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The Levant (; Arabic: المشرق 〔〔Naim, Samia, ''Dialects of the Levant'', in Weninger, Stefan et al. (eds.), ''The Semitic Languages: An International Handbook'', Berlin/Boston: Walter de Gruyter (2011), p. 921〕〔Amy Chua (2004), World on Fire: How Exporting Free Market Democracy Breeds Ethnic Hatred and Global Instability p. 212〕〔Mandyam Srinivasan, Theodore Stank, Philippe-Pierre Dornier, Kenneth Petersen (2014), Global Supply Chains: Evaluating Regions on an EPIC Framework – Economy, Politics, Infrastructure, and Competence: “EPIC” Structure – Economy, Politics, Infrastructure, and Competence, p. 3〕〔Ayubi, Nazih N. (1996), Over-stating the Arab State: Politics and Society in the Middle East p. 108〕〔David Thomas, Alexander Mallett (2012), Christian-Muslim Relations. A Bibliographical History. Volume 4 (1200-1350), p. 145〕〔Jeff Lesser (1999), Negotiating National Identity: Immigrants, Minorities, and the Struggle for Ethnicity in Brazil p. 45〕) is an approximate historical geographical term referring to a large area in the eastern Mediterranean. In its widest historical sense, the Levant included all of the eastern Mediterranean with its islands,〔 that is, it included all of the countries along the eastern Mediterranean shores, extending from Greece to Cyrenaica.〔〔 The term ''Levant'' entered English in the late 15th century from French.〔 It derives from the Italian ''Levante'', meaning "rising", implying the rising of the sun in the east.〔〔 As such, it is broadly equivalent to the Arabic term ''Mashriq'',〔 'the land where the sun rises'. The western counterpart in Arabic is the ''Maghreb'',〔 and ''Ponente'' in Italian, meaning 'west, where the sun sets'.〔Berlitz (1987). The Berlitz Self-teacher, Italian, p 161. Retrieved from https://books.google.com/books?id=rOuX_ng0bCAC&pg=PA161&lpg=PA161.〕 In the 13th and 14th centuries CE, the term ''levante'' was used for Italian maritime commerce in the eastern Mediterranean, including Greece, Anatolia, Syria-Palestine, and Egypt, that is, the lands east of Venice.〔 Eventually the term was restricted to the Muslim countries of Syria-Palestine and Egypt.〔 In 1581 England set up the Levant Company to monopolize commerce with the Ottoman Empire.〔 The name ''Levant States'' was used to refer to the French mandate over Syria and Lebanon after World War I.〔〔 This is probably the reason why the term ''Levant'' has come to be used synonymously with Syria-Palestine.〔 Some scholars misunderstood the term thinking that it derives from the name of Lebanon.〔 Today the term is typically used in conjunction with prehistoric or ancient historical references. It has the same meaning as Syria-Palestine or the region of Syria (Arabic: الشام ), that is, it means an area bounded by the Taurus Mountains of Turkey in the North, the Mediterranean Sea in the west, and the north Arabian Desert and Mesopotamia in the east. It does not include Anatolia (the former Asia Minor, now Asian Turkey; although at times Cilicia may be included), the Caucasus Mountains, or any part of the Arabian Peninsula proper. The Sinai Peninsula (Asian Egypt) is sometimes included, though more considered an intermediate, peripheral or marginal area forming a land bridge between the Levant and northern African Egypt. The Levant has been described as the "crossroads of western Asia, the eastern Mediterranean and northeast Africa",〔 and the "northwest of the Arabian plate".〔Egyptian Journal of Geology - Volume 42, Issue 1 - Page 263, 1998〕 ==Etymology== The term ''Levant'', which appeared in English in 1497, originally meant the East in general or "Mediterranean lands east of Italy". It is borrowed from the French ''levant'' 'rising', referring to the rising of the sun in the east,〔 or the point where the sun rises.〔Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd edition〕 The phrase is ultimately from the Latin word ''levare,'' meaning 'lift, raise'. Similar etymologies are found in Greek Ἀνατολή (''Anatolē'', ''cf.'' Anatolia), in Germanic ''Morgenland'' (literally, "morning land"), in Italian (as in "Riviera di Levante", the portion of the Liguria coast east of Genoa), in Hungarian ''Kelet'', in Spanish and Catalan ''Levante'' and ''Llevant'', ("the place of rising"), and in Hebrew (''mizrah''). Most notably, "Orient" and its Latin source ''oriens'' meaning "east", is literally "rising", deriving from Latin ''orior'' "rise". The notion of the Levant has undergone a dynamic process of historical evolution in usage, meaning, and understanding. While the term "Levantine" originally referred to the European residents of the eastern Mediterranean region, it later came to refer to regional "native" and "minority" groups.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Journal of Levantine Studies )〕 The term became current in English in the 16th century, along with the first English merchant adventurers in the region; English ships appeared in the Mediterranean in the 1570s, and the English merchant company signed its agreement ("capitulations") with the Grand Turk in 1579 (Braudel). The English Levant Company was founded in 1581 to trade with the Ottoman Empire, and in 1670 the French Compagnie du Levant was founded for the same purpose. At this time, the Far East was known as the "Upper Levant".〔 In 19th-century travel writing, the term incorporated eastern regions under then current or recent governance of the Ottoman empire, such as Greece. In 19th-century archaeology, it referred to overlapping cultures in this region during and after prehistoric times, intending to reference the place instead of any one culture. The French mandate of Syria and Lebanon (1920–1946) was called the Levant states.〔〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Levant」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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