Levant

The Levant is an approximate historical geographical term referring to a large area in the eastern Mediterranean, primarily in Western Asia. In its narrowest sense, it is equivalent to the historical region of Syria. In its widest historical sense, the Levant included all of the eastern Mediterranean with its islands;[3] that is, it included all of the countries along the Eastern Mediterranean shores, extending from Greece to Cyrenaica.[2][4]

The Levant is bounded by the Taurus Mountains to the north, the Mediterranean Sea to the west, the northern Arabian Desert to the south and Upper Mesopotamia to the east.

The word "Levant" entered the English language in the 16th century, together with the first English merchant adventurers in the region. English ships appeared in the Mediterranean in the 1570s and the English merchant company signed its agreement ("capitulations") with the Grand Turk in 1579 (Braudel).Today, the word "Levant" is usually used by archaeologists and historians who are talking about the prehistory and the ancient and medieval history of the region, as when discussing the Crusades. The term is also used sometimes to refer to modern or contemporary events, peoples, states, or parts of states in the same region, such as Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria and the Palestinian territories.

It is often included as a central region of The Middle East.

Countries

 * Iraq
 * Syria
 * Palestinian territories
 * Israel
 * Lebanon
 * Jordan
 * Egypt
 * Cyprus
 * Turkey