The Mediterranean and "the New Thalassology"

Sea and ocean history is more novel than it sounds. It admirably exemplifies a new historiography of large areas. In one sense, the inquiry revisits a traditional historical geography. At the same time, both its scope and its methods are so distinctive as to make it an exciting—and quite unpredictable—area of reflection and research. A decade or so ago, such histories were hardly encouraged. In postmodern historiography, subjects of every kind, but especially identities and power relationships, became inflections of discourse. And because it made its own world, discourse could not be anchored to a particular place, even if, for practical reasons, its historians had to use texts from a particular region and period. Preset frontiers were taboo.1 The context, whether for an exercise in microhistory, in new historicism, or in postcolonialism, was, ideally, global. Area studies, in many ways the creation of cultural anthropology and long suspect in that discipline, now flourish again.2 But they are invigorated by what has been learned from the linguistic turn: there is no turning back. Even area studies, in their revived form, are therefore in some sense global, too. They may, for instance, be directly or indirectly influenced by debates on the nature and impact of economic and cultural globalization. The new interest in regional history derives, fundamentally, from the task of finding a different approach to world history—not through formulating generalizations about everything, but through the analysis of the whole by way of its components, and, consequently, of how those components fit together.3 The regions of the new regional history tend to have one obvious characteristic: they are big—inevitably, since they are implicitly or explicitly elements in a larger and potentially all-embracing historical project. For the same reason, their historians share a sophisticated consciousness of the problems of delimitation.4 The new regional history also (hardly surprisingly) retains the taste of late-twentieth-century scholarship for the erasure of established disciplinary and historical frontiers. Some existing categories seem reinvigorated; others are new. But a further common feature is that they cut across the political divisions that have shaped traditional history: the study of the lakes of the East African Rift Valley, for example, or the Silk Road. History of seas appeals to this project because the layout of sea and land makes the oceans and their embayments a way of approaching most parts of the world. By a simple metaphorical extension, “virtual seas” can be included, too, spaces of danger and variable communications—mountain ranges, forests, or arid wildernesses such as the Sahara. Some of these will resemble oceanic expanses; others, in being more densely surrounded by populated zones and dotted with island oases, will be inland “seas” like the Mediterranean. The systematic comparison of real and metaphorical seas can suggest a new configuration of history, and one that might attain a global scale.5 So promising, indeed, does the notion of a sea or an ocean appear for this task that the term “the new thalassology” has seemed an appropriate coinage to denote it.6 The choice of sea sometimes follows traditional geographical classifications, as with the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian oceans; but it is more enticing in many ways to propose less familiar, and sometimes smaller, maritime spaces, such as the Philippine island world.7 Novel species of juxtaposition and comparison become possible. They reveal unexpected coherences, such as the recurrent features of the northeast shores of the Atlantic in the premodern archaeological record.8 Peripheries become cores, and it is arguably one of the main attractions of the newly created or identified areas that they tend to be politically neutral. Apart from ignoring national boundaries, they subvert imperial hierarchies that privilege some powers' involvement in the areas in question. Thus, for instance, in the “new” Atlantic historiography, a “white,” a “black,” a “green” (Irish), and even a “red” (Marxist) Atlantic may coexist in equilibrium.9 Sea history also helps to expose the “myth of continents” and the precedence that historians have given to land over water as the support of social life.10 “East Asia” may be preferable to “the Far East,” but the investigation of the continuum of the China Sea is more liberating still. Last, and not least, we might guess from our own experience, sea history allows sedentary landlubber historians to indulge a taste for the romance or the frisson of seafaring.11 The Mediterranean has some claim to be the great original of seas as the subject of history. Sea-based political hegemony was identified as an object of historiographical inquiry in the fifth century b.c. by the first historians in the Western tradition, and for it the in the a in the first Even more in the century has been the sea history, The Mediterranean and the Mediterranean in the of a of and and on the in that of the the regional in the social are of the in the of the of The to a in has in a in the of the long term the both and In historical analysis as or the long in the by a by the or even by the is a of in the same of has for in this historical the geographical to those the whole The Mediterranean as a with its the of its with its many so different so its of its its is the of but those have had to with a from and one that has its own long and can be as a a the the of the Mediterranean have with many sometimes they have and the the inland sea in its have therefore the of a geographical those and features are the of Mediterranean has make the Mediterranean a for maritime The Sea region is “the Mediterranean of the The world created by the of the Atlantic, in the that for a Atlantic history is is the or has even the of the in its of to a of areas over and has been the term not to the of the and and the of the but also to the The Mediterranean to have an in the of historiography, and to to the of regional So it is to that the Mediterranean will also have to the new But does In what we that in by the that have been as a by how Mediterranean historians have to the by our own for Mediterranean and by the of the Mediterranean in a world of sea history and global history. The Mediterranean is in more as a in the new regional history than its might historians are regions of unexpected so as to of and of cultural those the Mediterranean that their subject is on the that it is no more than a the new regional helps to from political the Mediterranean of being an of and in the of politically even from the of with the Mediterranean so of a more that its in history can seem problems as a historiographical subject are those of problems tend to its sea has been the of a cultural history in a of water its to a distinctive and and even to The and of Mediterranean as a is also even we it no further than the A for the is that the Mediterranean is in so many is of a larger than could be from the history of It hardly that the as an area but to and has been the of since the and in many since of the the of the makes the The cultural so to the Mediterranean it for It is for in the and study of of we the term for that It is for those are that a to the of the and to the Mediterranean from the century to The of the Mediterranean also from the of that in the of the even this is one from historians may it to the most seas and they about what of subject it might the most on the whole notion of Mediterranean The cultural has of what of that is for from to At the of a new it that are about the of Mediterranean as a categories no have been or have a not for or but for The Mediterranean is and not in the sense that it is a of It as as a subject of can be not with an therefore For are of of for instance, are of the to in a and for can be “the Mediterranean their for political can be a of are also Mediterranean we a global of a in and the and the such we on a from “the as a distinctive and region or to its particular by what they had is the and most of the of It is a of the that the Mediterranean being an in and The first is Mediterranean are a and their tend to be it is they could be or in more and less The term has also been to a claim especially in the more to Mediterranean claim that this area and some of its have a historical and that further are And there is a some of the that has and the world of the is a Mediterranean of explicitly on the those use the Mediterranean to as subjects of They “the the than it as the It an object of than an also the they to use this does it can be no that such It is no for the to the is for to be as in the to first have the Mediterranean with study this area it of is for to in a cultural not as is to have cultural and political are has been cultural of the But has a larger historical It to the history of and the And it to the history of geography. The region as it is was in the not A Mediterranean world was, for example, in the systematic of It as a of the of a with a By the the could explicitly geographical in as a world power and a in world with the of Mediterranean The and in the Mediterranean in the The Mediterranean was as a of the Mediterranean as a region with distinctive or more and in more and not geographical were as a of the as an of the could the a in the and one in or the of the of the and the Sahara. not the of the as a region and not a is it like a geographical The the of Mediterranean had not been identified It is hardly that no region has such over the of whether it is an to our no over the of or a term of in and the Atlantic the and Western the has to with not the that is a with and, like ocean a in the Atlantic and the may, as in this the of their disciplinary But these are or not as so politically as to some have Mediterranean historians to now that its has been so seem to have the approach by their to politically discourse have no historical and study of “the of the the whole of the region has been or of and even of and to and to for from And such a is what has been from many of the most to historical on the Mediterranean the of the it has seemed to that there is no for further on because that to be has been and In we with that Mediterranean “the of the had many for the history and the social seemed to have from regional In what more was there to had the of the of and and and in and on the had this not for the of but for for premodern historical of on the Mediterranean of than now on for of Mediterranean is an the of geographical allows “the to flourish as a of not an we can a and the It not a the it is to to history of the whole in a particular geographical sense, not to history of Mediterranean Mediterranean is of the great of the the region is hardly the way of what might sometimes the Mediterranean is or indirectly Mediterranean. to the to in the of analysis or It for example, be the we not to the the of the in a geographical sense, than the cultural or of an national the region is from its Mediterranean the is a It is first of we the that because of the of the it is as a in are more and more of these and many of the or Mediterranean history on the But of what for Mediterranean history is a of Some of it is a in for example, may have to as a or the of with the in a world. The of is or economic some Mediterranean no and with to or of the decade or its in by and there is no of the subject of Mediterranean history and no obvious to of that of geography. a and of the and cultural history of Mediterranean the Mediterranean. The of is included, a subject on and so is the The how a and the larger and it can be of the in way to geography. it is not that the was in a Mediterranean in But the of the hardly be the of of and how the to be and the an of more than Mediterranean Even histories can be as it for that there is no to to or in ways to geography. a the history of the Mediterranean has not And the are of a traditional For example, in and The of Mediterranean the Mediterranean is and for the in the as one of parts of the world. The can on with the of that it is no subject to by is an that is history its It the and the to the of the and the of Mediterranean and the of so many of But it is a history of and and in the of as directly in one and a A of Mediterranean history the by to the less of the can be “the maritime In its original subject by it to the sea and The is historical we of the of Mediterranean Mediterranean we in for is a Mediterranean are an Mediterranean and that does so in or in there is the romance of the the and the have to on both and of the Mediterranean of sea have is as by is and a one no The the most study the Mediterranean. it is history. of Mediterranean history the It does this not because has with but in of approach as for In The Mediterranean in that subject is to the sea and its It might have been History in the Mediterranean. is an in but on this does not the in the is the or of and across the The regional from the same now what will be a history of the Mediterranean its and in is given to the of it will be but the may have been some and across the sea are to historical about the Mediterranean. the and of the region as a subject is we to be in the of by or the that and to be a They to be a that is not but also by the of the new regional history we have been is to being a of the of its be in ways that comparison and to be For the and cultural of the a different of of Mediterranean history has been that in it across and is no it might be for and the or the of the Sea with that of the of And of across of and the Mediterranean to the to make a for the and of a Mediterranean regional approach to and The of one of the Mediterranean some of the of It does by of the Mediterranean that the ways in it to regions It therefore the larger on the Mediterranean not be a political a in the of global the study of in Mediterranean history and that may the global to how the new regions of world history have At the most we have in to a for of Mediterranean history. are that on the of and in the region The on a of to an from the social anthropology and of the of the The first is to a distinctive of in of many different have been common to make it to for but not so common as to The is to a distinctive of with this It on the of of historical of to with the different of of the as and of the as as the different for the different of main and are further by of is an from the of the Mediterranean can be through the of the a are as in the of as in They are both and and more different great sometimes They are on both of the first of the It the and of the it also and a approach to the of and there is the distinctive of made by the of the with its and and and The of such a is on the and of and through that it the whole It could be that the variable in the social and economic of Mediterranean a given historical is its a term from is But the of and it is to the of Mediterranean And one of it may be that it can of the of it a of that are to many historical It from the of in a is for and the of and the It allows for the and of both and those It in the whole both land and and it the it is to be to the of from the to the it is in it the problems by the of a historical of the Mediterranean region as a For this seem to of and and in the of a not less than of and A is But because the is or in from also the to the Mediterranean in the that have about its The Mediterranean of and has been But have there are the in for instance, are to the regions by there are the of in it is the of and especially that the Mediterranean. of of and has been the most the cultural of the first such as the the of the and those of the The with of this is that of the or can and the Mediterranean region with the to one and as every is the The and of the Mediterranean be The is not that of or cultural so as of The on the to of the elements in the is in obvious way or Mediterranean. The of is by the of the of we as but there is no in quite different zones not of The of the of and the of can be example, in The way in the Mediterranean is both from its and from areas is by the and of the for instance, be in the in historical in the Mediterranean and those in the The are and in of they are the and sometimes even the of large the most of the and The the oceanic by for and a the Mediterranean therefore to be identified by the of that are not to the in be of and of the Mediterranean as an or a of is and more so is of the Mediterranean in this sense as and to The and of the of Mediterranean has sometimes been by the geography. The approach also a way of the of it in The region has and one from the or in ways and in the many of zones that the region to its The Mediterranean may also be as a large of or It is an area we could some or than even the have across the of the also on the of whether the Mediterranean is a subject for of history the history of the new regional The of the helps the the of Mediterranean with the nature of an approach to Mediterranean that may be less to the political and with imperial than are is also to a with the history of Mediterranean The of in a world, by the that that has a long history in Mediterranean the of “the from sea to region first in the the sea had first been as a more than For some the sea we now the Mediterranean was as more than an of It was the the in our of the the sea explicitly like and a as it in sea was one term of a of the The the geographical not a was the one of its kind, the sea in the of the as from the in the of the that the surrounded by It that the is not the had in the The to it is it was of a reflection on the layout of the whole the of the Mediterranean was It was indirectly a to regional the of the was quite land was in the fifth century b.c. and to of was a regional to the of the Mediterranean Sea is in the of from the of now in was in on a the Mediterranean is a and by and it is a of than a larger The of the Mediterranean as a region was a or of it appear in or even that of the of the sea in the century was as as it is the and of some of the of the of premodern It is that in of of the Mediterranean sometimes in a and to the of the fifth century one was to have to or a of the sea the sea in one of In a more context, the of the and of the of were as over the Mediterranean and inland for the of In this way of different from Mediterranean is to be we a of how the maritime world and what it to the It was the of but also of especially of And it was the the of were by is to about the of with the sea and its was to be from the an to the great of in the they was that be and from its great The they was about the Mediterranean not with the creation of a geographical to denote a region that might be but with an analysis of the a to the sea was It was a of the world the not a of a world that the sea to It the distinctive of Mediterranean and that can be in many of Mediterranean history. a from being a simple political will be to and will the of economic and in an Mediterranean be an The of and and elements in the of discourse about the the cultural are of such They an of the subject that we have to and But they not the in a history of of the Mediterranean that the of what we is an of a world. is not to a new on Mediterranean of It to on what we can and more history as a of and how an approach from to the that scholarship to have the as as an long The is with the ways in some of the new regional historians have to traditional and disciplinary It is that others have in maritime history a to this It is a further of new for the of regional history that there is common Mediterranean history and the most of in of Mediterranean history is an for it in to our new and of novel and with may the to Mediterranean is no But the such as we may have the of global with the of traditional Mediterranean the Mediterranean to be a of the of through new regions tend to be its distinctive historical of to be and to in parts of the world. the of the of and In traditional Mediterranean history, what was was the of is also what was most in the from and it was as and of interest to the Even for the had to that too. In oceanic spaces, such were in as in the of the of the Indian the of the we the of But the of the Mediterranean is on a different of a that is an of by the to of the with maritime in the of and the of the century the notion of was to a cultural to the of imperial the it a in the fifth to century the of the to be for the of is those use and as as is both and sea to their the way in the to the of is of every of and is The Mediterranean of the was a So we to what this Mediterranean has to the systematic comparison of sea there as as we can this to to with Mediterranean and with those on The is of in sea historiography as it has been to Mediterranean historical since is the great as in the of an project It is not study the Sea may a of and a and but on like the that has been or by or in the The Atlantic and oceans are large and their for or to have been with the what makes these seas new and historiographical the and of across of Atlantic history is about and the and that are it is not about the of the and and not even common or an Atlantic The Atlantic, the Indian and even the are spaces by and through the and with it or with the of have of had a long history in the but they are not the of its to be that there are maritime in the or in the it is an that the of the that the Mediterranean for its The for the Mediterranean regional history on of or on of or maritime on the of economic by on in the of or on in of the in the new the seas that are its to a global was in that even in the by the of the The is how to the ways in the of that Mediterranean the zones in the that the or are has the notion of to the to may or the traditional in the sometimes even quite with it has zones the Mediterranean what has so that the land a more on the than does the world of the is the that the Mediterranean has had a on the and social of their on the world of the and of the Mediterranean be the from the Sea to the and the that the of from the and the Sea on the Mediterranean They to but not through being directly with the there are the particular in these the distinctive Mediterranean world sometimes for instance, the zones to the of the or the of the Sea or The by our Mediterranean in the of regional that makes world history to an the Mediterranean But it is the of its kind, and the of like the it in this of maritime its interest will be in how different it is from the of the are on the by And that is we that it is in the study of even more than in comparison that the of the new regional history is that in one of the the or the will with of the Mediterranean in will be to the ways in we a global history of the Mediterranean has been such a and