ABSTRACT
The term “natural resources” includes all the potentialities in the natural setting of a region which technological evolution and the economic and social situation in a certain period make available for exploitation. Water from the Iranian mountains was a resource for some urban communities of ancient Persia. In the history of the communities of the Mediterranean, complex rules have often regulated the exploitation of forests, water and agricultural lands in order to avoid “natural” catastrophes. Although there is a certain physical unity in the Mediterranean basin and common problems in the preservation of the environment, there is no unitary political, social and economic history of the Mediterranean peoples. The Mediterranean basin has no coal, except for a few unimportant deposits. Despite poor soils and scarce minerals, the Mediterranean basin had the resources to guarantee a high level of civilization until the beginning of the Industrial Revolution.
