When the blue Mediterranean turned blood red p Powers that rise must fall-it is the way of things and is true of all, from the smallest realms to the mightiest of empires. There is no place on earth where this is more evident than in the lands and waters of the Mediterranean, where once the Greeks held sway, then Rome fought and conquered Carthage as it spread its influence-and the Christian faith-throughout Europe. In the 7th century, in the Arabian Peninsula, the prophet Mohammed founded Islam it too spread quickly. It became inevitable that these two great empires of faith would both seek to dominate the region so there came a time when Christianity and Islam overlapped and the crescent banner flew on the battlefields of Europe and particularly of Spain. By the beginning of the 14th century only Al-Andalus remained in Muslim hands and in 1492 Granada fell to the Catholic monarchs and the Moors pushed back to North Africa. Now the west began to separate from the east and territories