Talk:Mediterranean Sea

Drainage basin
Mr IP, a Drainage basin of the Mediterranean Sea is all the land such that surface water will eventually drain into the sea - even if it passes through another country (via a river, for example) first. That is why some land locked nations are still listed on the Basin countries list in the infobox. - MrOllie (talk) 17:40, 10 January 2017 (UTC)

No landlocked countries should border the sea
I don't understand why you add landlocked countries. They don't border a sea. Can you tell me why you should add landlocked countries? I would appreciate! — Preceding unsigned comment added by 217.164.105.118 (talk) 12:15, 11 January 2017 (UTC)
 * Read what is written directly above your message. - Takeaway (talk) 18:44, 11 January 2017 (UTC)

Regarding Vatican City
Some users argue that rainwater from Vatican City drains into the sewers of Rome, which is in turn drained in the Mediterranean. That sounds like a stretch.

Vatican City has no natural lakes or rivers, and from how I understand a basin system is that it involves a body of water.

It's comparable to saying that Sealand is a basin country of the North Sea, because it pumps out water that was rained on it. --HyettsTheGamer2 (talk) 22:26, 13 July 2020 (UTC)


 * Vatican City is certainly within the drainage basin of the Mediterranean (via the Tiber), as are Burundi (via the Nile) and Belarus (via the Dnieper). My question is whether it's of any use to anyone to list all the countries in the drainage basin of major seas and oceans -- see Talk:Atlantic Ocean.
 * As for Sealand, if it were a real country, of course it would be counted as being in the drainage basin of the North Sea. --Macrakis (talk) 22:51, 13 July 2020 (UTC)

Belarus and Burundi actually make sense. The Ruvyironza River in Burundi is a direct tributary of the Nile River that flows into the Mediterranean; the Pripyat River in Belarus flows into the Dnieper, that in turn flows into the Black Sea, through the Bosphorus Strait, and into the Mediterranean.

The problem with Vatican City is that it is not even located on the Tiber, or any tributary of the Tiber.

And at least with the Sealand example, it does directly deposit water into the North Sea, and it is also borders a body of water. Vatican City isn't the same case.

Your example of the Atlantic Ocean proves that every specific indirect link to a greater drainage system can be misleading. In the case of Vatican City, people could easily be misled that the Vatican is indeed on the Tiber, or carries any significant tributary when it in fact does not.

I feel like if countries like Vatican City are to be included, they should have parentheses explaining their special contribution to the drainage system, considering Vatican's role is unique and miniscule amongst other countries. --HyettsTheGamer2 (talk) 00:20, 14 July 2020 (UTC)

If rain falls in Vatican City, it ends up in the Mediterranean. It is completely irrelevant that it doesn't travel by an above-ground natural waterway. --Macrakis (talk) 15:28, 14 July 2020 (UTC) After all, almost all the water that reaches the Hudson from Manhattan travels through the storm sewers. Are you now going to say that Manhattan is not part of the drainage basin of the Hudson River? (Though I guess you'd have to know the sewer system pretty well to determine where the drainage divide between the Hudson and the East River is -- see ). Similarly for most urban areas. --Macrakis (talk) 22:43, 14 July 2020 (UTC)

Manhattan isn't the most straightforward example, because for one it borders Hudson River directly to its west, and for two it is also on the Harlem River, where at one point at the tip is completely sandwiched within Manhattan between the neighborhoods of Marble Hill and Inwood before draining into the Hudson River. Greenland is considered a basin country of the Greenland Sea, even though this part of Greenland (Northeast Greenland National Park) has no streams or sewage running into it, and is also rather dry. Why is Greenland considered a drainage basin of the Greenland Sea?

Although I am starting to understand why sewage would count as a drainage system - it acts as a stream, and pours into a river. However, readers will not automatically understand what it means for Vatican City to be a "basin country". When countries with bodies of water are listed, (like with your examples of Burundi and Belarus), that's one thing, because people assume they have streams that drain into the Mediterranean Sea. But Vatican City would be confusing, and it sure confused me. How I saw it at first was somebody mistakenly assuming that Vatican City was situated on the Tiber, because geographically it is not situated on the Tiber.

Considering Vatican City's unique role to the drainage basin that is not matched by any other waterway, I'm wondering if there should be some side label or annotation explaining why it is indeed a drainage basin country of the Mediterranean. --HyettsTheGamer2 (talk) 20:08, 18 July 2020 (UTC)


 * Very few people are as detail-oriented as you. And there are other, more difficult cases in drainage basins. For example, the Owens Valley was formerly endorheic, but since about 1913, most of its water has been diverted to Los Angeles by aqueduct. So it now drains into the Pacific Ocean. Or the Lago di Nemi not too far from Vatican City. It has no natural above-ground outlets. The Romans and Etruscans dug artificial drainage channels (emissaries), but those no longer seem to be active (or are they?), so presumably it is drained primarily through underground seepage. Crater Lake has no natural or artificial outlets, but drains through seepage which becomes springs feeding the Wood River (Oregon). --Macrakis (talk) 21:56, 18 July 2020 (UTC)

Thinking twice about this now, I guess it works. The area of what is now Vatican City used to be part of the Ager Vaticanus, a marshland and floodplain of the Tiber. So therefore naturally, Vatican City is traditionally a drainage basin for the Mediterranean. And today after its development, it is artificially a drainage basin of the Mediterranean through Rome's sewage system.

On the other hand though, yes of course there are more complex geographical anomalies regarding drainage basins. Isn't already detail-oriented in itself to cite the blueprints of the Vatican's drainage system and tracing where it ends up in order to consider it a "basin country"? The drainage system Vatican City uses isn't even part of its own infrastructure; it's part of a greater Italian drainage system. That alone just obscures Vatican City's role even more.

While Vatican City is indeed able to be considered a basin country of the Mediterranean, I do think it is appropriate to add a footnote/side note that explains its role. Because whether other hydrological anomalies are less straightforward, Vatican City's role in itself still isn't very straightforward.

Yes, of course not everybody is going to look at the list, see Vatican City, and act like it's the most mysterious thing in the world. But having it listed out of context still wouldn't be the ideal way to do it, because it is the only country on that list to be a tiny landlocked country made almost completely of concrete and connected via an obscure drainage system that itself doesn't even operate. Anybody who is familiar with the basic geography of Vatican City could be misled - as with myself.

We already got people getting confused about landlocked basin countries in general being added to the list. A few times, people have already tried to delete them. In my opinion, Vatican City's case just doubles down on that confusion, especially on a source that is known to be sometimes wrong. HyettsTheGamer2 (talk) 04:08, 19 July 2020 (UTC)

So the question isn't whether we agree to consider whether Vatican City qualifies to be included anymore, but whether if its role should be specified? --HyettsTheGamer2 (talk) 04:28, 19 July 2020 (UTC)


 * As I've said elsewhere, the whole idea of listing the countries in the drainage basin of the Mediterranean strikes me as silly to start with. But if we do, we should include Vatican City and Monaco (which has no significant rivers, and lots of sewer drainage) without further comment. --Macrakis (talk) 16:28, 19 July 2020 (UTC)
 * I agree, I don't understand the basin listing criteria. It is silly for Burundi and Vatican City.--Geshem Bracha (talk) 10:47, 26 July 2020 (UTC)

Shallowness and storms
Cannot find a source online, but once read Med is prone to storms, their suddenness and ferocity exacerbated by the shallowness of the Sea. Anarchangel (talk) 16:13, 7 May 2019 (UTC)
 * There are certainly storms in the Med, but I don't know if they are more or less frequent than in other bodies of water. It's unlikely that depth has anything to do with it. What's your source? --Macrakis (talk) 16:11, 13 July 2020 (UTC)

Propaganda in a geography article
About a year ago, "North Cyprus" was included in the article. This is an illegal state created by Turkey after the invasion and occupation of almost half the island of Cyprus. This state is not recognized internationally. The only reason it was added was pure propaganda in a totally unrelated article. This part of the geography of the Mediterranean is fully defined by the island of Cyprus that includes north and south. There is absolutely no value to mentioning this "state" other than creating impressions of legitimacy to a random reader who came to read about geography and not questionable politics. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Iathien (talk • contribs) 15:56, 20 November 2022 (UTC)

Propaganda in a geography article (part 2)
The insistence of users like Denisarona and Mr.Ollie about including Egypt and Libya as countries that have anything to do with the Sea of Crete (which is situated NORTH of Crete in the Aegean sea (!)), shows clearly that they have an agenda. The idea that Crete doesn't exist (!) and that the Sea of Crete borders Egypt and Libya can only have a Turkish origin. It is well known that Turkey signed an exclusive economic zone agreement with Libya assuming that Crete doesn't exist (so Turkey shares waters with Libya, accordingly). I am sure that ordinary readers are already laughing by reading this. This is how ridiculous and laughable a wikipedia article can be, when people who edit it have an agenda. This a very serious matter and somebody who has minimal respect for this site should do something about it. (Update: Later there was an attempt to include Turkey -- of course -- as a country that has anything to do with the Sea of Crete...) — Preceding unsigned comment added by Iathien (talk • contribs) 00:03, 26 November 2022 (UTC)
 * It is you that is a ridiculous and laughable Greek Propagandist, who cannot even read a map.--Kitchen Knife (talk) 19:13, 3 December 2022 (UTC)
 * YOU are the TURKISH propagandist, little man. Any normal person knows where Crete is and can read a map like an ordinary person.  The Sea of Crete is north of the island of Crete, Turkey is far away, if you can read a map.  Instead of trying to steal other people's property and vandalizing wikipedia, I would suggest the turkish people to be just normal (I don't say civilized, this is impossible). Iathien (talk) 16:40, 6 December 2022 (UTC)
 * Discussions on Wikipedia should not be about individual editors, but about the content of the article. Both of you, stop the personal attacks and focus on content. --Macrakis (talk) 17:24, 6 December 2022 (UTC)
 * So tell me where you became fluent in Modern Greek?If it, because you are your family, are greek perhaps you should read Conflict of interest--Kitchen Knife (talk) 19:16, 6 December 2022 (UTC)
 * Perhaps you should read WP:NPA. Being of Greek descent and speaking Greek does not count as WP:COI. I believe that my contributions to this talk page and to the article are well-founded.
 * As for substance, I see that you have re-added Turkey as a marginal country of the Sea of Crete with a footnote to Britannica, but the Britannica article says nothing about Turkey. See WP:INTEGRITY and WP:OR. --Macrakis (talk) 19:48, 6 December 2022 (UTC)
 * As pointed out in the edit notes, which you somehow seem to have neglected to read/. The Britannica describes the sea as being the southern part of the Aegean. The Southern part of the Agean is bounced by Turkey to the east. My Integrity is intact. Yours has a suspicion of COI.--Kitchen Knife (talk) 20:20, 6 December 2022 (UTC)
 * The fact that a tiny part of the East Aegean belongs to Turkey does NOT mean that half of the Aegean belongs to Turkey. Nor that half of any sub-sea of the Aegean belongs to Turkey.  It is common sense, it is simple GEOGRAPHY, but you are here for obviously other reasons. Iathien (talk) 21:13, 7 December 2022 (UTC)
 * Yes, the Sea of Crete is in the southern part of the Aegean, and parts of the Aegean border Turkey. It is WP:SYNTH (and logically fallacious) to conclude from that that the Sea of Crete borders Turkey.
 * Also, I would ask that you assume good faith. If you continue your personal attacks on me, I will ask for dispute resolution. --Macrakis (talk) 23:58, 7 December 2022 (UTC)
 * PS You might want to review the WP:INTEGRITY policy; it is not about editors' integrity, but about the integrity of the connection between text and cited source. --Macrakis (talk) 15:25, 8 December 2022 (UTC)
 * A more pertinent source gives Karpathos as the eastern limit of the Sea of Crete. The closest that Karpathos and Turkey come is about 90km. --Macrakis (talk) 19:57, 6 December 2022 (UTC)
 * I think some person of authority should ban these wikipedia vandals with Turkish agenda from editing. If you know somebody, please let them know about them. Iathien (talk) 21:08, 7 December 2022 (UTC)


 * That Article is considerably less authoritative than Britannica.--Kitchen Knife (talk) 20:20, 6 December 2022 (UTC)
 * The Britannica article does NOT include the word "Turkey" but it includes the word "Greece". All other conclusions are your opinion that has zero weight, given your agenda and purpose. Iathien (talk) 21:14, 7 December 2022 (UTC)
 * Iathien, please avoid personal attacks. Talk about content, not about the contributor. --Macrakis (talk) 00:00, 8 December 2022 (UTC)
 * There is no personal attack in giving "zero weight" in somebody's arbitrary "opinion", that is obviously driven by fanaticism and lack of common sense. If somebody insists that Turkey borders Morocco, in order to make Turkey "great", how much weight would you give it?  Exactly zero. Iathien (talk) 16:54, 9 December 2022 (UTC)
 * I warn you again to avoid personal attacks. Accusing another editor of having an "agenda and purpose" is a personal attack, whether it is true or not. Focus on the issues, not the editors. --Macrakis (talk) 00:58, 10 December 2022 (UTC)

Missed an occupied country on the list
You missed to add “Palestine” to the list of countries that are on the Mediterranean Sea 🙏 98.37.211.224 (talk) 08:05, 9 December 2022 (UTC)


 * Of course, everybody was busy with imaginary countries like "North Cyprus". Iathien (talk) 16:55, 9 December 2022 (UTC)
 * Palestine is already listed. Zach (Talk) 15:21, 4 January 2023 (UTC)

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