Levant

The Levant (/ləˈvænt/; Arabic: المشرق /ʔal-maʃriq/^{[1][5][6][7][8][9][10]}) is an approximate historical geographical term referring to a large area in the eastern Mediterranean. In its widest historical sense, the Levant included all of the eastern Mediterranean with its islands,^[3] that is, it included all of the countries along the eastern Mediterranean shores, extending from Greece to Cyrenaica.^[1][2] The term Levant entered English in the late 15th century from French.^[3] It derives from the Italian Levante, meaning "rising", implying the rising of the sun in the east.^[1][2] As such, it is broadly equivalent to the Arabic term Mashriq,^[5] 'the land where the sun rises'.

In the 13th and 14th centuries, the term levante was used for Italian maritime commerce in the eastern Mediterranean, including Greece, Anatolia, Syria-Palestine, and Egypt, that is, the lands east of Venice.^[1] Eventually the term was restricted to the Muslim countries of Syria-Palestine and Egypt.^[1] In 1581 England set up the Levant Company to monopolize commerce with the Ottoman Empire.^[1]

The name Levant States was used to refer to the French mandate over Syria and Lebanon after World War I.^[1][2] This is probably the reason why the term Levant has come to be used synonymously with Syria-Palestine.^[1] Some scholars misunderstood the term thinking that it derives from the name of Lebanon.^[1] Today the term is typically used in conjunction with prehistoric or ancient historical references. It has the same meaning as Syria-Palestine or the region of Syria (Arabic: الشام /ʔaʃ-ʃaːm/), that is, it means an area bounded by the Taurus Mountains of Turkey in the North, the Mediterranean Sea in the west, and the north Arabian Desert and Mesopotamia in the east.^[11] It does not include Anatolia (the former Asia Minor, now Asian Turkey; although at times Cilicia may be included), the Caucasus Mountains, or any part of the Arabian Peninsula proper. The Sinai Peninsula (Asian Egypt) is sometimes included, though more considered an intermediate, peripheral or marginal area forming a land bridge between the Levant and northern African Egypt.

The Levant has been described as the "crossroads of western Asia, the eastern Mediterranean and northeast Africa",^[12] and the "northwest of the Arabian plate".^[13]

Etymology

The Levantine Sea, the eastern portion of the Mediterranean.

The term Levant, which appeared in English in 1497, originally meant the East in general or "Mediterranean lands east of Italy".^[14] It is borrowed from the French levant 'rising', referring to the rising of the sun in the east,^[14] or the point where the sun rises.^[15] The phrase is ultimately from the Latin word levare, meaning 'lift, raise'. Similar etymologies are found in Greek Ἀνατολή (Anatolē, cf. Anatolia), in Germanic Morgenland (literally, "morning land"), in Italian (as in "Riviera di Levante", the portion of the Liguria coast east of Genoa), in Hungarian Kelet, in Spanish and Catalan Levante and Llevant, ("the place of rising"), and in Hebrew (mizrah). Most notably, "Orient" and its Latin source oriens meaning "east", is literally "rising", deriving from Latin orior "rise".^[16]

French medal commemorating the war in Cilicia, which was initially part of the French mandate.

The notion of the Levant has undergone a dynamic process of historical evolution in usage, meaning, and understanding. While the term "Levantine" originally referred to the European residents of the eastern Mediterranean region, it later came to refer to regional "native" and "minority" groups.^[17]

The term became current in 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 Ottoman Sultan in 1579 (Braudel). The English Levant Company was founded in 1581 to trade with the Ottoman Empire, and in 1670 the French Compagnie du Levant was founded for the same purpose. At this time, the Far East was known as the "Upper Levant".^[1]

In early 19th-century travel writing, the term sometimes incorporated certain Mediterranean provinces of the Ottoman empire, as well as independent Greece (and especially the Greek islands). In 19th-century archaeology, it referred to overlapping cultures in this region during and after prehistoric times, intending to reference the place instead of any one culture. The French mandate of Syria and Lebanon (1920–1946) was called the Levant states.^[1][2]

Geography and modern-day use of the term

Satellite view of the Levant including Cyprus, Syria, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine and the Northern Sinai

Today, "Levant" is the term typically used by archaeologists and historians with reference to the history of the region. Scholars have adopted the term Levant to identify the region due to it being a "wider, yet relevant, cultural corpus" that does not have the "political overtones" of Syria-Palestine.^[18][19] The term is also occasionally employed to refer to modern events, peoples, states or parts of states in the same region, namely Cyprus, Egypt, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine, Syria, and Turkey are sometimes considered Levant countries (compare with Near East, Middle East, Eastern Mediterranean and Western Asia). Several researchers include the island of Cyprus in Levantine studies, including the Council for British Research in the Levant,^[20] the UCLA Near Eastern Languages and Cultures department,^[21] Journal of Levantine Studies^[22] and the UCL Institute of Archaeology,^[12] the last of which has dated the connection between Cyprus and mainland Levant to the early Iron Age. Archaeologists seeking a neutral orientation that is neither biblical nor national have used terms such as Syro-Palestinian archaeology and archaeology of the southern Levant.^[23][24]

While the usage of the term "Levant" in academia has been restricted to the fields of archeology and literature, there is a recent attempt to reclaim the notion of the Levant as a category of analysis in political and social sciences. Two academic journals were recently launched: Journal of Levantine Studies, published by the Van Leer Jerusalem Institute and The Levantine Review, published by Boston College.

ISIL has adopted the term "Levant" within the English translation of their self-designation.

History

People, politics, religion, and culture

The populations of the Levant^[25][26][27] share not only the geographic position, but cuisine, some customs, and a very long history. The largest religious group in the Levant are the Muslims and the largest cultural-linguistic group are primarily Arab, due to the Muslim conquest of the Levant in the 7th century and subsequent Arabization of the region, but there are also many other groups.

The majority of Levantines are Sunni, Salafi, nondenominational or Shia Muslim. There are also Jews, Christians, Yazidi Kurds, Alawites, Nizari, Druze, and Ismailis.

Until the creation of the modern State of Israel in 1948, Jews lived throughout the Levant alongside Muslims and Christians; since then, almost all have been expelled from their homes and sought refuge in Israel.

There are many Levantine Christian groups such as Greek and Oriental Orthodox, Maronite, Roman Catholic, and Protestant. Armenians mostly belong to the Armenian Apostolic Church. There are Levantines or Franco-Levantines who are mostly Roman Catholic. There are also Circassians, Turks, Samaritans, and Nawars. There are Assyrian peoples belonging to the Assyrian Church of the East (autonomous) and the Chaldean Catholic Church (Catholic).

Language

Most Levantine populations speak Levantine Arabic, also known as Mediterranean Arabic (شامي, Šāmī). In Israel, the primary language is Hebrew, while Arabic is also an official language (but de facto a minority language). In Cyprus, the majority language is Greek, followed by Turkish, and then a dialect of Levantine Arabic, Cypriot Maronite Arabic. Some communities and populations speak Aramaic, Greek, Armenian, Circassian, French, English, or other languages in addition to Levantine Arabic.

See also

Overlapping regional designations

• Fertile Crescent
• Mashriq
• Mesopotamia
• Near East and Middle East
• Western Asia

Sub-regional designations

• Southern Levant

Other

• French post offices in the Ottoman Empire ("Levant" stamps)
• History of the Levant
• Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Referred to in current events as ISIL or ISIS)
• Levantines (Latin Christians), Catholic Europeans in the Levant
• Levantine Sea

References

Bibliography

• Braudel, Fernand, The Mediterranean and the Mediterranean World in the Age of Phillip II
• Julia Chatzipanagioti: Griechenland, Zypern, Balkan und Levante. Eine kommentierte Bibliographie der Reiseliteratur des 18. Jahrhunderts. 2 Vol. Eutin 2006. ISBN 3-9810674-2-8
• Levantine Heritage site. Includes many oral and scholarly histories, and genealogies for some Levantine Turkish families.
• Philip Mansel, Levant: Splendour and Catastrophe on the Mediterranean, London, John Murray, 11 November 2010, hardback, 480 pages, ISBN 978-0-7195-6707-0, New Haven, Yale University Press, 24 May 2011, hardback, 470 pages, ISBN 978-0-300-17264-5

External links

Wikivoyage has a travel guide for Levant.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Levant.

• France and the Levant

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