David Abulafia is a British historian, specialist in the Mediterranean, professor at Cambridge and author of The Great Sea. A history of the Mediterranean and the Mediterranean people (Les Belles Lettres, August 2022, 744 pages, 35 euros). He returns to the singularity of this sea, a meeting place for multiple cultures.
Are wind turbines going with the flow of history in the Mediterranean?
No doubt, yes. There are still fairly large areas in the Mediterranean without much human navigation. There remains the aesthetic question, subject to various assessments around the Mediterranean, which could create turbulence. During the communist era, the cleaning of the tanks of Albanian boats transporting chemical products in the Adriatic caused a scandal. And, for five years, oil exploration around Cyprus has given rise to strong tensions between Turkey, Greece, Israel and Egypt. Sometimes the exploitation of the sea has an explosive potential.
How long has it been used?
She always has been. By fishing, as a food resource, or for corals in Sardinia and Sicily and as a means of circulation for trade. However, its exploitation has worsened with the arrival of new technologies: compressed air cylinders have allowed the extraction of underwater riches, for example.
Since the beginning of the industrial era, the sea has also been used as a garbage can. On the bottom lies an incredible amount of remnants of World War II, and possibly nuclear waste.
What were the most transported materials by sea?
Under the Romans, trade in grain, textiles and luxury goods flourished. Controlling the wind and currents obviously played a vital role in navigation, before the first motor boats appeared. But energy as such is only a recent subject.
How is the Mediterranean different from the oceans?
It represents only 0.8% of the surface of the world’s oceans, but it has been central to humanity for three millennia now. Its climate, in summer, makes it easy to travel between Europe, Africa and Asia. The most important role that this sea has always played is to allow different civilizations, both continental and island (Sicily, Crete, Cyprus) to meet. On the oceans, there have always been gigantic areas free of any human presence. In the Mediterranean, it is the density that is striking.
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