Middle East

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Middle East (Arabic الشرق الأوسط, Hebrew Hamizrach Hatichon, המזרח התיכון) is an expression used to describe the lands around the southern and eastern parts of the Mediterranean Sea, a territory that extends from the eastern Mediterranean Sea to the Persian Gulf. The Middle East is a subregion of Africa-Eurasia.

"Middle East" is not a completely settled or definitive term. It is generally taken to include Bahrain, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, the United Arab Emirates and Yemen, as well as the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. The countries of the Maghreb (Algeria, Libya, Morocco and Tunisia) are frequently linked to the Middle East due to their strong historical and cultural associations, as is Sudan. Mauritania and Somalia also have close links to the region. Turkey and Cyprus, although geographically close to the Middle East consider themselves to be part of Europe. To the east, Afghanistan is sometimes linked to the Middle East.

One of the problems with the term "Middle East" is its perceived Eurocentrism. The region is only "to the east" from the perspective of Europe. To an Indian, it lies to the west; to a Russian, it lies to the south. There is also a problem with the word "Middle." What is the Middle East in the middle of?

The answer to this lies partially in the older term "Near East." Before the First World War, "Near East" was used in Brittain to refer to the Balkans and the Ottoman Empire, while "Middle East" referred to Persia, Afghanistan and sometimes Central Asia, Turkestan and the Caucasus. ("Far East" referred to countries such as Malaysia and Singapore.) With the disappearance of the Ottoman Empire in 1918, "Near East" largely fell out of common use, while "Middle East" came to be applied to the re-emerging countries of the Arab World. (It should be noted, however, that several academic disciplines - not least archaeology and ancient history - retain the use of "Near East" as a common designation, completely - if somewhat confusingly - synonomous with the wider-used phrase "Middle East").

Note that there are terms similar to "near east" and "middle east" in other european languages, but - since it is a relative position - the meanings depend on the country and are different from the english terms generally. See fr:Proche-Orient, fr:Moyen-Orient, and de:Naher Osten for examples.

In some ways the ambiguity of "Middle East" is an advantage, since it can be defined in a number of ways. The ambiguity of the term "Middle East" annoys some geographers, however, who have tried to popularise "Southwest Asia" as an alternative, with little success. The term "West Asia" has become the preferred term of use in India, both by the Government and by the media. "Arab World" is used in some contexts, but it excludes peoples such as the Israelis, the Iranians and the Kurds who are not Arabs. The term "Middle East-North Africa" (MENA) is sometimes used to encompass the zone from Morocco to Iran.

For the past half-century the Middle East has been at the centre of world affairs, and is probably the modern world's most strategically, economically, politically and culturally sensitive area. It possesses huge stock of crude oil, is the birthplace and spiritual centre of Judaism, Christianity and Islam, is the location of the long-running Israel-Palestinian conflict and is the most important source of international terrorism.

See also Levant, Mesopotamia, Orientalism, Cradle of Humanity

History

See separate article, History of the Middle East

Geography

See: Geography of Southwest Asia and Geography of Africa

Web Links

• Ancient Near East .net (http://www.ancientneareast.net/) - provides a comprehensive portal to the archaeology and ancient cultures of the Near / Middle East