Europe is conventionally considered one of the seven continents which, in this case, is more a cultural and political distinction than a physiogeographic one. Physically and geologically, Europe is a subcontinent or large peninsula, forming...

Africa is the world's second-largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30 million km² including its adjacent islands, it covers 5.9% of the Earth's total surface area, and 20.3% of the total land area. With over 840 m...

Thera, or the modern island of Santorini, located sixty-nine miles north of the island of Crete in the Aegean Sea, was devastated by a volcanic eruption sometime in the 15th century BC. The eruption was one the the most powerful in the past...

Phoenicia was an ancient Semitic-speaking thalassocratic civilization that originated in the Levant region of the eastern Mediterranean, primarily modern Lebanon. It was concentrated along the coast of Lebanon and included some coastal area...

The Battle of Salamis was a naval battle between the Greek city-states and Persia in September, 480 BC in the strait between Piraeus and Salamis Island, a small island in the Saronic Gulf near Athens. The Greek victory marked the turning po...

Pytheas was a Greek merchant, geographer and explorer from the Greek colony Massilia (today Marseille). He made a voyage of exploration to northwestern Europe around 325 BC. He probably travelled around a considerable part of Great Britain,...

The Battle of Actium was the decisive confrontation of the Final War of the Roman Republic. It was fought between the forces of Octavian and the combined forces of Mark Antony and Cleopatra. The battle took place on 2 September 31 BC, on th...

The Knights Hospitaller (also known as the Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of St. John of Jerusalem of Rhodes and of Malta, Order of St. John, Knights of Malta, and Chevaliers of Malta; French: Ordre des Hospitaliers) is a Christian or...

Roger of Lauria was a Sicilian admiral in Aragonese service, who was the commander of the fleet of Aragon during the War of the Sicilian Vespers. He was probably the most successful and talented naval tactician of the medieval period. He is...

The Fall of Constantinople was the capture of the capital of the Byzantine Empire which occurred after a siege laid by the Ottoman Empire, under the command of Sultan Mehmed II. The siege lasted from Thursday, 5 April 1453 until Tuesday, 29...

Ahmed Muhiddin Piri, better known as Piri Reis, was an Ottoman admiral, geographer, and cartographer. He is primarily known today for his maps and charts collected in his Kitab-ı Bahriye (Book of Navigation), a book that contains de...

Dragut was an Ottoman Greek Admiral and privateer who also served as Bey of Algiers; Beylerbey of the Mediterranean; and first Bey, later Pasha, of Tripoli. Under his naval command the Ottoman Empire's maritime power was extended across Nor...

Mathurin d’Aux de Lescout, called Mathurin Romegas, was a scion of the aristocratic Gascony family of d'Aux and a member of the Knights of Saint John. He was one of the Order's greatest naval commanders and ended his life disgraced as a Riv...

The Suez Canal, also known by the nickname "The Highway to India", is an artificial sea-level waterway in Egypt, connecting the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea. Opened in November 1869 after 10 years of construction work, it allows water...