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Levant
*** Shopping-Tip: Levant
:''For other uses of the terms Levant, Levante or Levantine, see
Levant (disambiguation).''
Image:Middle East Levant.jpg thumb|250px|The Levant
'''Levant''' is an imprecise
geographical terms geographical term historically referring to a large area in the
Middle East south of the
Taurus Mountains, bounded by the
Mediterranean Sea on the west, and by the northern
Arabian Desert and Upper
Mesopotamia to the east. The Levant does not include the
Caucasus Mountains, any part of the
Arabian Peninsula proper, or
Anatolia — although at times
Cilicia may be included. The
Sinai Peninsula may also be included, but may be excluded as a marginal area forming a land bridge between the Levant and northern
Egypt. At times Levantine cultures and peoples dominated the region between the Sinai and the
Nile river, but that region is usually excluded from the geographical Levant. For what the Levant has been called by natives and others over time, see
Names of the Levant.
=Etymology=
The term ''Levant'' is first attested in English in
1497, originally used in the wider sense of "Mediterranean lands east of Italy." It derives from the
Middle French ''levant'', the participle of ''
lever'' "to raise" — as in ''soleil levant'' "rising sun" — from the
Latin ''levare''. It thus referred to the direction of the rising
sun from the perspective of those who first used it. As such, it is broadly equivalent to the
Arabic language Arabic term ''
Mashriq'', "the land where the sun rises."
An alternative etymology suggests that the term stems from
Lebanon - noting that Spanish translators of Arabic would use the letters ''b'' and ''v'' interchangeably as a consequence of their Spanish-pronunciations. Thus, the Levant refers to the areas
Image:Modern_Levant.PNG thumb|250px|Modern Levant surrounding Lebanon, itself deriving from the Arabic word for ''white'' in reference to the snow-capped Lebanese mountains.
The term became current in
English language English in the
16th century, along 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
Great Sultan Grand Turk in
1579 (Braudel).
The name '''Levantine''' was applied to people of
Italy Italian (especially
Venetian and
Genoa Genoese),
France French, or other Mediterranean origin who lived in
Turkey during the period of the
Ottoman Empire. The majority of these people were descendants of traders or of the inhabitants of
Crusader States.
When the
Britain British took over
Palestine (region) Palestine in the aftermath of the
World War I First World War, some of the new rulers adapted the term pejoratively to refer to inhabitants of mixed
Arab and
Europe European descent and to Europeans (usually French, Italian, or
Greece Greek) who had "gone native" and adopted local dress and customs.
The French Mandates of
French Mandate of Syria Syria and
French Mandate of Lebanon Lebanon from
1920 to
1946 were called the Levant states. The term became common in
archaeology at that time, as many important early excavations were made then, such as at
Ebla,
Mari, Syria Mari and
Ugarit. Since these sites could not be classified as Mesopotamian,
North Africa North African, or
Arabian Peninsula Arabian, they came to be referred to as "Levantine."
Today "Levant" is most typically used by archaeologists and historians with reference to the
prehistory and the
Ancient history ancient and
medieval history of the region, as when discussing the
Crusades. But the term is still employed occasionally to refer to modern or contemporary events, peoples, states, or parts of states in the same region, namely
Israel,
Jordan,
Lebanon,
Palestinian territories Palestine or
Syria.
See also
*
Levantine Arabic
*
History of the Levant
*
Southern Levant
*
Canaan
*
Greater Syria
*
Bilad al-Sham
*
Mesopotamia
*
Council for British Research in the Levant
References
*
Fernand Braudel Braudel, Fernand, ''The Mediterranean and the Mediterranean World in the Age of Phillip II''
{{Region}}
Category:Levant
Category:Near East
af:Levant
de:Levante
et:Levant
fr:Levant
hr:Levant
it:Levante (geografia)
he:×œ×‘× ×˜
nl:Levant
ja:レ�ント
no:Levanten
pl:Lewant
pt:Levante
sk:Levanta
fi:Levantti
sv:Levanten
Category:Middle East
Category:Mediterranean
Category:Ancient Near East
Category:Old Testament places
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