Sea. This led to a preference for Mediterranean countries and their ports, such as Trieste, with direct connections to Central and Eastern Europe, experienced rapid economic growth. The Mediterranean Sea is the largest inland sea in the world and separates three continents: Europe, Africa and Asia.
Although Jordan, Portugal and Andorra have no coastline in the Mediterranean, for climatic, geographical and cultural reasons they are considered part of the Mediterranean countries. The Palestinian territories, Gibraltar and the sovereign bases of Akrotiri and Dhekelia in Cyprus are British overseas territories and are also located in the Mediterranean. The sea is divided into the Western Mediterranean and the Eastern Mediterranean by the Strait of Sicily, which is a shallow submarine ridge 400 m deep located between the coast of Tunisia and the island of Sicily. Gibraltar's high mountain ranges were thought to prevent the entry of Atlantic waters until approximately 5.5 million years ago, when they broke through and flooded the Mediterranean.
In many cases, this reflects an expansion—aided by the warming trend of the Atlantic's subtropical waters and also by the rapid growth of maritime traffic—of the natural range of species that now enter the Mediterranean through the Strait of Gibraltar. The Persian king Darius, who conquered Egypt in ancient times, united the Red Sea and the Mediterranean Sea by opening an artificial channel. The Mediterranean Sea receives only about a third of the amount of water it loses through evaporation from the rivers that flow into it. There are steep gradients in nutrient concentrations, chlorophyll concentrations and primary productivity in the Mediterranean.
In the mid-1990s, the Aegean Sea became the main deep-water formation area in the Eastern Mediterranean, following particularly cold winter conditions. Mediterranean governments have encouraged rapid development to support the large number of tourists visiting the region, but this has caused serious disturbances to marine habitats due to erosion and pollution in many places on the Mediterranean coasts. The Mediterranean Sea receives few contributions of rainwater, rain and rivers and has a high evaporation rate.
