Mediterranean Sea

The Mediterranean Sea is a large sea between Europe, Africa, and Asia. Its name comes from Latin words meaning "middle of the land," because the sea sits surrounded by three continents. It covers about 970,000 square miles, which is a little bigger than the state of Alaska. More than 20 countries have coasts along its shores, including Spain, France, Italy, Greece, Turkey, Egypt, and Morocco.

The Mediterranean connects to the Atlantic Ocean through a narrow opening called the Strait of Gibraltar. This strait is only about nine miles wide at its narrowest point. Without this tiny passage, the Mediterranean would be a closed lake. The sea also connects to the Red Sea through the Suez Canal, a waterway built by people in 1869.

The Mediterranean is famous for its warm, sunny weather. Summers are hot and dry, while winters are mild and rainy. This kind of weather is called a "Mediterranean climate," and it is found in only a few other places on Earth, like parts of California and South Africa. The sea itself is saltier than most oceans because so much water evaporates in the hot sun.

The Mediterranean is one of the most important places in human history. Some of the oldest civilizations grew up along its shores. The Egyptians, Phoenicians, Greeks, and Romans all used the sea to trade, travel, and fight wars. The ancient Romans called it Mare Nostrum, which means "our sea," because they controlled every shore around it for hundreds of years. Ideas, foods, religions, and languages spread across the Mediterranean for thousands of years.

The sea has a strange and violent past in geology too. About 6 million years ago, the Strait of Gibraltar closed off. The sea slowly dried up, leaving behind a huge basin covered in salt. Then the Atlantic broke back through, and water rushed in as a giant waterfall. Scientists call this event the Zanclean flood, and they think it may have refilled the whole sea in just a few years.

Today the Mediterranean is home to about 17,000 kinds of sea creatures. Monk seals, bottlenose dolphins, sea turtles, and bluefin tuna live in its waters. But the sea is in trouble. Pollution, overfishing, and heating waters are hurting its wildlife. Plastic waste is a serious problem, and some scientists say the Mediterranean has more tiny plastic pieces per square mile than almost any other sea.

Millions of people visit Mediterranean beaches every year. The sea has shaped how people on three continents eat, trade, and tell stories for longer than almost any other body of water on Earth.