A Brief History of the Mediterranean

Indispensable for Travellers

Jeremy Black

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Paperback

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English

Robinson Publishing
29 September 2020

History; Regional & national history; European history; African history; Ancient history: to c 500 CE

A wonderfully concise and readable, yet comprehensive, history of the Mediterranean Sea, the perfect companion for any visitor -- or indeed, anyone compelled to stay at home.

'The grand object of travelling is to see the shores of the Mediterranean.'

Samuel Johnson, 1776

The Mediterranean has always been a leading stage for world history; it is also visited each year by tens of millions of tourists, both local and international. Jeremy Black provides an account in which the experience of travel is foremost: travel for tourism, for trade, for war, for migration, for culture, or, as so often, for a variety of reasons. Travellers have always had a variety of goals and situations, from rulers to slaves, merchants to pirates, and Black covers them all, from Phoenicians travelling for trade to the modern tourist sailing for pleasure and cruising in great comfort.

Throughout the book the emphasis is on the sea, on coastal regions and on port cities visited by cruise liners - Athens, Barcelona, Naples, Palermo. But it also looks beyond, notably to the other waters that flow into the Mediterranean - the Black Sea, the Atlantic, the Red Sea and rivers, from the Ebro and Rhone to the Nile.

Much of western Eurasia and northern Africa played, and continues to play, a role, directly or indirectly, in the fate of the Mediterranean. At times, that can make the history of the sea an account of conflict after conflict, but it is necessary to understand these wars in order to grasp the changing boundaries of the Mediterranean states, societies and religions, the buildings that have been left, and the peoples' cultures, senses of identity and histories.

Black explores the centrality of the Mediterranean to the Western experience of travel, beginning in antiquity with the Phoenicians, Minoans and Greeks. He shows how the Roman Empire united the sea, and how it was later divided by Christianity and Islam. He tells the story of the rise and fall of the maritime empires of Pisa, Genoa and Venice, describes how galley warfare evolved and how the Mediterranean fired the imagination of Shakespeare, among many artists. From the Renaissance and Baroque to the seventeenth-century beginnings of English tourism - to the Aegean, Sicily and other destinations - Black examines the culture of the Mediterraean. He shows how English naval power grew, culminating in Nelson's famous victory over the French in the Battle of the Nile and the establishment of Gibraltar, Minorca and Malta as naval bases. Black explains the retreat of Islam in north Africa, describes the age of steam navigation and looks at how and why the British occupied Cyprus, Egypt and the Ionian Islands. He looks at the impact of the Suez Canal as a new sea route to India

By: Jeremy Black
Imprint: Robinson Publishing
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions: Height: 196mm, Width: 128mm, Spine: 22mm
Weight: 220g
ISBN: 9781472144409
ISBN 10: 1472144406
Pages: 320
Publication Date: 29 September 2020
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active

JEREMY BLACK is one of the UK's most respected and prolific historians. He is Professor of History at Exeter University and a renowned expert on the history of war. His recent books include Brief Histories of Italy, Spain and Portugal. He appears regularly on TV and radio, including BBC Radio 4's In Our Time. Jeremy has travelled widely in the Mediterranean, including on cruises, beginning in the 1960s. He has lectured on Mediterranean cruises since 2007 for a variety of companies including Swan Hellenic, Noble Caledonia, Martin Randall and Thomson (now Marella Cruises). He also guided a land tour of the Bay of Naples for History Today. He has written extensively on tourism in the period 1660-1815, and wrote the 1700-1900 chapter for the Thames & Hudson history of the Mediterranean.

Reviews for A Brief History of the Mediterranean: Indispensable for Travellers

Praise for Jeremy Black's The Holocaust 'A demanding but important work.' Praise for Jeremy Black's Insurgency and Counterinsurgency: A Global History 'A significant and timely contribution to understanding the new meaning of war.' - Choice