The Mediterranean Sea is the largest enclosed sea in the world, surrounded by Europe, Africa, and Asia – the most populated region of the globe. It is connected to the Atlantic Ocean by the Strait of Gibraltar which separates Spain from Africa, a distance of 8.9 miles. The sea has an average depth of 4,900 feet, but the deepest point is in the Calypso Deep in the Ionian Deep, having recorded 17,280 feet. It is bordered by 25 coastlines and is split into seven subdivisions of which are the Aegean, Adriatic, Ionian, Tyrrhenian, Ligurian, Balearic, and Alboran seas. It also contains a shallow submarine ridge (Strait of Sicily) between Sicily and Tunisia, dividing the sea into two main sub regions – the Eastern and Western Mediterranean. It has an annual temperature of 19 degrees Celsius, but waters located near the warmer regions (I.E. Africa) can reach up to 26 degrees Celsius in the summer. The Mediterranean is characterized by its deep blue color which derives from its warm temperatures and higher salt production due to mass evaporation. It is known to have hot, dry summers and wet winters except for the Southern regions considering they have desert-like climates. Early civilizations thought that the Mediterranean was the center of their region considering they had not traveled out of their boundaries yet, therefore giving its Latin name “mediterraneus”, meaning “middle of land.” Its combination of strong winds and an arid climate results in intense
The reading that I chose for this assignment is from Chapter Six in the required book for class “The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History”. The chapter title is “The Sea Around Us” where the primary concentration of the chapter was the consequences that humans have on the planet with the focus on ocean acidification. This happens from the carbon dioxide we pump into the air and it slowly seeps back down into the oceans and slowly increases the PH level thus causing the ocean to be more acidic. In about one hundred years do you believe that, oysters, mussels, and coral reefs survive?
The ancient civilizations of the Ancient Egypt, as well as the great Mesopotamia, are the world’s greatest civilization as recorded by history. The civilization was highly facilitated by rivers which cut across their land. The Euphrates, Nile, as well as Tigris, constantly moving along the river banks which in turn resulted in the adjoining land is extremely fertile (Backman). This led to flourishment and development of Ur and Eriku cities in Mesopotamia as well as the city of Thebes in Egypt (Backman). The Nile was very significant in Ancient Egypt as it made invasion by enemies impossible due to its marshy deltas (Backman). On the other hand, Ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia differed fundamentally in many aspects more specifically in how their societies were structured, cultural orientation, religion, technological experiences, literature, and art among other things (Backman). This paper will center on examining these differences as well as similarities between these two regions as well as what they communicate concerning the circumstances that people from these two regions faced.
The purpose of this journal was to inform scholars and readers about the country of Egypt and its origins: the Ancient Egyption civilization and how it was built upon nature itself. The value of Hansen’s journal gives the perspective of a whole new world and geographical features. Egypt is surrounded by harsh unlivable climats, but the civilization was able to last over 500 years by using their geographical resources to their advantage to create faith, protection, and life as described by Kathy. Kathy has a PHD that she gained from Union University and is an associate publisher of Quintessential Careers. Despite the highly informative ideas, a limitation of the book is that it was written to describe Egyptian environmental aspects for readers to learn more about Egypt and maybe the desire to someday travel to Egypt. The book may have the perspective of a sort of travel guide showing a small bais while, trying to persuade people to travel to
The Mediterranean served as a basin for the early civilizations. The rich history of the
The Mediterranean region encompasses the Mediterranean Ocean and the surrounding land outside of it. Medieval Europe is a time period, sometimes referred to as the ‘dark ages’, where because of various reasons, many cultural changes occurred. From the decline of the West Roman Empire and its empirical structures (circa 647 C.E.) and the creation of the political system, feudalism, new societies emerged with new cultural elements such as an almost complete loss of education and literacy, while other cultural aspects remained such as the social status of women and the importance of religion, mainly Christianity.
Geography had a tremendous impact on early civilizations, the topography of the different regions played a key role in their development and formation. This statement by Fernand Braudel “ Geography is the stage in which humanity’s endless dramas are played out” (Getz et al., Exchanges, 26) is a very moving and telling description. The terrain, whether it is natural or man made is not the end all, be all. It does however affect the stage a great deal. Mountainous areas act as blockades, which keep the societies independent, plains open up the area, and rivers enable everything to move around freely. 2
During the years of 3500 BC to 2500 BC, the geography of a land often impacted a civilizations development in great measures. Depending on the resources available or the detriments present due to certain topographical characteristics like rivers or deserts, a civilization could flourish or collapse. By studying the geographic features of growing societies like the Nile, Euphrates, and Tigris Rivers as well as the Mediterranean Sea of Egypt and Mesopotamia, the link between developing cultures and geography will be examined through sources, including Egypt: Ancient Culture, Modern Land edited by Jaromir Malek and Babylon: Mesopotamia and the Birth of Civilization by Paul Kriwaczek. To determine the extent
The setting is around 3000 BCE, surrounded on all sides by vast, arid deserts, steep cliffs, and extensive bodies of water. And, in these massive deserts civilization exists; there are grand, shining empires, pillars of humanity. Ancient Egypt and Ancient Mesopotamia, both known as cradles of civilization, were hosts to some of the greatest ancient kingdoms of mankind. These empires shared a number of common practices due to similar geographical settings, but likewise they were different in their structure, customs, and views. The ancient civilizations of Egypt and Mesopotamia shared many similarities; however Egypt was more prosperous economically, established a superior, unwavering political structure, and possessed more unified and content religious views.
• Medes settled in the northwest and came under the influence of the ancient centers in
The world’s earliest civilization developed in an ancient region called Mesopotamia. Iraq, eastern Syria, and southeastern Turkey are modern countries included in the region. The name Mesopotamia comes from a Greek word that means between rivers. Since the heart of the region was the land between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, its name is Mesopotamia.
Lockard, Craig A. "Ancient Societies in Africa and the Mediterranean, 5000-600 B.C.E." World. Boston: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning, 2011. 50-56. Print
The location of a civilization is crucial for agriculture and security. While Mesopotamia, Egypt, and India consisted of rivers, Egypt’s was the most profitable. In Mesopotamia, the Tigris and Euphrates River would harmfully flood the valleys creating a need for irrigation systems. Similarly, the Harappans often encountered floods until walls were built. In Egypt, the water flowed the banks from the Nile River replenishing the land with fertilized soil. As a result, the Egyptians had a stable supply of wheat and barley while the supplies of other civilizations were unsteady. Moreover, the Egyptians had natural
There were changes to the Mediterranean World, but also continuities from the Roman Empire in 100 CE, to the Abbasid Empire in 800 Ce, to Feudal Europe in 1000 CE. Christianity and Islam, architecture, and the status of women all changed, even though some parts of them remained the same. Christianity and Islam developed and spread. New architectural advancements were added to the already existing Roman innovations, and the status of women improved overall.
The ancient lands of Mesopotamia are unknown territory for many people. It is one of the earliest civilizations in the world. The first great civilization, located between Tigris and Euphrates rivers, was developed in 3500 BC. Word “Mesopotamia” is derived from two Greek words meaning ‘land between two rivers’. The region is a vast, dry plain through which two great rivers flow. People of Mesopotamia were ‘Sumerians’. Tigris and Euphrates created fertile river basins for the region. World’s first cities grew up in Mesopotamia. The people of Mesopotamia were among the first to use the written words and a language of their own. Mesopotamia is known as the “cradle of civilization”. The Tigris and Euphrates rivers provided rich fruitful soil and
This essay intends to first introduce the disappearing Aral Sea, which due to the extensive agricultural activities devised by the Soviet government in the region, the former fourth-largest lake of the world is now the world's eighth largest lake. This has resulted in perhaps the world's most prominent man-made ecological disaster, giving its location and background knowledge with a map, and then describe its future in terms of how it is going to be utilized and what the consequences are, and then finally state what can be done about this “crisis”.