Marginal Mediterranean Seas Trivia Quiz

The Alboran Sea is the furthest west of the marginal Mediterranean seas. It extends from the Strait of Gibraltar in the west to the Balearic Sea to the east. It touches Spain to the north, and the North African nations of Morocco and Algeria to the south, in addition to Gibraltar to the west.

With an area of approximately 53,000 km2, the Alboran Sea is the smallest marginal sea within the Mediterranean. But, due to its location as the western arm of the Mediterranean, it is an important shipping lane to the Strait of Gibraltar and the Atlantic Ocean.

The Balearic Sea lies between the Balearic Islands and the Spanish mainland. It connects with the Alboran Sea to the west, to the Sea of Sardinia to the east (at the outer edge of the Balearic Islands).

With an area of roughly 150,000 km2, the Balearic Sea is right in the middle of the list (sixth) in size amongst the marginal Mediterranean seas.

The Sea of Sardinia lies between Spain's Balearic Islands and Italy's Sicily. But while many maps do recognize this mid-Mediterranean area by this name, the International Hydrographic Organization hasn't yet done so (as of the writing of this quiz in 2023).

For those who do recognize the Sea of Sardinia, it covers approximately 120,000 km2, making it the eighth largest of my list of 11 marginal Mediterranean seas.

The Ligurian Sea lies off of Italy's northwest coast, situated between the Italian Riviera (Liguria) and the French island of Corsica. It also touches the Tyrrhenian Sea to the south through the Corsican Channel.

At approximately 80,000 km2 in area, it is the second smallest marginal sea of the Mediterranean, after the Alboran Sea.

Named after the Tyrrhenian people of ancient Greek times - referred to mostly as being non-Greek - the Tyrrhenian Sea fills the area between the southwest coast of Italy, the island of Sicily to the south, and the islands of Sardinia and Corsica to the west. It also connects to the Ligurian Sea to the north (through the Corsican Channel) and to the Ionian Sea to the southeast (through the Strait of Messina between Sicily and the 'toe' of the Italian 'boot').

The Tyrrhenian Sea is the third-largest marginal sea of the Mediterranean after the Levantine and Libyan Seas, with an area of approximately 275,000 km2.

The Adriatic Sea is an arm of the Mediterranean that separates the Balkan Peninsula from the Italian Peninsula. Thus, going clockwise, it borders Italy to the west and north, then from north to south along the east side of the sea it touches Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Montenegro, and Albania.

With an area encompassing 138,000 km2, it sits at number seven on my list (between the Balearic Sea (6th) and the Sea of Sardinia (8th)).

The Ionian Sea lies south of the Adriatic and is bracketed by the bottom of Italy's 'boot' and Sicily to the west and Albania and the Greek Ionian islands to the east. The Ionian Sea also happens to contain the Mediterranean's deepest point at 5,109 m.

With an area of roughly 169,000 km2, the Ionian Sea is number five on the list presented in this quiz.

The Aegean Sea is surrounded by Greece to the west and north, and Turkey to the east. It contains the largest number of islands of any of the marginal Mediterranean seas, with most of them belonging to Greece and divided between nine administrative regions. Turkey only has two islands of any significant size in the northeastern portion of the Aegean (Imbros and Tenedos Islands).

And the Aegean actually has its own subdivisions that I did not name separately in the quiz. They are the Icarian Sea, the Myrtoan Sea, and the Thracian Sea.

Perhaps most importantly, the Aegean Sea at the northeast is the connecting Strait of Gallipoli, AKA the Dardanelles, that extends to the Sea of Marmara (in Turkey), and from there through the Strait of Bosporus to the Black Sea, which is essential for shipping and commerce in the region.

The entirety of the Aegean Sea (excluding the Sea of Crete) is approximately 214,000 km2, making it the fourth largest marginal sea of the Mediterranean.

While also considered part of the Aegean Sea, the Sea of Crete is the largest subsection, and I felt it worthy of note, as it is larger than the Ligurian and Alboran Seas. It lies at the southernmost part of the Aegean Sea, north of Crete and bounded to the east by the Ionian Sea and to the west by the Levantine Sea.

Also called the Cretan Sea, it has an area of about 95,000 km2, putting it at number nine on my list, ahead of the aforementioned Ligurian (10th) and Alboran (11th) Seas.

The Levantine Sea is the westernmost marginal sea in the Mediterranean. It borders Turkey in the north and extends down along the coasts of Syria, Lebanon, Israel, and Palestine to Egypt in the south. To the west it abuts the Aegean (NW) and Libyan (SW) Seas, also touching islands of Greece, Cyprus, and the British Overseas Territories of Akrotiri & Dhekelia. Thus, it is with the Levantine Sea that the Suez Canal is linked with the Red Sea.

At approximately 320,000 km2, the Levantine Sea is the second largest of the Mediterranean's marginal seas.

The Libyan Sea hugs the North African coastline from Tobruk in eastern Libya to Alexandria in Egypt, including the mouth of the Nile River. To the north, the Libyan Sea meets the Ionian Sea and the southern shoreline of Crete, and to the west it touches the Levantine Sea.

With an area of about 350,000 km2, the Libyan Sea is the largest of the marginal Mediterranean Seas.