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For other uses, see Levant (disambiguation).
See also: Names of the Levant
The Levant
The Levant
Israel+Palestine, Lebanon, Jordan and Syria.
Israel+Palestine, Lebanon, Jordan and Syria. Over recorded history there have been many names of the Levant, a large area in the Middle East For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Israel topics. Palestine is a name which has been widely used since Roman times to refer to the region between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River. Lebanon (ˈlɛbənɒn Arabic: ar لبنان Lubnān) officially the Republic of Lebanon or Lebanese Republic (ar الجمهورية اللبنانية Jordan, officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan (الأردنّ al-Urdunn) is an Arab country in Southwest Asia spanning the southern Syria ( سوريّة or) officially the Syrian Arab Republic (Arabic ar الجمهورية العربية السورية

The Levant (IPA: /lə'vænt/) is a geographical term that denotes a large area in the Middle East, roughly bounded on the north by the Taurus Mountains, on the west by the Mediterranean Sea, on the east by Upper Mesopotamia, and on the south by the Arabian Desert. The Middle East is a Subcontinent with no clear boundaries often used as a synonym to Near East, in opposition to Far East. For the Taurus Mountains on the moon see Montes Taurus. For Mount Taurus outside Cold Spring New York, see Bull Hill. For other uses see the disambiguation Jazira. Al-Jazira ( Arabic, الجزيرة is the traditional Arabic name for the modern-day regions of northwestern The Arabian Desert is a vast Desert wilderness stretching from Yemen to the Persian Gulf and Oman to Jordan and Iraq. An imprecise term, it refers to an area of cultural habitation rather than to a specific area of land.

The Levant forms the middle part of the Fertile Crescent, between the Nile Valley (Egypt) to the south-west, and Mesopotamia (Iraq) to the east. The Fertile Crescent is a Crescent -shaped region in the Middle East, originally incorporating the Levant and Ancient Mesopotamia, and often The Nile (النيل, Ancient Egyptian iteru or Ḥ'pī, Coptic piaro or phiaro) is a major north-flowing River This article is about the country of Egypt For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Egypt topics. Mesopotamia (from the Greek meaning "land between the rivers" is an area geographically located between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers largely corresponding For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Iraq topics.

Contents

Dimensions

The Levant measures about 120 miles (190 km) east to west and 200 miles (320 km) north to south. Its lowest point is the surface of the Dead Sea, 1,000 feet (304 m) below sea level. Its highest point is the peak of Qurnat as Sawdā’, 3,083 m (10,131 ft) above sea level.

Etymology

Inhabitants of the Levant, late nineteenth century.
Inhabitants of the Levant, late nineteenth century.

The term Levant, which first appeared in English in 1497, originally meant a wider sense of "Mediterranean lands east of Venetia". It derives from the Middle French levant, the participle of lever "to raise" — as in soleil levant "rising Sun" — from the Latin levare. Middle French (le moyen français is a historical division of the French language which covers the period from (roughly 1340 to 1611. Latin ( lingua Latīna, laˈtiːna is an Italic language, historically spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It thus referred to the Eastern direction of the rising Sun from the perspective of those who first used it and has analogues in other European languages, notably Morgenland (i. The Sun (Sol is the Star at the center of the Solar System. e. , morning land) in German and Danish. The German language (de ''Deutsch'') is a West Germanic language and one of the world's major languages. Danish ( d̥ænsɡ̊ is one of the North Germanic languages (also called Scandinavian languages a sub-group of the Germanic branch of the As such, it is broadly equivalent to the Arabic term Mashriq, "the land where the Sun rises". Arabic (ar الْعَرَبيّة (informally ar عَرَبيْ) in terms of the number of speakers is the largest living member of the Semitic language This article is about the Mashriq region For other uses see Mashriq (disambiguation The Mashriq or Mashreq (also in use Mashrek It is similar to the Ancient Greek name Ανατολία (Anatolía) which means the "land of the rising Sun", or simply the East. The Ancient Greek language is the historical stage in the development of the Hellenic language family spanning the Archaic (c It derives from ανατολή = “the rise, especially the sunrise”, resp. from ἀνατέλλω = to rise, esp. said of the Sun or Moon (ἀνά = up, above + τέλλω = to go, rise, come into existence). For the Greeks, Ανατολία (Anatolía) is a synonym of Μικρά Ασία (Mikrá Asía = Asia Minor), not of Levant. Anatolia (Anadolu Ανατολία Anatolía) or Asia minor, comprising most of modern Turkey, is the geographic region bounded by the Black

An alternative, though unlikely, etymology suggests that the term stems from Lebanon — the letters b and v are, in fact, one letter in Hebrew and Aramaic and interchange according to pronunciation. Lebanon (ˈlɛbənɒn Arabic: ar لبنان Lubnān) officially the Republic of Lebanon or Lebanese Republic (ar الجمهورية اللبنانية Spanish translators of Arabic would use the letters b and v interchangeably as a consequence of their Spanish pronunciations. Thus, the Levant would refer to the areas surrounding Lebanon, itself deriving from the Aramaic word for white in reference to the snow-capped Lebanese mountains. Note that the term levant is also used to refer to a portion of the eastern Spanish littoral, which also argues for a romance language origin.

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 Grand Turk in 1579 (Braudel). English is a West Germanic language originating in England and is the First language for most people in the United Kingdom, the United States Great Sultan is one of various informal Titles such as Grand Turk, used to refer to the Ottoman Sultan, known in Ottoman Turkish

In 19th-century travel writing, the term incorporated eastern regions under then current or recent governance of the Ottoman empire, such as Greece. Travel writing is a broad category of Writing concerned with various aspects of Travel. The Ottoman Empire (1299–1923 ( Old Ottoman Turkish: دولتْ علیّه عثمانیّه Devlet-i Âliye-yi Osmâniyye, Late Ottoman and Modern Turkish Greece (Ελλάδα transliterated: Elláda, historically, Ellás,) officially the Hellenic Republic (Ελληνική Δημοκρατία 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 name Levantine is additionally applied to people of Italian (especially Venetian and Genoese), French, or other Euro-Mediterranean origin who have lived in Turkey or the East Mediterranean coast (the Levant) since the period of the Crusades, the Byzantine period and the Ottoman period. Italy (Italia officially the Italian Republic, (Repubblica Italiana is located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe, and on the two largest Venice ( Italian: Venezia, Venetian: Venesia or Venexia) is a city in Northern Italy, the capital of the Genoa ( Genova, ˈdʒɛːnova in Italian; Zena in Genoese and Ligurian; Genua in Latin and archaically in English This article is about the country For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic France topics. The term Southern Europe can have four definitions geographical political climatic phytogeographic Turkey (Türkiye known officially as the Republic of Turkey ( is a Eurasian Country that stretches The Crusades were a series of military campaigns of a religious character waged by much of Christian Europe against external and internal opponents The Ottoman Empire (1299–1923 ( Old Ottoman Turkish: دولتْ علیّه عثمانیّه Devlet-i Âliye-yi Osmâniyye, Late Ottoman and Modern Turkish The majority of them are descendants of traders from the maritime republics of the Mediterranean (such as the Republic of Venice, the Republic of Genoa and the Republic of Ragusa) or of the inhabitants of Crusader states (especially the French Levantines in Turkey and Lebanon). The Most Serene Republic of Venice ((Serenìsima Repùblica Vèneta or Repùblica de Venesia Serenissima Repubblica The Most Serene Republic of Genoa (Repubblica di Genova was an independent state in Liguria on the northwestern Italian coast from the 11th century The Republic of The Crusader states were a number of mostly 12th- and 13th-century feudal states created by Western European Crusaders in Asia Minor, Greece and Turkey (Türkiye known officially as the Republic of Turkey ( is a Eurasian Country that stretches Lebanon (ˈlɛbənɒn Arabic: ar لبنان Lubnān) officially the Republic of Lebanon or Lebanese Republic (ar الجمهورية اللبنانية They continue to live in İstanbul (mostly in the districts of Galata, Beyoğlu and Nişantaşı) and İzmir (mostly in the districts of Bornova and Buca). Istanbul (historically Byzantium and later Constantinople; see the other Names of Istanbul) is the largest city of Turkey Galata or Galatae is a district in Istanbul, the largest city of Turkey. Beyoğlu is a district located on the European side of İstanbul, Turkey, separated from the old city (historic peninsula of Constantinople) by the Nişantaşı is a quarter of Istanbul, Turkey, comprising neighbourhoods like Teşvikiye Osmanbey Maçka and Pangaltı İzmir, historically Smyrna, is the third most populous city of Turkey and the country's largest port after İstanbul. Bornova is a district of İzmir Province in Turkey. It is one of the nine districts in the Greater Metropolitan Area of İzmir, the third largest Buca is a district of İzmir Province of Turkey. It is one of the metropolitan districts of Greater İzmir.

When the United Kingdom took over Palestine in the aftermath of the First World War, some of the new rulers adapted the term pejoratively to refer to inhabitants of mixed Arab and European descent and to Europeans (usually French, Italian, or Greek) who had "gone native" and adopted local dress and customs. The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom, the UK or Britain,is a Sovereign state located Palestine is a name which has been widely used since Roman times to refer to the region between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River. World War I (abbreviated WWI; also known as the First World War, the Great War, and the War to End All The araB gene Promoter is a bacterial promoter activated by e L-arabinose binding Legal residents and citizens To be French according to the first article of the Constitution is to be a citizen of France regardless of one's origin race or religion ( The' Italian people' are a Southern European Ethnic group located primarily in Italy, Switzerland, France and by virtue of a wide-ranging Greece (Ελλάδα transliterated: Elláda, historically, Ellás,) officially the Hellenic Republic (Ελληνική Δημοκρατία

The French Mandates of Syria and Lebanon from 1920 to 1946 were called the Levant states. The French Mandate of Syria was a League of Nations Mandate created after the First World War and the Partitioning of the Ottoman Empire. The French Mandate of Lebanon was a League of Nations Mandate created at the end of World War I. The term became common in archaeology at that time, as many important early excavations were made then, such as Mari and Ugarit. Archaeology, archeology, or archæology (from Greek grc ἀρχαιολογία archaiologia – grc ἀρχαῖος archaīos Mari (modern Tell Hariri, Syria) was an ancient Sumerian and Amorite city located 11 kilometers north-west of the modern town of Ugarit ( Ugaritic: ʼugrt; Hebrew:; Arabic:) (modern Ras Shamra رأس شمرة ("top/head/cape of the wild Fennel Since these sites could not be classified as Mesopotamian, North African, or Arabian, they came to be referred to as "Levantine. North Africa or Northern Africa is the Northernmost Region of the African Continent, separated by the Sahara from Sub-Saharan The Arabian Peninsula (in Arabic: شبه الجزيرة العربية šibh al-jazīra al-ʻarabīya or جزيرة العرب jazīrat al-ʻarab) "

Today "Levant" is typically used by archaeologists and historians with reference to the prehistory and the ancient and medieval history of the region, as when discussing the Crusades. Stone Age Paleolithic See also Paleolithic, Recent African Origin, Early Homo sapiens, Early human migrations "Paleolithic" "Ancient" redirects here For other uses see Ancient_(disambiguation. The Crusades were a series of military campaigns of a religious character waged by much of Christian Europe against external and internal opponents The term is also occasionally employed to refer to modern or contemporary events, peoples, states, or parts of states in the same region, namely Israel, Jordan, the West Bank / Judea and Samaria and Gaza Strip, Lebanon, and Syria. For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Israel topics. Jordan, officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan (الأردنّ al-Urdunn) is an Arab country in Southwest Asia spanning the southern The West Bank (الضفة الغربية, הגדה המערבית Hagadah Hamaaravit) also referred to in Israel as " Judea and Samaria This article refers to a District of Israel called Judea and Samaria The Gaza Strip (قطاع غزة, רצועת עזה Retzu'at 'Azza) is a coastal strip of land along the Mediterranean Sea, bordering Egypt on the south-west Lebanon (ˈlɛbənɒn Arabic: ar لبنان Lubnān) officially the Republic of Lebanon or Lebanese Republic (ar الجمهورية اللبنانية Syria ( سوريّة or) officially the Syrian Arab Republic (Arabic ar الجمهورية العربية السورية

In "The Maltese Falcon" by Dashiell Hammett, the character Joel Cairo is referred to as a Levantine. The Maltese Falcon is a 1930 Detective novel by Dashiell Hammett, originally serialized in the magazine " Black Mask " Samuel Dashiell Hammett ( May 27, 1894 — January 10, 1961) was an American Author of Hardboiled detective

Regions

See also

References

External Links

Dictionary

Levant

-proper noun

  1. The countries bordering the eastern Mediterranean Sea variously:
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