The Divided Unity of the Mediterranean: The Truth About Islamic Spain
I recently came across a map of the Mediterranean which had been rotated 90° from its orientation in ordinary maps. This simple shift in perspective made me rethink certain notions about the distinctiveness of the three continents that border the so-called ‘Great Sea’. It also brought to mind a comment made by the writer, Borradori, about the ‘divided unity of the Mediterranean civilization’.
This notion, of a divided unity, is one that keeps cropping up in the histories of the Mediterranean. As David Abulafia writes in his book, The Great Sea:
The unity of Mediterranean history lies, paradoxically, in its swirling changeability, in the diasporas of merchants and exiles, in the people hurrying to cross its surface as quickly as possible, not seeking to linger at sea, especially in winter, when travel became dangerous […] Its opposing shores are close enough to permit easy contact, but far enough apart to allow societies to develop distinctively under the influence of their hinterland as well as of one another. Those who cross its surface are often hardly typical of the societies from which they come. If they are not outsiders when…
