The Mediterranean Sea

The Mediterranean was formed as a result of movements in both the Earth and sea beginning back in the second era, around two hundred and twenty million years ago. Violent upheavals have marked its history every since. Up until then, the continents had formed a single island known as Pangea. When they floated apart, a sea was formed. The Greeks later called this sea Tethys, after a goddess born of the sea and sky and representing the bountiful sea. Tethys was open to the oceans spread over the planet. In the tertiary era another major upheaval took place. Over millions of years, the continents drifted further apart, Tethys becoming smaller and smaller. The Alps were formed at this time while Tethys, stuck between the colliding African and Eurasian plates, gradually dried up. Evaporation turned it into a huge salt desert. When the natural dike formed by the Strait of Gibraltar broke apart, water from the Atlantic ocean rushed in, filling it up again. The Mediterranean Sea lies at the crossroads of three continents: Europe, Asia and Africa.