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The Middle East (or, formerly more common, the Near East) is a region that spans southwestern Asia, western Asia, and northeastern Africa. It has no clear boundaries, often used as a synonym to Near East, in opposition to Far East. The term "Middle East" was popularized around 1900 in the United Kingdom. The corresponding adjective to Middle East is Middle-Eastern and the derived noun is Middle-Easterner.
The history of the Middle East dates back to ancient times, and throughout its history the Middle East has been a major centre of world affairs.
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The Middle East (or, formerly more common, the Near East) is a region that spans southwestern Asia, western Asia, and northeastern Africa. It has no clear boundaries, often used as a synonym to Near East, in opposition to Far East. The term "Middle East" was popularized around 1900 in the United Kingdom. The corresponding adjective to Middle East is Middle-Eastern and the derived noun is Middle-Easterner.
The history of the Middle East dates back to ancient times, and throughout its history the Middle East has been a major centre of world affairs. The Middle East is also the historical origin of three of the world’s major monotheistic religions—Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Some scholars romantically link monotheism with the open and spare desert landscape. The Middle East generally has an arid and hot climate, with several major rivers providing for irrigation to support agriculture in limited areas. Many countries located around the Persian Gulf have large quantities of crude oil. In modern times the Middle East remains a strategically, economically, politically, culturally and religiously sensitive region.
Etymology
The term "Middle East" may have originated in the 1850s in the British India Office. It became more widely known and used after American naval strategist Alfred Thayer Mahan popularized the term. During this time the British and Russian Empires were vying for influence in Central Asia, a rivalry which would become known as "The Great Game". Mahan realized not only the strategic importance of the region, but also of its center, the Persian Gulf. He labeled the area surrounding the Persian Gulf as the Middle East, and said that after the Suez Canal, it was the most important passage for Britain to control in order to keep the Russians from advancing towards India. Mahan first used the term in his article "The Persian Gulf and International Relations", published in September 1902 in the National Review, a British journal.
The Middle East, if I may adopt a term which I have not seen, will some day need its Malta, as well as its Gibraltar; it does not follow that either will be in the Persian Gulf. Naval force has the quality of mobility which carries with it the privilege of temporary absences; but it needs to find on every scene of operation established bases of refit, of supply, and in case of disaster, of security. The British Navy should have the facility to concentrate in force if occasion arise, about Aden, India, and the Persian Gulf.
Mahan's article was reprinted in The Times and followed in October by a 20-article series entitled "The Middle Eastern Question", written by Sir Ignatius Valentine Chirol. In this series, Sir Ignatius expanded the definition of the "Middle East" to include "those regions of Asia which extend to the borders of India or command the approaches to India." With the series end in 1903, The Times removed quotation marks from subsequent uses of the term, marking its acceptance into general usage.
Until World War II, many people continued to refer to areas centered around Turkey and the eastern shore of the Mediterranean as the "Near East", while the "Far East" centered on China. The Middle East then meant the area from Mesopotamia to Burma, namely the area between the Near East and the Far East. In the late 1930s, the British established the Middle East Command in Cairo for its military forces in the region. After that time, the term "Middle East" gained broader usage in Europe and the United States. For example, in 1946 American scholars founded the Middle East Institute in Washington, D.C.
Criticism and usage
Many have criticized the term Middle East for what they see as Eurocentrism, because it was originally used by Europeans (although Mahan was American) and reflects the geographical position of the region from a European perspective. Today, the term is used by Europeans and non-Europeans alike, unlike the similar term Mashreq, used exclusively in Arabic-language contexts.
The description Middle has also led to some confusion over changing definitions. Before the First World War, "Near East" was used in English to refer to the Balkans and the Ottoman Empire, while "Middle East" referred to Iran, Afghanistan, Central Asia, Turkestan, and the Caucasus. In contrast, "Far East" referred to the countries of East Asia: China, Japan, Korea, Hong Kong, etc. Some critics advise using an alternative, geographically descriptive term, such as "Western Asia." The official United Nations designation of the area is "Western Asia".
With the fall of the Ottoman Empire in 1918, the use of "Near East" declined in English. "Middle East" came to be applied to the re-emerging nations of the Islamic world. A variety of academic disciplines, including archaeology and ancient history, retained the term "Near East". It is used to describe an area coterminous with the contemporary term Middle East. (See Ancient Near East).
The United States government first officially used "Middle East" in the 1957 Eisenhower Doctrine, which pertained to the Suez Crisis. Secretary of State John Foster Dulles defined the Middle East as "the area lying between and including Libya on the west and Pakistan on the east, Syria and Iraq on the North and the Arabian peninsula to the south, plus the Sudan and Ethiopia." In 1958, the State Department explained that the terms "Near East" and "Middle East" were interchangeable. It then defined the region as including only Egypt, Syria, Israel, Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, and Qatar.
The Associated Press Stylebook says that Near East formerly referred to the farther west countries while Middle East referred to the eastern ones, but that now they are synonymous. It instructs:
Use Middle East unless Near East is used by a source in a story. Mideast is also acceptable, but Middle East is preferred.
At the United Nations, the numerous documents and resolutions about the Middle East are specifically concerned with the Arab-Israeli conflict, in particular the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and, therefore, with the four states of the Levant. Analysts at the UN occasionally use the term Near East when referring to this region.
Translations
There are terms similar to "Near East" and "Middle East" in other European languages, but since it is a relative description, the meanings depend on the country and are generally different from usage in English. In German the term "Naher Osten" (Near East) is still in common use (nowadays the term "Mittlerer Osten" is more and more common in press texts translated from English sources, albeit having a distinct meaning).
Other examples are:
- Russian - ??????? ?????? or "Blizhniy Vostok",
- Bulgarian - ??????? ?????,
- Polish - Bliski Wschód, or Croatian Bliski istok (meaning Near East in all the four Slavic languages) remains as the only appropriate term for the region.
- French Moyen-Orient,
- Spanish Oriente Medio or Medio Oriente, and
- Italian Medio Oriente..
Perhaps due to the influence of the Western press, the Arabic equivalent of “Middle East,” “?????? ???????” (“ash-sharq-l-awsat”), has become standard usage in the mainstream Arabic press, with the same geographic definition as the term “Middle East” in North American and Western European usage. The Persian equivalent for Middle East is ????????? (Khavarmiyaneh).
Territories and regions
Greater Middle East
History
The Middle East lies at the juncture of Eurasia and Africa and of the Mediterranean Sea and the Indian Ocean. It is the birthplace and spiritual center of Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Yezidi, and in Iran, Mithraism, Zoroastrianism, Manichaeism and the Bahá'í Faith. Throughout its history, the Middle East has been a major center of world affairs; it is a strategically, economically, politically, culturally, and religiously sensitive area.
The earliest civilizations, Mesopotamia and ancient Egypt, originated in the Fertile Crescent and Nile Valley regions of the ancient Near East, as well as the civilizations of the Levant, Iran (called Persia by western nations), and Arabian Peninsula. The Near East was first unified under the Achaemenid Empire; followed by the Macedonian Empire; and Iranian empires, namely the Parthian and Sassanid Empires. The Arab Caliphates of the Middle Ages, or Islamic Golden Age, first unified the entire Middle East as a distinct region and created the dominant ethnic identity and language that persists today. The Turkic Seljuk, Ottoman and Safavid empires later successively dominated the region.
The modern Middle East began after World War I, when the Ottoman Empire, allied with the defeated Central Powers, was partitioned into separate nations. Other defining events in this transformation included the establishment of Israel in 1948, and the departure of European powers, notably Britain and France, that had had political influence in the region. They were supplanted in some part by the rising influence of the United States.
In the 20th century, the region's significant stocks of crude oil gave it new strategic and economic importance. Mass production of oil began around 1945, with Saudi Arabia, Iran, Kuwait, Iraq, and the United Arab Emirates having large quantities of oil. Estimated oil reserves, especially in Saudi Arabia and Iran, are some of the highest in the world. The international oil cartel OPEC is dominated by Middle Eastern countries.
During the Cold War, the Middle East was a theater of ideological and political struggle between the two superpowers: the United States and the Soviet Union, as they competed to influence regional allies. Beside political issues of territory and strategic relations, there was "ideological conflict" between the two systems. Among many important areas of contention, or perhaps more accurately, of anxiety, Louise Fawcett identified first, the desires of the superpowers to gain strategic advantage in the region; and second, the region's possession of two thirds of the world's oil reserves, in a context where oil was becoming increasingly vital to the economy of the Western world [...] Within this framework, the United States sought to divert the Arab world from Soviet influence. Throughout the 20th and into the 21st century, the region has experienced both periods of relative peace and tolerance and periods of conflict and war. Current issues include the Iraq War, Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and the Iranian nuclear program.
Geography
The Middle East defines a geographical area, but does not have precisely defined borders.
Climate
The Middle East is primarily arid and semi-arid, and can be subject to drought; nonetheless, there exist vast expanses of forests and fertile valleys. The region consists of grasslands, rangelands, deserts, and mountains. Water shortages are a problem in many parts of the Middle East, with rapidly growing populations increasing demands for water, while salinization and pollution threaten water supplies. Major rivers, including the Nile and the Euphrates, provide sources for irrigation water to support agriculture.
There are two wind phenomenons in the Middle East: the sharqi and the shamal. The sharqi (or sharki) is a wind that comes from the south and southeast. It is seasonal, lasting from April to early June, and comes again between late September and November. The winds are dry and dusty, with occasional gusts up to 80 kilometers per hour (50 miles per hour). They often kick up violent sand and dust storms, which can carry sand a few thousand meters high and can close down airports for short periods of time. These winds can last for a full day at the beginning and end of the season, and for several days during the middle of the season. The shamal is a summer northwesterly wind blowing over Iraq and the Persian Gulf states (including Saudi Arabia and Kuwait), often strong during the day, but decreasing at night. This weather effect occurs anywhere from once to several times a year.
Topography
While Middle East mainly contains areas with low relief, Turkey, Iran, and Yemen include mountainous terrain. The Anatolian Plateau is sandwiched between the Pontus Mountains and Taurus Mountains in Turkey. Mount Ararat in Turkey rises to 5,165 meters. The Zagros Mountains are located in Iran, in areas along its border with Iraq. The Central Plateau of Iran is divided into two drainage basins. The northern basin is Dasht-e Kavir (Great Salt Desert), and Dasht-e-Lut is the southern basin.
In Yemen, elevations exceed 3,700 meters in many areas, and highland areas extend north along the Red Sea coast and north into Lebanon. A fault-zone also exists along the Red Sea, with continental rifting creating trough-like topography with areas located well below sea level. The Dead Sea, located on the border between the West Bank, Israel, and Jordan, is situated at 418 m (1371 ft) below sea level, making it the lowest point on the surface of the Earth.
A large lowland belt is located on the Arabian Peninsula, from central Iraq, through Saudi Arabia, and to Oman and the Arabian Sea. The Euphrates and Tigris rivers cut through the lowland belt in Iraq and flow into the Persian Gulf. Rub'al KhaLi, one of the world's largest sand deserts, spans the southern third of the Arabian Peninsula in Saudi Arabia, parts of Oman, the United Arab Emirates and Yemen. Jebel al Akhdar is a small range of mountains located in northeastern Oman, bordering the Gulf of Oman.
Geology
Three major tectonic plates converge on the Middle East, including the African, Eurasian, and Arabian plates. The boundaries between the tectonic plates make up the Azores-Gibraltar Ridge, extending across North Africa, the Red Sea, and into Iran. The Arabian Plate is moving northward into the Anatolian plate (Turkey) at the East Anatolian Fault, and the boundary between the Aegean and Anatolian plate in eastern Turkey is also seismically active.
Water resources
Several major aquifers provide water to large portions of the Middle East. In Saudi Arabia, two large aquifers of Palaeozoic and Triassic origins are located beneath the Jabal Tuwayq mountains and areas west to the Red Sea. Cretaceous and Eocene-origin aquifers are located beneath large portions of central and eastern Saudi Arabia, including Wasia and Biyadh which contain amounts of both fresh water and saline water. The Nubian aquifer system underlies large areas of North Africa. The Great Manmade River project in Libya utilizes an extensive network of pipelines to transport water from the Nubian aquifer to its population centers. Groundwater recharge for these deep rock aquifers is on the order of thousands of years, thus the aquifers are essentially non-renewable resources. Flood or furrow irrigation, as well as sprinkler methods, are extensively used for irrigation, covering nearly 90,000 km² across the Middle East for agriculture.
Demographics
Ethnic groups
The Middle East is home to numerous ethnic groups, including Arabs, Turks, Persians, Jews, Armenians Kurds, Aramean Syriacs, Azeris, Circassians, Berbers, Somalis, Greeks, Samaritans, Turkmens, Pashtuns, Baluch, Habesha (mainly Eritrean habesha), and Nubians.
Religions
The Middle East is diverse with a multiplicity of religions, most of which originated there. Islam in its many forms has by far the most adherents in the Middle East. Other faiths, such as Judaism and Christianity, are also important, not only for people of that faith in the area, but because the faiths were carried widely through the centuries to people in other nations, who believe they have a stake in the historic territory of the faiths. There are also important minority religions, such as Bahá'í, Yazdanism, Zoroastrianism.
Languages
Languages of the Middle East span many different families, including Indo-European, Afro-Asiatic, and Altaic.
Arabic in its numerous varieties and Persian are most widely spoken in the region, with Arabic being the most widely spoken language in the Arab countries. Other native languages spoken in the region include Syriac (a form of Aramaic); Azeri, Berber languages, Circassian, Persian, Gilaki language and Mazandarani languages, Hebrew in its numerous varieties, Kurdish, Luri, Turkish and other Turkic languages, Somali and Greek. In Turkey, Kurdish, Dimli (or Zaza), Azeri, Kabardian, and Gagauz languages are spoken, in addition to the Turkish language. Several modern South Arabian languages are also spoken.
English is also spoken, especially among the middle and upper class, in countries such as Egypt, Jordan, Israel, Iraq, and Kuwait. French is spoken in Algeria, Israel, Lebanon, Morocco, Syria, and Egypt. Urdu is spoken in many Middle Eastern countries, such as Arab states the United Arab Emirates, Israel, and Qatar, which have large numbers of Pakistani immigrants. The largest Romanian-speaking community in the Middle East is found in Israel, where Romanian is spoken by 5% of the population. Otherwise, Romanian is spoken mostly as a secondary language by people from Arab-speaking countries who studied in Romania. It is estimated that almost half a million Middle Eastern Arabs studied in Romania during the 1980s. Russian language is also spoken by a significant portion of the Israeli population, due to emigration in the late 1990s. Arabic and central Asian countries also have Russian speakers, from the influence of the Soviet Union after WWII and proximity to present-day Russia.
Economy
Middle Eastern economies range from nations being very poor (such as Gaza and Yemen) to extremely wealthy nations (such as UAE and Saudi Arabia). Overall, , according to the CIA World Factbook, all nations in the Middle East are maintaining a positive rate of growth.
According to the International Monetary Fund's World Economic Outlook Database of April 2008, the three largest Middle Eastern economies in 2007 were Turkey ($ 663,419,000,000), Saudi Arabia ($ 376,029,000,000) and Iran ($ 294,089,000,000), in terms of Nominal GDP. Turkey ($ 887,964,000,000), Iran ($ 752,967,000,000) and Saudi Arabia ($ 564,561,000,000) had the largest economies in terms of GDP-PPP. When it comes to per capita (PPP)-based income, the three highest-ranking countries are Qatar ($80,900), Kuwait ($39,300) and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) ($37,300). The lowest-ranking country in the Middle East in terms of per capita income (PPP) is the autonomous Palestinian Authority of Gaza and the West Bank ($1,100).
The economic structure of Middle Eastern nations are different in the sense that while some nations are heavily dependent on export of only oil and oil-related products (such as Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Kuwait), others have a highly diverse economic base (such as Turkey and Egypt). Industries of the Middle Eastern region include oil and oil-related products, agriculture, cotton, cattle, dairy, textiles, leather products, surgical instruments, defence equipment (guns, ammunition, tanks, submarines, fighter jets, UAVs, and missiles). Banking is also an important sector of the economies, especially in the case of UAE and Bahrain.
With the exception of Turkey, Egypt, Lebanon and Israel, tourism has been a relatively undeveloped area of the economy, due in part to the socially conservative nature of the region as well as political turmoil in certain regions of the Middle East. In recent years, however, countries such as the UAE, Bahrain, and Jordan have begun attracting greater number of tourists due to improving tourist facilities and the relaxing of tourism-related restrictive policies.
Unemployment is notably high in the Middle East and North Africa region, particularly among young people aged 15-29, a demographic representing 30% of the region’s total population. The total regional unemployment rate in 2005, according to the International Labor Organization, was 13.2%, and among youth is as high as 25%, up to 37% in Morocco and 73% in Syria.
See also
External links
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