Editing Mediterranean Sea (section)

===Middle Ages and empires===
The [[Western Roman Empire]] collapsed around 476 AD. The east was again dominant as Roman power lived on in the [[Byzantine Empire]] formed in the 4th century from the eastern half of the [[Roman Empire]]. Though the Eastern Roman Empire would continue to hold almost all of the Mediterranean, another power arose in the 7th century, and with it the religion of [[Islam]], which soon swept across from the east; at its greatest extent, the Arabs, under the [[Umayyad Caliphate|Umayyads]], controlled most of the Mediterranean region and left a lasting footprint on its eastern and southern shores.

[[File:The port and fleet of Genoa, early 14th century.jpg|thumb|right|The port and fleet of [[Republic of Genoa|Genoa]] in the early 14th century, by [[Quinto Cenni]]]]
A variety of foodstuffs, spices and crops were introduced to the western Mediterranean's Spain and [[Emirate of Sicily|Sicily]] during Arab rule, via the commercial networks of the Islamic world. These include sugarcane,<ref name="spanish-food.org">{{Cite web |title=Arab Influence {{!}} Spanish-food.org |url=https://www.spanish-food.org/spanish-food-history-arab-influence.html |access-date=7 July 2019 |website=www.spanish-food.org}}</ref> rice,<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Crist |first=Raymond E. |date=1957 |title=Rice Culture in Spain |journal=The Scientific Monthly |volume=84 |issue=2 |pages=66–74 |bibcode=1957SciMo..84...66C |issn=0096-3771 |jstor=21775}}</ref> cotton, alfalfa, oranges,<ref>{{Cite web |title=The story of Andalusian Oranges in Spain |url=http://www.ft.lk/ft-lite/the-story-of-andalusian-oranges-in-spain/6-579841 |access-date=7 July 2019 |website=www.ft.lk |language=en}}</ref> lemons,<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Nibble: Lemon History |url=http://www.thenibble.com/reviews/main/fruits/lemon-types.asp |access-date=7 July 2019 |website=www.thenibble.com}}</ref> apricots,<ref>{{Cite web |last1=Denker |first1=Joel |date=14 June 2016 |title='Moon Of The Faith:' A History Of The Apricot And Its Many Pleasures |url=https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2016/06/14/481932829/moon-of-the-faith-a-history-of-the-apricot-and-its-many-pleasures |access-date=7 July 2019 |website=NPR.org |language=en}}</ref> spinach,<ref>{{Cite web |last=Scott |first=Stephen |date=28 February 2014 |title=History of Spinach {{!}} Terroir Seeds |url=https://underwoodgardens.com/history-spinach/ |access-date=7 July 2019 |website=Terroir Seeds {{!}} Underwood Gardens |language=en}}</ref> eggplants,<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Marie-Christine Daunay and Jules Janick |date=2007 |title=History and Iconography of Eggplant |url=https://hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/chronicaeggplant.pdf |journal=Chronica Horticulturae |volume=47 |pages=16–22}}</ref> carrots,<ref>{{Cite web |title=History of Carrots{{Snd}} A brief summary and timeline |url=http://www.carrotmuseum.co.uk/history.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220728070445/http://www.carrotmuseum.co.uk/history.html |archive-date=28 July 2022 |access-date=7 July 2019 |website=www.carrotmuseum.co.uk}}</ref> [[saffron]]<ref>{{Cite web |date=4 October 2018 |title=The history of saffron |url=https://cyrussaffron.com/the-history-of-saffron/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190707215152/https://cyrussaffron.com/the-history-of-saffron/ |archive-date=7 July 2019 |access-date=7 July 2019 |website=Saffron |language=en-US}}</ref> and bananas.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Bananas: an American History |url=https://www.worldcat.org/wcpa/servlet/DCARead?standardNo=1560989661&standardNoType=1&excerpt=true |access-date=6 April 2020 |website=www.worldcat.org}}</ref> The Arabs also continued extensive cultivation and production of olive oil (the Spanish words for 'oil' and 'olive'—''aceite'' and ''aceituna'', respectively—are derived from the Arabic ''al-zait'', meaning 'olive juice'),<ref>{{Cite web |title=Learn All About Spanish Olive Oil |url=https://www.thespruceeats.com/grades-of-spanish-olive-oil-3082923 |access-date=7 July 2019 |website=The Spruce Eats |language=en}}</ref> and pomegranates (the heraldic symbol of Granada) from classical [[Greco-Roman world|Greco-Roman]] times.

The [[Early Muslim conquests|Arab invasions]] disrupted the trade relations between Western and Eastern Europe while disrupting trade routes with Eastern Asian Empires. This, however, had the indirect effect of promoting trade across the [[Caspian Sea]]. The export of grains from [[Egypt]] was re-routed towards the [[Eastern world]]. Products from East Asian empires, like silk and spices, were carried from Egypt to ports like [[Republic of Venice|Venice]] and [[Constantinople]] by sailors and Jewish merchants. The [[Viking expansion|Viking raids]] further disrupted the trade in western Europe and brought it to a halt. However, the [[Norsemen]] developed the trade from Norway to the [[White Sea]], while also trading in luxury goods from [[Al-Andalus|Spain]] and the Mediterranean. The [[Byzantine Empire under the Isaurian dynasty|Byzantines in the mid-8th century]] retook control of the area around the north-eastern part of the Mediterranean. Venetian ships from the 9th century armed themselves to counter the harassment by Arabs while concentrating trade of Asian goods in Venice.<ref>{{cite book|last=Couper |first=Alastair |title=The Geography of Sea Transport|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WFVACwAAQBAJ&q=The+Geography+of+Sea+Transport&pg=PA37|year=2015|isbn=978-1-317-35150-4|pages=33–37|publisher=Routledge }}</ref>[[File:Battle of Lepanto 1571.jpg|thumb|left|The [[Battle of Lepanto]], 1571, ended in victory for the European [[Holy League (1571)|Holy League]] against the [[Ottoman Empire|Ottoman Turks]].]]
The [[Fatimids]] maintained trade relations with the [[Italian city-states]] like [[Duchy of Amalfi|Amalfi]] and [[Republic of Genoa|Genoa]] before the Crusades, according to the [[Cairo Geniza]] documents. A document dated 996 mentions Amalfian merchants living in [[Cairo]]. Another letter states that the Genoese had traded with [[Alexandria]]. The caliph [[Ma'ad al-Mustansir Billah|al-Mustansir]] had allowed Amalfian merchants to reside in [[Jerusalem]] about 1060 in place of the Latin [[hospice]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Balard|first=Michel|editor-first1=Marcus Graham|editor-last1=Bull|editor-last2=Edbury|editor-first2=Peter|editor-last3=Phillips|editor-first3=Jonathan|title=The Experience of Crusading, Volume 2 – Defining the Crusader Kingdom|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=2003|isbn=978-0-521-78151-0|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JEN-0A3icQUC&q=amalfi+cairo&pg=PA233|pages=23–35|access-date=17 November 2020|archive-date=1 January 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240101145302/https://books.google.com/books?id=JEN-0A3icQUC&q=amalfi+cairo&pg=PA233#v=snippet&q=amalfi%20cairo&f=false|url-status=live}}</ref>

The [[Crusades]] led to the flourishing of trade between Europe and the ''[[outremer]]'' region.<ref>{{cite book|last=Housley|first=Norman|author-link=Norman Housley|title=Contesting the Crusades|publisher=Blackwell Publishing|year=2006|isbn=978-1-4051-1189-8|pages=152–54}}</ref> Genoa, Venice and [[Republic of Pisa|Pisa]] created colonies in regions controlled by the Crusaders and came to control the trade with the Orient. These colonies also allowed them to trade with the Eastern world. Though the fall of the Crusader states and attempts at banning of trade relations with Muslim states by the Popes temporarily disrupted the trade with the Orient, it however continued.<ref>{{cite book|first=James|last=Brundage|title=Medieval Italy: An Encyclopedia|publisher=Routledge|year=2004|isbn=978-1-135-94880-1|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=E2CTAgAAQBAJ&q=through+all+these+military+triumphs+and+reverses,+italian+merchants+constituted+the+mainstay&pg=PT303|page=273|access-date=17 November 2020|archive-date=1 January 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240101145303/https://books.google.com/books?id=E2CTAgAAQBAJ&q=through+all+these+military+triumphs+and+reverses,+italian+merchants+constituted+the+mainstay&pg=PT303#v=snippet&q=through%20all%20these%20military%20triumphs%20and%20reverses%2C%20italian%20merchants%20constituted%20the%20mainstay&f=false|url-status=live}}</ref>

Europe started to revive, however, as more organised and centralised states began to form in the later [[Middle Ages]] after the [[Renaissance of the 12th century]].

[[File:De Engels-Nederlandse vloot in de Baai van Algiers ter ondersteuning van het ultimatum tot vrijlating van blanke slaven, 26 augustus 1816. Rijksmuseum SK-A-1377.jpeg|thumb|The [[Bombardment of Algiers (1816)|bombardment of Algiers]] by the Anglo-Dutch fleet in support of an ultimatum to release [[Barbary slave trade|European slaves]], August 1816]]

[[Ottoman Empire|Ottoman]] power based in Anatolia continued to grow, and in 1453 extinguished the Byzantine Empire with the [[Conquest of Constantinople]]. Ottomans gained control of much of the eastern part sea in the 16th century and also maintained naval bases in [[Ottoman occupation of Toulon|southern France]] (1543–1544), Algeria and Tunisia. [[Hayreddin Barbarossa|Barbarossa]], the Ottoman captain is a symbol of this domination with the victory of the [[Battle of Preveza]] (1538). The [[Battle of Djerba]] (1560) marked the apex of Ottoman naval domination in the eastern Mediterranean. As the naval prowess of the European powers increased, they confronted Ottoman expansion in the region when the [[Battle of Lepanto]] (1571) checked the power of the [[Ottoman Navy]]. This was the last naval battle to be fought primarily between [[galley]]s.

The [[Barbary pirates]] of [[Northwest Africa]] preyed on Christian shipping and coastlines in the Western Mediterranean Sea.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/trent_0116405722392 |url-access=registration |title=Christian Slaves, Muslim Masters: White Slavery in the Mediterranean, the Barbary Coast and Italy, 1500–1800 |author=Robert Davis |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |date=5 December 2003|access-date=17 January 2013|isbn=978-0-333-71966-4}}</ref> According to Robert Davis, from the 16th to 19th centuries, pirates captured 1&nbsp;million to 1.25&nbsp;million Europeans as slaves.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/empire_seapower/white_slaves_01.shtml |title=British Slaves on the Barbary Coast |publisher=BBC |access-date=17 January 2013 |archive-date=8 February 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090208143435/http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/empire_seapower/white_slaves_02.shtml |url-status=live }}</ref>

The development of oceanic shipping began to affect the entire Mediterranean. Once, most of the trade between Western Europe and the East was [[Indo-Mediterranean|passing through the region]], but after the 1490s the development of a sea route to the Indian Ocean allowed the importation of Asian [[Spice trade|spices]] and other goods through the Atlantic ports of western Europe.<ref>C.I. Gable – [http://www.boglewood.com/timeline/ottomans.html Constantinople Falls to the Ottoman Turks] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141029132035/http://www.boglewood.com/timeline/ottomans.html |date=29 October 2014}} – '' Boglewood Timeline'' – 1998 – Retrieved 3 September 2011.</ref><ref>[http://www.sephardicstudies.org/ottoemp.html "History of the Ottoman Empire, an Islamic Nation where Jews Lived"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141018040430/http://www.sephardicstudies.org/ottoemp.html |date=18 October 2014}} – ''Sephardic Studies and Culture'' – Retrieved 3 September 2011.</ref><ref>Robert Guisepi – {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20150311160503/http://history-world.org/ottoman%20empire.htm The Ottomans: From Frontier Warriors To Empire Builders]}} – 1992 – ''History World International'' – Retrieved 3 September 2011.</ref>
[[File:Cena da Batalha do Nilo, 1 a 3 de Agosto de 1798 (escola europeia, séc. XIX).png|thumb|[[Battle of the Nile]] during the [[French invasion of Egypt and Syria|French campaign in Egypt]], August 1798]]
The sea remained strategically important. British mastery of [[Gibraltar]] ensured their influence in Africa and Southwest Asia. Especially after the naval battles of Abukir (1799, [[Battle of the Nile]]) and [[Battle of Trafalgar|Trafalgar]] (1805), the British had for a long time strengthened their dominance in the Mediterranean.<ref>See: Brian Lavery "Nelson's Navy: The Ships, Men, and Organization, 1793–1815" (2013).</ref> Wars included [[Naval warfare in the Mediterranean during World War I]] and [[Mediterranean theatre of World War II]].

With the opening of the lockless [[Suez Canal]] in 1869, the flow of trade between Europe and Asia changed fundamentally. The fastest route now led through the Mediterranean towards East Africa and Asia. This led to a preference for the Mediterranean countries and their ports like [[Trieste]] with direct connections to Central and Eastern Europe experienced a rapid economic rise. In the 20th century, the 1st and 2nd World Wars as well as the [[Suez Crisis]] and the [[Cold War]] led to a shift of trade routes to the European northern ports, which changed again towards the southern ports through European integration, the activation of the [[Silk Road]] and free world trade.<ref>Mary Pelletier "A brief history of the Suez Canal" In: Apollo 3 July 2018; Harry de Wilt: Is One Belt, One Road a China crisis for North Sea main ports? in World Cargo News, 17. December 2019; Marcus Hernig: Die Renaissance der Seidenstraße (2018), pp 112; Hans Reis "Der Suezkanal – die wichtigste von Menschen geschaffene Wasserstrasse wurde vor 150 Jahren gebaut und war oft umkämpft" In: Neue Zürcher Zeitung 17 November 2019; Bernhard Simon: Can The New Silk Road Compete With The Maritime Silk Road? in The Maritime Executive, 1 January 2020.</ref>