No Mediterranean sea

Straha

Banned
I've
got my own geographical AH. Some say that during the Ice Age, the
Mediterranean was a large and fertile valley, rather than a sea as it is
today, and got flooded when the sea level rose over the bottom of what
is now the Strait of Gibraltar. Whether or not this is true, how would
history have turned out differently if the land at the Strait of
Gibraltar were high enough so that this could never have happened, and
the Mediterranean were a valley instead of a sea?
The Nile, instead of flowing into the Mediterranean Sea at the Nile
Delta in northern Egypt, would have continued into the valley, and then
turned westward to flow in the deepest part of the Mediterranean
Valley, and Egyptian civilization would have gone all the way there.
Rome would have conquered North Africa sooner, and all of Europe would
be Muslim today. (The Battle of Tours was the decisive battle in OTL
because the strip of land connecting France and Spain is relatively
narrow.) The Greeks and Romans would not have been maritime
civilizations. With a shorter coastline, Spain would probably have been
a weaker maritime power, maybe more like France. England, having the
strongest navy, would probably have colonized what in OTL is Latin
America. How would they have interacted differently with the natives?
Also, since North Africa and the Middle East became deserts while
Egyptian civilization was there, would the Mediterranean Valley have
become a desert? What about Europe?
There's another thing. Without the Gulf Stream, the area would probably
be colder, maybe by 8 degrees C (according to estimates by global
warming activists who say that global warming could actually make the
planet colder). In the winter, all of Europe would be below freezing
(like northern and eastern Europe) except the west coasts of Spain,
France, and England (which would probably not get above 40 degrees F (4
degrees C), and in the summer, northern Europe would not get above 50
degrees F (10 degrees C) and southern Europe would not get above 60
degrees F (16 degrees C), except in the southernmost areas. In other
words, most of Europe would be like Scandinavia in OTL. That's like
raising its latitude by 20 degrees. Imagine if London were 71 degrees
north, like the northernmost region of Alaska; if Rome were 61 degrees
north, like Anchorage, Alaska; if Jerusalem were 51 degrees north, like
Calgary, Alberta (Alberta is a province in Canada, for those of you who
don't know). It would probably be too cold for intensive agriculture.
Europeans might not even have colonized the Americas. They probably
would be unable to set up colonies anywhere. There would not have been
Christian missionaries in Japan. and the emperor would not have expelled
foreign influences in the early 17th century. They would probably have
colonized the Americas.
Yet for a difference in altitude of less than a hundred meters of a
piece of land smaller than the city of San Francisco, the history of the
whole world would have been different. Any ideas
 
Down to the Bottomlands

For what it's worth, HT has written a novella with this basic premise. His moden cultures are hardly recognizable - and appear to include a surviving Neandethal race in what is now Europe. You might want to check it out if you haven't already.
 

NapoleonXIV

Banned
I'm confused, how does no Meditterreanean mean no Gulf Stream?.

The Med area is below sea level with internal drainage. The area would be like the Caspian Sea in Asia. (Maybe Rome as its main port) Climatic diffs are beyond my small knowledge but would be a very main effect.
 
The Messinian Crisis, when the Mediterranean Sea dried up almost completely, occurred about 6 million years ago. Although sea levels were lower during the glacial maximums, I don't know of anyone claiming the Mediterranean was cut off. Some work recently argues the Black Sea was cut off. It's a shame though. Watching the Gibraltar water fall would have been great.

Even if the Mediterranean was blocked off during the glacial maximums, the glaciers and climate differences would have a much greater effect on the Gulf Stream than the lack of Mediterranean water. The Gulf Stream is primarily a surface current, whereas the Mediteranean water is primarily a mid- to deep level current due to its density.
 

NapoleonXIV

Banned
I saw a tv program that claimed the Mediterranean has been cut off and dried up then refilled several times over its history. They surmised this from the huge depths of certain salt beds. It startled me because I thought it had not been around that long, being a creation of Continental Drift
 
Depending on what you're interested in, 4-6 million years ago isn't that long. You might want to check out "When the Mediterranean was a Desert" by Kenneth Hsu for a description of the discovery of the salt beds. It's out of print, but Amazon.com had some used ones.
 
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