Welcome to the Mediterranean 

The Mediterranean Sea is a part of the Atlantic Ocean almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Europe, on the south by Africa, and on the east by Asia. It covers an approximate area of 2.5 million km (965 000 mi), but its connection to the Atlantic (the Strait of Gibraltar) is only 14 km (9 mi) wide. In oceanography, it is sometimes called the Eurafrican Mediterranean Sea or the European Mediterranean Sea, to distinguish it from mediterranean seas elsewhere.

It was a superhighway of transport in ancient times, allowing for trade and cultural exchange between emergent peoples of the region — Phoenicians, Egyptians, Carthaginians, Greeks, Romans, and the Middle East (Persian/Semitic) cultures. The history of the Mediterranean is important in understanding the origin and development of Western Civilization.