ABSTRACT
A number of authors have produced geographies of the Mediterranean region (e.g. Walker, 1960; Houston, 1964), historical geographies of the region (e.g. Semple, 1932; Grant, 1969; Delano Smith, 1979) or even what might be described as geographical histories – as in the case of the magnum opus of Braudel (1975). The older of these texts fit firmly within the regional geography perspective, in attempting to produce a descriptive explanation of the characteristics and peculiarities of the region. Braudel and Delano Smith, on the other hand, aim to provide explanations of how the landscape has structured human life and history. These explanations are the backdrop of the longue durée, to use Braudel’s term. Horden and Purcell (2000) have recently tried to expand Braudel’s approach over a much longer time span.
