Mediterranean Sea

(The,) (med-e-těr-ra'ne-an,) a great inland sea, separating the continent of Europe from that of Africa and part of W. Asia; connecting by the Straits of Gibraltar at its W. extremity with the Atlantic Ocean, and on the N.E. with the Sea of Marmora by the channel of the Dardanelles, and thence by the Bosphorus with the Euxine; bet. 30°-46° N. Lat., and 540W. to 36°E. Lon. Extreme length, 2,300m.; maximum breadth, 1,200 m. Estim. area, 690,000 sq. m. Various portions of its surface take other names, as the Ligurian, Tyrrhenian, lon ian, Candian, Ægean, andAdriatic Seas. Its coast-line, too, embraces the extensive gulfs of Taranto, Patras, Ægin a, Salonika, Smyrna, Adalia, Iskanderoon, Gaëta, Genoa, Lyon, Cabes, and Sidra. It receives the waters of the Nile, Ebro, Rhone, Po, and many others; contains the considerable islands of Sardinia, Corsica, Sicily, the Balearic group, Malta, Candia, Cyprus, and the clusters of the Greek Archipelago; and po e es a temperature averaging from 72° to 76°, or 1½º Fahr. higher than that of the Atlantic Ocean. It has a tide rising from 5 to 7 ft., and a constant upper current sets in from the Atlantic, through the Strait of Gibraltar. Its depth varies according to situation; and it is at times subject to destructive winds, such as the sirocco and the white squall. [s. 589]