Modern era
The growing naval prowess of the European powers confronted further rapid Ottoman expansion in the region when the Battle of Lepanto checked the power of the Ottoman navy. However, as Braudel argued forcefully, this only slowed the Ottoman expansion instead of ending it. The prized island of Cyprus became Ottoman in 1571. The last resistance in Tunisia ended in 1574 and an almost a generation-long siege in Crete pushed Venetians out of this strategic island in 1669.
A balance of power was then established between Spain and Ottoman Empire until the 18th century, each dominating their respective half of the Mediterranean, reducing Italian navies as naval powers increasingly more irrelevant. Furthermore, the Ottoman Empire had succeeded in its objective of extending Muslim rule across the North African coast.
The development of long-range seafaring had an influence on the entire Mediterranean. While once all trade from the east had passed through the region, the circumnavigation of Africa allowed gold, spices, and dyes to be imported directly to the Atlantic ports of western Europe. The Americas were also a source of extreme wealth to the western powers, from which some of the Mediterranean states were largely cut off.
The base of European power thus shifted northward and the once-wealthy Italy became a peripheral area dominated by foreigners. The Ottoman Empire also began a slow decline that saw it’s North African possessions gain de facto independence and its European holdings gradually reduced by the increasing power of Austria and Russia.
By the nineteenth century, the European States were vastly more powerful and began to colonize North Africa. France spread its power south by taking Algeria in 1830 and later Tunisia. Britain gained control of Egypt in 1882. The Suez Canal was opened during this period, with far-reaching consequences for trade between Asia, East Africa, and Europe. The Mediterranean countries were preferred because of the shorter route, and port cities such as Trieste with their direct, fast access to Central and Northern Europe were booming. Italy conquered Libya from the Ottomans in 1911. Greece achieved independence in 1832. The Ottoman Empire finally collapsed in the First World War, and its holdings were carved up between France and Britain. The rump state of the wider Ottoman Empire became the independent state of Turkey in 1923. Yugoslavia was created from the former Austro-Hungarian empire at the end of the First World War.
During the first half of the twentieth century, the Mediterranean was at the center of the expansion of the Kingdom of Italy and was one of the main areas of battle during World War II between the Axis and the Allies. The post-world war period was marked by increasing activity in the Eastern Mediterranean, where naval actions formed part of the ongoing Arab–Israeli conflict and Turkey had occupied the northern part of Cyprus. Cold War tensions split the Mediterranean into pro-American and pro-Soviet factions, with Turkey, Greece, Spain, Italy, and France being NATO members. Syria was a socialist and pro-Soviet regime, offering the Soviets a port for their navy from an agreement in 1971. Yugoslavia was Communist but in neither the Soviet nor American camps. Egypt tilted towards the Soviets during the time of Nasser but then turned towards American influence during the time of Sadat. Israel and Egypt both received massive American military aid. American naval power made the Mediterranean a base for the United States Sixth Fleet during the Cold war.
Today, the Mediterranean Sea is the southern border of the European Union and represents one of the largest areas of Trade in the World. The Maltese prime minister described the Mediterranean sea as a “cemetery” due to the large amounts of migrants who drown there. Following the 2013 Lampedusa migrant shipwreck, the Italian government has decided to strengthen the national system for patrolling the Mediterranean Sea by authorizing Operation Mare Nostrum, a military, and humanitarian operation in order to rescue the migrants and arrest the traffickers of immigrants.