Subsequently, a number of maritime commercial states arose, including Phoenicia, Carthage, and the Greek city-states. Between the 3d century BC and the 1st century AD, Rome unified the entire basin under its rule.

The Romans called the Mediterranean mare nostrum (Latin for "our sea"). After the Roman Empire dissolved in AD 476, Arabs swept across North Africa into Iberia, and Germans and Slavs invaded from the north. Between the 11th and the 14th century, several commercial city-states developed, particularly in Italy, including those of Genoa and Venice.

The Ottoman Turks had established their empire throughout the eastern Mediterranean and in North Africa by the 16th century. Increasing piracy and the discovery of new sea routes to India around Africa led to a decline in the maritime importance of the Mediterranean.