The great sea

Free ebooks ==> www.Ebook777.com www.Ebook777.com Free ebooks ==> www.Ebook777.com The Great Sea www.Ebook777.com Free ebooks ==> www.Ebook777.com This page intentionally left blank www.Ebook777.com Free ebooks ==> www.Ebook777.com david abulafia The Great Sea A Human History of the Mediterranean www.Ebook777.com Free ebooks ==> www.Ebook777.com Oxford University Press, Inc., publishes works that further Oxford University’s objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education Oxford New York Auckland Cape Town Dar es Salaam Hong Kong Karachi Kuala Lumpur Madrid Melbourne Mexico City Nairobi New Delhi Shanghai Taipei Toronto With offices in Argentina Austria Brazil Chile Czech Republic France Greece Guatemala Hungary Italy Japan Poland Portugal Singapore South Korea Switzerland Thailand Turkey Ukraine Vietnam Copyright © 2011 by David Abulafia First published in Great Britain in 2011 by Allen Lane First published in the United States in 2011 by Oxford University Press, Inc 198 Madison Avenue, New York, New York 10016 www.oup.com Oxford is a registered trademark of Oxford University Press All rights reserved No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of Oxford University Press Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Abulafia, David The great sea : a human history of the Mediterranean / David Abulafia p cm “First published in Great Britain in 2011 by Allen Lane”—T.p verso Includes bibliographical references and index ISBN 978-0-19-532334-4 (hardcover : alk paper) Mediterranean Region—Civilization Mediterranean Region—History Intercultural communication—Mediterranean Region—History Mediterranean Sea—History I Title DE71.A25 2011 909'.09822—dc22 2011015711 Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper www.Ebook777.com Free ebooks ==> www.Ebook777.com a la memoria de mis antecesores www.Ebook777.com Free ebooks ==> www.Ebook777.com This page intentionally left blank www.Ebook777.com Free ebooks ==> www.Ebook777.com Contents List of Illustrations xi System of Transliteration and Dating xvi Preface xvii Introduction: A Sea with Many Names xxiii P art o n e The First Mediterranean, 22000 BC–1000 BC Isolation and Insulation, 22000 BC–3000 BC Copper and Bronze, 3000 BC–1500 BC 15 Merchants and Heroes, 1500 BC–1250 BC 29 Sea Peoples and Land Peoples, 1250 BC–1100 BC 42 P art t wo The Second Mediterranean, 1000 BC–AD 600 The Purple Traders, 1000 BC–700 BC 63 The Heirs of Odysseus, 800 BC–550 BC 83 The Triumph of the Tyrrhenians, 800 BC–400 BC 100 Towards the Garden of the Hesperides, 1000 BC–400 BC 119 Thalassocracies, 550 BC–400 BC 132 The Lighthouse of the Mediterranean, 350 BC–100 BC 149 ‘Carthage Must Be Destroyed’, 400 BC–146 BC 166 ‘Our Sea’, 146 BC–AD 150 191 vii www.Ebook777.com Free ebooks ==> www.Ebook777.com Con te nt s Old and New Faiths, AD 1–450 10 Dis-integration, 400–600 212 226 P a rt t h r e e The Third Mediterranean, 600–1350 Mediterranean Troughs, 600–900 241 Crossing the Boundaries between Christendom and Islam, 900–1050 258 The Great Sea-change, 1000–1100 271 ‘The Profit That God Shall Give’, 1100–1200 287 Ways across the Sea, 1160–1185 304 The Fall and Rise of Empires, 1130–1260 318 Merchants, Mercenaries and Missionaries, 1220–1300 334 Serrata – Closing, 1291–1350 354 P a rt f o u r The Fourth Mediterranean, 1350–1830 Would-be Roman Emperors, 1350–1480 373 Transformations in the West, 1391–1500 392 Holy Leagues and Unholy Alliances, 1500–1550 411 Akdeniz – the Battle for the White Sea, 1550–1571 428 Interlopers in the Mediterranean, 1571–1650 452 Diasporas in Despair, 1560–1700 470 Encouragement to Others, 1650–1780 488 The View through the Russian Prism, 1760–1805 504 Deys, Beys and Bashaws, 1800–1830 524 P art f ive The Fifth Mediterranean, 1830–2010 Ever the Twain Shall Meet, 1830–1900 545 The Greek and the unGreek, 1830–1920 562 Ottoman Exit, 1900–1918 573 viii www.Ebook777.com Free ebooks ==> www.Ebook777.com C on te nt s A Tale of Four and a Half Cities, 1900–1950 583 Mare Nostrum – Again, 1918–1945 601 A Fragmented Mediterranean, 1945–1990 613 The Last Mediterranean, 1950–2010 628 Conclusion: Crossing the Sea 641 Further Reading 649 Notes 651 Index 728 ix www.Ebook777.com Free ebooks ==> www.Ebook777.com 43 The Muslim scholar and prince Idrisi, from Ceuta, served the Norman kings of Sicily as their geographer Although twelfth-century manuscripts of his work not survive, this late-medieval world map is probably a copy of one drawn by Idrisi South is at the top and so the Mediterranean is in the bottom right segment, with the Adriatic cutting deep into the European landmass 44 Detail of an early fourteenth-century portolan chart drawn in Majorca Sardinia stands in the centre, and Majorca is flamboyantly distinguished by the flag of its Catalan king Place-names crowd the coasts www.Ebook777.com Free ebooks ==> www.Ebook777.com 45 Thirteenth-century wall-paintings showing the capture of the City of Majorca in 1229 by the troops of King James I of Aragon These events were also celebrated in King James’s Book of Deeds, written in Catalan, the first royal autobiography from the Middle Ages 46 Aigues-Mortes, meaning ‘dead waters’, was founded on the edge of the Camargue as a base for French trade into the Mediterranean and as a departure point for crusaders bound for the East Most of its well-preserved buildings date from the start of the fourteenth century, by which time it was functioning as the outport of its former rival Montpellier, which lay under Majorcan rule www.Ebook777.com Free ebooks ==> www.Ebook777.com 47 Genoa is squeezed between the Ligurian Alps and the sea, and Hartmann Schedel’s Nuremberg Chronicle printed in 1493 conveys well the mass of buildings, towers and churches clustered together beside the port, including (top centre) the imposing gateway built when the city was under threat from the German emperor Frederick Barbarossa in the mid-twelfth century 48 Dubrovnik seen from the south-east, with its imposing line of fifteenth-century walls The harbour, just visible, lay on the other side and one of the tall buildings on the right was the grain store The town is bisected by the street known as Placa or Stradun, ending on the right next to the weighing-house or Sponza Palace, which now houses the city’s rich archives; the Jewish quarter lay to the left of the palace www.Ebook777.com Free ebooks ==> www.Ebook777.com 49 In the fifteenth century, Manises in the Valencian hinterland was the great centre for the production of glazed ceramics with lustre decoration This bowl bears the coat-of-arms of the degli Agli family of Florence; Italian patricians were keen purchasers of these Hispano-Moresque wares Inspired by Moorish technology, Christian potters came to dominate production, but there were some joint workshops where Muslims and Christians worked side by side 50 This votive model of a cargo ship, a unique survival from the Middle Ages, originally stood in a church in Mataró in Catalonia Nearly 120 cm long and over 50 cm broad, it dates from around 1420 and is made partly of mulberry wood from the Mediterranean, its hull constructed out of planks laid flush, in Mediterranean style www.Ebook777.com Free ebooks ==> www.Ebook777.com 51 The magnificent Exchange (llotja) in Valencia, built between 1483 and 1498 This hall with its soaring columns was used for the transaction of business, while in another room the commercial court of Valencia sat The inscription glorifying honest trade can be seen running around the cornice 52 The code of maritime law known as the Consulate of the Sea determined commercial law in Valencia and among Catalan merchants overseas A printed edition appeared in 1494 This earlier manuscript copy portrays King Alfonso the Magnanimous (d 1458) surrounded by his courtiers, a reminder that the king and the merchants worked closely together to create a political and commercial empire in the Mediterranean www.Ebook777.com Free ebooks ==> www.Ebook777.com 53 Mehmet II, Ottoman sultan, known as ‘the Conqueror’ (Fatih) in recognition of his capture of Constantinople Fascinated by Italian culture, he summoned the Italian artist Gentile Bellini to his court, where this portrait was painted not long before Mehmet’s death in 1481 54 At the end of his life, Mehmet launched ambitious expeditions against Latin Christendom, sending his fleet to Otranto in southern Italy, which was occupied, but failing in 1480 to capture Rhodes Here, a French miniaturist celebrates the defeat of the Turks, forced to come to terms with the Knights Hospitallers, whose flags can be seen along the walls and atop the maritime fortress www.Ebook777.com Free ebooks ==> www.Ebook777.com 55 & 56 Hisr (left), also known as Hayrettin and as Barbarossa (d 1546), was one of the most ruthless Barbary corsairs; based in Algiers, he launched attacks on Minorca and Italy and wintered in Toulon at the invitation of King Francis I of France This painting was the work of Nakkep Reis Haydar, who had himself served at sea Andrea Doria (right) came from one of the most eminent Genoese families He entered the service of the king of France but then abandoned him in 1528 for Charles V He was a tough rival to Hayrettin Barbarossa and scored significant victories, such as the recovery of Coron in southern Greece in 1532 57 Hayrettin commanded an Ottoman fleet sent to Tunis after a succession struggle broke out in 1534 Charles V intervened and recaptured Tunis in 1535; the Spaniards built a fort in the Lac de Tunis near Goleta that still stands This cartoon for a series of tapestries shows the Spanish capture of Goleta www.Ebook777.com Free ebooks ==> www.Ebook777.com 58 About 150,000 Spaniards of Muslim descent, the Moriscos, were expelled between 1609 and 1614, even though some protested that they were devout Christians This painting shows their departure by sea from Vinaròs, a flourishing port north of Valencia City 59 Venetian painting recording the victory of a small Venetian squadron over seventeen Turkish ships off Crete in May 1661 By this time the Venetians had lost the second and third cities of Crete and were holding on to Candia (Heraklion) by their fingernails; they lost the island in 1669 www.Ebook777.com Free ebooks ==> www.Ebook777.com 60 French assault on Mahón in British-held Minorca, 1756 St Philip’s Fort, guarding the entrance to the largest natural harbour in the Mediterranean, can be seen in the foreground France saw the British presence close to Toulon as a direct threat to its Mediterranean fleet 61 The execution of Admiral Byng on 14 March 1757 on the quarterdeck of HMS Monarch Byng was the scapegoat for the British government and Admiralty, which had sent him on an impossible mission to relieve Minorca with inadequate numbers of ships and men As Voltaire famously said, he was executed pour encourager les autres www.Ebook777.com Free ebooks ==> www.Ebook777.com 62 Admiral Fyodor Ushakov (1744– 1817), commander of the Russian fleet in the Mediterranean, who captured the Ionian islands from France In 2000 he became the patron saint of the Russian navy 63 Viscount Hood, commander of the British fleet in the Mediterranean from 1793 Like Nelson, he was the son of a clergyman Under his command the British occupied Toulon and brought Corsica under the British Crown 64 The German nobleman Ferdinand von Hompesch was the last Grand Master of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta, or Knights of St John, to rule Malta Elected in July 1797, his rule lasted only a year before Napoleon seized the island 65 Stephen Decatur was the first American naval hero, and his name is still borne by US warships In 1803 and 1804 he led celebrated attacks on Tripoli harbour in Libya; his acts of bravery symbolized the victory of American courage over the brute strength of the Barbary pirates www.Ebook777.com Free ebooks ==> www.Ebook777.com 66 Port Said was a new town built to service the Suez Canal In this photograph from 1880 ships wait to enter the Canal The ship at centre left is an ironclad vessel combining sail and steam power 19 Hannibal, first century bc stone bust 67 Trieste, with its mixed population of German-speakers, Italian-speakers and Slavspeakers, of Christians and Jews, gave the Austro-Hungarian empire access to the Mediterranean This photograph of around 1890 shows the quayside belonging to Austrian Lloyd, the city’s most important navigation company, whose leading shareholders were drawn from a variety of ethnic backgrounds www.Ebook777.com Free ebooks ==> www.Ebook777.com 68 The Grand Square, also known as Place Mehmet Ali, in Alexandria in the 1910s The square neatly expressed the wish to make Alexandria into a European city perched next to Africa Here stood the multinational court that dealt with commercial cases, and here Colonel Nasser delivered a rousing speech in 1956 announcing the nationalization of the Suez Canal 69 Italian attempts to portray the occupation of Turkish Libya as part of a European civilizing mission were reinforced by illustrations such as this one from a French magazine of October 1911 The mere presence of Italian officers, inspired by the goddess bearing the flame of liberty, is sufficient to scare away the cowardly and primitive natives www.Ebook777.com Free ebooks ==> www.Ebook777.com 70 The refusal of the French navy to join the British fleet or to withdraw to neutral waters led Churchill to authorize the attack on the French warships moored at Mers el-Kebir in October 1940 Resentment at British actions not only led to a final break in diplomatic relations but soured relations between the defeated French and Great Britain throughout much of the Second World War 71 In July 1943 British troops landed in Sicily in the first stage of a campaign that would take Allied armies slowly up the Italian peninsula Feint attacks on Sardinia had led the Germans to imagine that it rather than Sicily was the intended target www.Ebook777.com Free ebooks ==> www.Ebook777.com 72 Ship carrying 4,500 Jewish refugees from central and eastern Europe, seen docking at Haifa on October 1947 after its seizure by the British authorities Many of those attempting to reach Palestine were sent to camps in Cyprus 73 Charles de Gaulle, having led Free French forces during the Second World War, seized power in 1958 as the Third Republic grappled with the problem of French rule over Algeria, which he initially promised to maintain Here he is seen visiting Algeria in June 1958, to the delight of the French settlers www.Ebook777.com Free ebooks ==> www.Ebook777.com 74 From the 1960s onwards, Spain exploited the rise of the package holiday and then came to regret some of its effects: concrete hotels, restaurants and bars on the Costas, along with impossibly crowded beaches, such as this one at Lloret de Mar in Catalonia Similar scenes now regularly appear in parts of France, Italy, Greece, Cyprus and Israel 75 By the end of the twentieth century the Mediterranean lands of the European Union had become a tightly guarded frontier across which the movement of migrants from Africa and Asia was strictly controlled Here a group of migrants from Africa is trying to land on Spanish soil near the Straits of Gibraltar www.Ebook777.com ... added to the vocabulary, coining epithets such as the ‘Inner Sea , the ‘Encircled Sea , the ‘Friendly Sea , the ‘Faithful Sea of several religions, the ‘Bitter Sea of the Second World War, the ‘Corrupting... ‘White Sea (Akdeniz) for the Turks, the Great Sea (Yam gadol) for the Jews, the ‘Middle Sea (Mittelmeer) for the Germans, and more doubtfully the Great Green’ of the ancient Egyptians Modern... Introduction: A Sea with Many Names Known in English and the romance languages as the sea ‘between the lands’, the Mediterranean goes and has gone by many names: ‘Our Sea for the Romans, the ‘White Sea