On the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, On the south by North Africa, And on the east by the Levant. The region enclosing the Mediterranean Sea encompasses portions of three continents: Europe and its southern peninsulas to the north, southwestern Asia to the east, and the Maghreb region of northern Africa to the south. Overall, it is a densely populated region with an intricate political history involving many different ethnic groups. This has led to a complex and patchy political map. Today 22 countries, with surface areas from 2 km2 to 2.4 million km2, have coastlines on the Mediterranean Sea. They are Albania, Algeria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Cyprus, Egypt, France, Greece, Israel, Italy, Lebanon, Libya, Malta, Monaco, Montenegro, Morocco, palestine, Slovenia, Spain, Syria, Tunisia, and Turkey.