Political Map of the Mediterranean Region

Home Earth Continents Europe \| Africa \| Asia Political Map of the Mediterranean Region Index of Countries Index of Maps

___ Political Map of Mediterranean Region, the Mediterranean Sea, and the Black Sea Region

Map is showing the Mediterranean Region, the historical cradle of modern civilization. The Mediterranean Region are the coastal areas around the Mediterranean Sea. The Mediterranean is at the crossroads of three continents: Europe, Africa, and Asia. The region is characterized by the prevailing subtropical climate known as the Mediterranean climate, with mild, wet winters and hot, dry summers.

Formerly home to the vast Roman Empire, which covered the area of the North African coast and large parts of Western Europe, the Balkans, Persia and much of the Middle East.

The ancient world was influenced by Greek's philosophical concepts, and cultural ideas from Ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia, Persia and Asia Minor. It was the location of all of the Seven Wonders of the World. The first Olympiad was held here in 776 B.C.E..

In trade, it was the final destination of the Silk Road, goods delivered from the Far East were distributed in the whole Mediterranean area by the commercial network of the Phoenicians and the Carthaginians, interconnected with the trade was cultural exchange, such as the use of an alphabet, or numbers.

It was the birthplace of Christianity in the Ancient Kingdoms of Judah and Israel. The region was also the starting point of the Renaissance, the humanistic movement that opened the way out of the Dark Ages into modern times. At its center were flourishing conurbations, Rome, Florence, Venice, Athens, Constantinople, Jerusalem and Cairo. The Mediterranean was home to great thinkers and artists: Aristotle, Plato, Cicero, Socrates, Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Galileo, to name just some.

Once famous ports and places of trade like Agathe Tyche (Agde), Massilia (Marseille), Hippo Regius, Carthage, Apollonia, Cyrene

, Alexandria, Melita (today Malta), Cirrha (port of Delphi), Ephesus, Knossos, Smyrna (today Izmir), Syracuse (the birthplace of Archimedes), Rhodes, Memphis, or Leptis Magna

, some of these places have successor cities, other are long gone, but they have shaped for centuries the history of the Mediterranean.

Following countries have a shoreline at the Mediterranean Sea:
European countries: Spain, France, Italy, Malta, Monaco, Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Albania, and Greece.
Western Asia (Middle East): Turkey, Cyprus, Syria, Lebanon, Israel, and the Palestine Gaza Strip.
Northern African countries: Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, and Egypt.