The Middle East is an area that is politically and culturally part of the continent of Asia, or Africa-Eurasia.
The center of this region is the land between the Mediterranean Sea and the Persian Gulf and the region that extends from Anatolia, the Arabian Peninsula and the Sinai Peninsula.
The area is sometimes referred to as covering the area from North Africa in the west to Pakistan in the east and the Caucasus and/or Central Asia in the north.
The media and several international organizations (such as the United Nations) generally consider the Middle East region to be Southwest Asia (including Cyprus and Iran) plus Egypt.
The Middle East includes several ethnic and cultural groups, including Iranians, Arabs, Greeks, Jews, Berbers, Assyrians, Kurds and Turks. The main languages are: Persian, Arabic, Hebrew, Assyrian, Kurdish and Turkish.
Most western literature defines the Middle East as the countries in Southwest Asia, from Iran (Persia) to Egypt. Egypt and its Sinai peninsula in Asia are generally considered to be part of the Middle East, although most of the country is geographically located in North Africa.
Since the mid-20th century, the Middle East has been the center of world events, and has become a very sensitive area, both in terms of strategic location, politics, economy, culture and religion.
The Middle East has large reserves of crude oil and is the birthplace and spiritual center of Judaism, Christianity and Islam.
The term Middle East refers to a cultural area, so it has no specific boundaries. The commonly used definition is an area consisting of: Bahrain, Cyprus, Egypt, Turkey, Iran (Persia), Iraq, Palestine, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, United Arab Emirates, Yemen and Palestine.
Generally what is called the Middle East literally means the following countries:
- Syria
- Lebanon
- Palestine
- Egypt
Countries believed to be part of the Middle East:
- Saudi Arabia
- Yemen
- Oman
- United Arab Emirates
- Bahrain
- Qatar
- Iraq
- Kuwait
North African countries also included:
- Morocco
- Algeria
- Libya
- Tunisia
- Mauritania
- Western Sahara
- Sudan
- Ethiopia
- Eritrea
- Djibouti
In addition sometimes the following countries are included:
- Iran
- Pakistan
- Turkey
Some have criticized the term for this region due to its Eurocentrism. This region is located in eastern western Europe. For India, it lies in the west; for Russia it lies in the south. The use of the word Middle has also caused confusion for some.
Prior to World War I, the British used the Near East to refer to the Balkans and the Ottoman Empire, while the Middle East referred to Persia, Afghanistan, and Central Asia, Turkey and the Caucasus. While the Far East refers to East Asian countries, such as China, Japan, Hong Kong, etc.
With the loss of the Ottoman Empire in 1918, the Near East was almost lost in common usage, while the Middle East was used to designate Islamic countries. However, Near Eastern usage remains in use by several academic disciplines, including archeology and ancient history.