The word Levant appears in English texts from 1497. It originally meant the East or Mediterranean lands east of Italy. This term derives from the French word for rising, referring to the sun's ascent in the east. The root ultimately comes from the Latin word meaning lift or raise. Similar etymologies exist in Greek Anatolē and Germanic Morgenland. Italian uses Levante to describe the portion of the Liguria coast east of Genoa. Hungarian Kelet means east while Spanish and Catalan use Levante and Llevant. Hebrew mizra also translates to east. Most notably Orient and its Latin source oriens literally mean rising. The notion of the Levant has undergone a dynamic process of historical evolution in usage and understanding. While the term Levantine originally referred to European residents of the eastern Mediterranean region it later came to refer to regional native and minority groups. The term became current in English during the 16th century along with the first English merchant adventurers in the region. English ships appeared in the Mediterranean in the 1570s. The English merchant company signed its agreement known as capitulations with the Ottoman Sultan in 1579. The English Levant Company was founded in 1581 to trade with the Ottoman Empire. In 1670 the French Compagnie du Levant was founded for the same purpose.
Geographical Boundaries And Subregions
The Levant is a subregion of West Asia along the Eastern Mediterranean that forms part of the Middle East. In its narrowest sense used in archaeology and other contexts the Levant refers to Cyprus and land bordering the Mediterranean Sea in West Asia. The general limits begin at the Plain of 'Amuq in the north and extend south until the Wâdī al-Arish along the northern coast of Sinai. The western coastline and the eastern deserts set the boundaries for the Levant. The Euphrates and the area around Jebel el-Bishrī mark the eastern boundary of the northern Levant. This boundary continues south in the form of the highlands and eastern desert regions of Transjordan. A distinction is made between the main subregions of the Levant the northern and the southern. The Litani River marks the division between the Northern Levant and the Southern Levant. The island of Cyprus is also included as a third subregion in the archaeological region of the Levant. Cyprus geographically distinct from the Levant is included due to its proximity and natural resources which induced close cultural ties. Today the term typically used by archaeologists and historians with reference to the history of the region identifies it as a wider yet relevant cultural corpus.