The Levant
The Levant is a term in geography that refers to an area in the Middle East. It includes the historic areas of Lebanon, Jordan, Palestine, Israel and Syria.
The Levant is bounded by the Taurus Mountains to the north, the Mediterranean Sea to the west, the northern Arabian Desert to the south and Upper Mesopotamia to the east.
The word "Levant" entered the English language in the 16th century, together with the first English merchant adventurers in the region. English ships appeared in the Mediterranean in the 1570s and the English merchant company signed its agreement ("capitulations") with the Grand Turk in 1579 (Braudel).
Today, the word "Levant" is usually used by archaeologists and historians who are talking about the prehistory and the ancient and medieval history of the region, as when discussing the Crusades. The term is also used sometimes to refer to modern or contemporary events, peoples, states, or parts of states in the same region, such as Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria and the Palestinian territories.
Regions
The Levant Media
Levant (orthographic projection)
French medal commemorating the Franco-Turkish War in Cilicia, c. 1920
1909 postcard depicting Ottoman Constantinople and bearing a French stamp inscribed "Levant"
Prince from Lebanon and Muslim from Damascus, late 19th century
Map representing the distribution of the Arabic dialects in the area of the Levant
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Related pages
References
- Braudel, Fernand, The Mediterranean and the Mediterranean World in the Age of Phillip II
- http://www.levantine.plus.com/index.htm Archived 2007-11-14 at the Wayback Machine. Levantine Heritage Site. Includes many oral and scholarly histories, and genealogies for some Levantine Turkish families.
Other websites
- France and the Levant from 1920
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