Another sea equivalent to Mediterranean?

With a POD as far back as you want without ASB, is it possible to have any other body of water have a history similar to that of the Mediterranean of being a unified continium of cultures, empires, etc. One may see similarities in a later date of the Indian Ocean, during Arab domination before Portugal arrived. And the South Pacific with the Polynesian dispersal, but again their kingdoms came quite late and were just above clans, nothing except in Indonesia of true empires. But several bodies of water surely had the geography that lends to such unification of culture but didnt.

What made the Mediterranean unique? Geography, simply nothing like it on earth honestly?

But why didn't the Persian Gulf, Caspian Sea, the Great Lakes in North America, or the Gulf of Mexico develop in parallel?
 
Maybe the Yellow Sea could work? I mean IOTL the seas between China and Korea and Japan were very important.

Additionally perhaps the Great Lakes and the Caribbean.
 
A lot of it depends on richer, powerful states existing along various parts of the sea. With the Mediterranean, you had the Greek and Phoenician cities, Egyptians, Carthage, Rome, and more on various areas of its shores. All of them would have attracted trade, and merchants and colonists would have helped spread cultures around. The increased wealth also encouraged political unification, since eventually one of those groups will be powerful enough to conquer the others. With a place like the Caspian sea, there was not a huge amount of trade and travel because for the most part there was no one of great wealth to trade with on the other side. In the west, you have the Caucasian kingdoms and Persia, but all along the north and east there's no one but nomads who are more likely to raid you than trade you anything of much worth.
 

Deleted member 97083

No other sea on Earth is both large enough and enclosed enough to be equivalent to the Mediterranean.

The Persian Gulf and Baltic Sea had some similar developments but aren't nearly large enough.
 

Deleted member 67076

This was, in a sense, the Caribbean prior to the European conquest. Largely Taino in its cultural continuum minus the lesser Antilles who were coming under invasion from the Caribs.
 

ben0628

Banned
1) This was done partially in the Arabian Sea/Indian Ocean. East Africa, Arabian Peninsula, and parts of Western India all have Arab influences (since the early middle ages) and for a small time were under a unified Omani/Zanzibar Empire (part of 19th century). Perhaps if the Ottomans had more success over the Portuguese in the 16th century, we could have seen a lasting Arab political presence in the Indian Ocean.

2) You also see similarities with the people who now live in modern day Malaysia and Indonesia, however this is a culture and political entity that's located in a series of straits and channels between the islands of Sumatra, Java, Borneo, Malaya, and others rather than a single massive sea (although the Mediterranean does look like two different seas seperated by Italy).

Even before Islam, these maratime people have been connected both culturally and politically. They share similar languages, cultures, and tend to practice and then switch religions at the exact same time (Hinduism, Budism, and finally Islam). Not to mention that several empires have managed to more or less unify the region for periods of time.
 
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Skallagrim

Banned
What made the Mediterranean unique? Geography, simply nothing like it on earth honestly?

It isn't and wasn't unique. Of course, it's not exactly a common thing: a large sea, separated from the larger ocean, with lots of potential for (in various ages) having multiple coastal cultures interact, and having one empire control the area (as Rome did in OTL, by eliminating the competitors and making it their "mare nostrum"). An open ocean doesn't have a coast on the other side, meaning you'll always be travelling along (or rather: parallel to) the coast to some extent. For instance, the indian ocean trade network. That's pretty basic east-west interaction, along a coastline to the north. There isn't an entire cultural sphere surrounding the sea-area in question.

But does that make the Med unique? Not really. As @Soverihn points out, the Caribbean was such a cultural sphere, at least to an extent. While not as closed off from the open ocean, I don't think that's what defined the Med. I think it's the fact that a relatively easy-to-cross sea was surrounded by coasts on all sides. That's what made it so likely to be an interaction sphere, and potentially, a sea that can become entirely surrounded by one empire.


But why didn't the Persian Gulf, Caspian Sea, the Great Lakes in North America, or the Gulf of Mexico develop in parallel?

Because cultures don't develop in the same way, at the same time. They don't have the same means, the same priorities etc.

Environment does shape a culture, certainly. But even if you took the Med, changed nothing about it, and simply put completely different cultures along its coasts, those cultures may not act as the OTL cultures of the region did. I suspect they'll still tend to trade oversea, but their cultural preferences, their tech level, and the extent to which they are tied up in overland affairs... that all plsys a role. (For instance, a culture bordering the the Med but almost exlusively preoccupied fighting a rival power further inland is going to be "with its back to the sea", and may simply have neither the time nor the inclination to get involved in the whole seafaring business.)


With a POD as far back as you want without ASB, is it possible to have any other body of water have a history similar to that of the Mediterranean of being a unified continium of cultures, empires, etc.

The best shot for approximating the conditions you describe as pertaining to the Med would, in my opinion, be an ATL focused on the Caribbean. Mostly because it already had the basic setup for a cultural interaction sphere, and has mostly surrounding coastlines, thus making it most like the Med in those regards. Also: a history of city-states in Mesoamerica, and the Maya did in fact carry out Caribbean trade. We discussed this quite recently, coming up with a bit of an ATL where the Maya develop an Caribbean trade "empire". The discussion thread for that is here. You may want to check that out: the general scenario we eventually came up with seems to be exactly what you are looking for.
 
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