Levant

The Levant (/ləˈvænt/ lə-VANT, US also /ləˈvɑːnt/ lə-VAHNT) is a subregion of West Asia along the Eastern Mediterranean, that forms part of the Middle East. The term is often used in conjunction with historical or cultural references.

In its narrowest sense, used in archaeology and other contexts, the Levant refers to Cyprus and land bordering the Mediterranean Sea in West Asia[4][5] that includes the Syria region, Lebanon, Jordan, Palestine, Israel, and south Cilicia (Turkey). In its widest historical sense, the Levant included all the Eastern Mediterranean;[6] extending from Greece to Egypt and Cyrenaica (Eastern Libya).[3][7] The Levant represents the land bridge between Africa and Eurasia,[5] has been described as the crossroads of West Asia, Eastern Mediterranean, and Northeast Africa,[8] and geologically as the "northwest of the Arabian plate".[9]

In the 13th and 14th centuries, levante was used for Italian maritime commerce in the Eastern Mediterranean, including Greece, Anatolia, Syria-Palestine, and Egypt, that is the lands east of Venice.[3] It derives from the Italian levante, meaning "rising", implying the rising of the Sun in the east, and is broadly equivalent to Mashriq (Arabic: ٱلْمَشْرِق, [ʔal.maʃ.riq]),[10] meaning "eastern place, where the Sun rises".[11] Eventually the term was restricted to the Muslim countries of Syria-Palestine and Egypt. The term entered English in the 15th century from French.[6] In 1581, England set up the Levant Company to trade with the Ottoman Empire.[3] The name Levant States was used to refer to the French mandate over Syria and Lebanon after World War I, so Levant has come to refer to modern Syria, Lebanon, Palestine, Israel, Jordan, and Cyprus.[3]

As a name for the contemporary region, several dictionaries consider Levant to be archaic.[12][13][14] The noun Levant and adjective Levantine are sometimes used to describe the ancient and modern culture area formerly called Syro-Palestinian. Archaeologists now speak of the Levant and Levantine archaeology,[15][16][17] food scholars of Levantine cuisine, and Latin Catholics of the Levant are sometimes called Levantines,[18] though the term is normally used to describe the Levant population more widely.[19][20][21]