Middle East

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Coordinates: 29°N 41°E / 29°N 41°E / 29; 41
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Not to be confused with
MENA, or the Greater Middle East
.
For other uses, see Middle East (disambiguation).

Middle East
Middle East
Area7,207,575 km2 (2,782,860 sq mi)
Population371 million (2010)[1]
Countries
Dependencies
Languages
60 languages
Time zonesUTC+02:00, UTC+03:00, UTC+03:30, UTC+04:00, UTC+04:30
Largest cities
Map of the Middle East between North Africa, Southern Europe, Central Asia, and Southern Asia.
Middle East map of Köppen climate classification.

The Middle East (term originally coined in English [see § Terminology][note 1]) is a geopolitical region encompassing the Arabian Peninsula, the Levant, Turkey, Egypt, Iran, and Iraq. The term came into widespread usage as a replacement of the term Near East (as opposed to the Far East) beginning in the early 20th century. The term "Middle East" has led to some confusion over its changing definitions,[2] and being seen as too Eurocentric.[3] The region includes the vast majority of the territories included in the closely associated definition of West Asia, but without the South Caucasus, and additionally includes all of Egypt (not just the Sinai) and all of Turkey (not just the part barring East Thrace).

Most Middle Eastern countries (13 out of 18) are part of the Arab world. The most populous countries in the region are Egypt, Turkey, and Iran, while Saudi Arabia is the largest Middle Eastern country by area. The history of the Middle East dates back to ancient times, with the geopolitical importance of the region being recognized for millennia.[4][5][6] Several major religions have their origins in the Middle East, including Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.[7] Arabs constitute the main ethnic group in the region,[8] followed by Turks, Persians, Kurds, Azeris, Copts, Jews, Assyrians, Iraqi Turkmen, Yazidis, and Greek Cypriots.

The Middle East generally has a hot,

arid climate, especially in the Arabian and Egyptian regions. Several major rivers provide irrigation to support agriculture in limited areas here, such as the Nile Delta in Egypt, the Tigris and Euphrates watersheds of Mesopotamia, and the basin of the Jordan River that spans most of the Levant. These regions are collectively known as the Fertile Crescent, and comprise the core of what historians had long referred to as the cradle of civilization (a label now applied to multiple regions of the world). Conversely, the Levantine coast and most of Turkey have relatively temperate climates typical of the Mediterranean, with dry summers and cool, wet winters. Most of the countries that border the Persian Gulf have vast reserves of petroleum, with monarchs of the Arabian Peninsula in particular benefiting economically from petroleum exports. Because of the arid climate and heavy reliance on the fossil fuel industry, the Middle East is both a heavy contributor to climate change and a region expected to be severely negatively impacted by it.

Other concepts of the region exist including the broader

Middle East and North Africa (MENA), which includes states of the Maghreb and the Sudan, or the "Greater Middle East" which additionally also includes parts of East Africa, Mauritania, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and sometimes the South Caucasus and Central Asia
.

Terminology

The term "Middle East" may have originated in the 1850s in the British India Office.[9] However, it became more widely known when American naval strategist Alfred Thayer Mahan used the term in 1902[10] to "designate the area between Arabia and India".[11][12] 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.[13][14] He labeled the area surrounding the Persian Gulf as the Middle East, and said that after Egypt's Suez Canal, it was the most important passage for Britain to control in order to keep the Russians from advancing towards British India.[15] 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.[16]

Mahan's article was reprinted in

Ignatius Valentine Chirol. During this series, Sir Ignatius expanded the definition of Middle East to include "those regions of Asia which extend to the borders of India or command the approaches to India."[17] After the series ended in 1903, The Times removed quotation marks from subsequent uses of the term.[18]

Until

Burma, namely the area between the Near East and the Far East.[20][21] In the late 1930s, the British established the Middle East Command, which was based 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, with the Middle East Institute founded in Washington, D.C. in 1946, among other usage.[22]

The corresponding adjective is Middle Eastern and the derived noun is Middle Easterner.

While non-Eurocentric terms such as "Southwest Asia" or "Swasia" have been sparsely used, the inclusion of an African country, Egypt, in the definition questions the usefulness of using such terms.[23]

Usage and criticism

1957 American film about the Middle East

The description Middle has also led to some confusion over changing definitions. Before the

Persia, and Arabian lands,[20] and sometimes Afghanistan, India and others.[21] In contrast, "Far East" referred to the countries of East Asia (e.g. China, Japan and Korea).[24][25]

With the collapse of the Ottoman Empire in 1918, "Near East" largely fell out of common use in English, while "Middle East" came to be applied to the re-emerging countries of the

Islamic world. However, the usage "Near East" was retained by a variety of academic disciplines, including archaeology and ancient history, where it describes an area identical to the term Middle East, which is not used by these disciplines (see Ancient Near East).[citation needed
]

The first official use of the term "Middle East" by the United States government was 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."[19] In 1958, the State Department explained that the terms "Near East" and "Middle East" were interchangeable, and defined the region as including only Egypt, Syria, Israel, Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, and Qatar.[26]

The term Middle East has also been criticised by journalist Louay Khraish and historian Hassan Hanafi for being a Eurocentric and colonialist term.[2][3][27]

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.[28]

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 different from the English terms generally. 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) and in Russian Ближний Восток or Blizhniy Vostok, Bulgarian Близкия Изток, 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. However, some languages do have "Middle East" equivalents, such as the French Moyen-Orient, Swedish Mellanöstern, Spanish Oriente Medio or Medio Oriente, and the Italian Medio Oriente.[note 2]

Perhaps because of the influence of the Western press, the Arabic equivalent of Middle East (Arabic: الشرق الأوسط ash-Sharq al-Awsaṭ) has become standard usage in the mainstream Arabic press, comprising the same meaning as the term "Middle East" in North American and Western European usage. The designation, Mashriq, also from the Arabic root for East, also denotes a variously defined region around the Levant, the eastern part of the Arabic-speaking world (as opposed to the Maghreb, the western part).[29] Even though the term originated in the West, apart from Arabic, other languages of countries of the Middle East also use a translation of it. The Persian equivalent for Middle East is خاورمیانه (Khāvar-e miyāneh), the Hebrew is המזרח התיכון (hamizrach hatikhon), the Turkish is Orta Doğu and the Greek is Μέση Ανατολή (Mesi Anatoli).

Countries and territory

Further information: List of Middle Eastern countries by population

Countries and territory usually considered within the Middle East

Traditionally included within the Middle East are Arabia, Asia Minor, East Thrace, Egypt, Iran, the Levant, Mesopotamia, and the Socotra Archipelago. The region includes 17 UN-recognized countries and one British Overseas Territory.

Arms Flag Country Area
(km2) 		Population
(2023)[30] 		Density
(per km2) 		Capital Nominal
GDP, bn (2023)[30] 		GDP per capita (2023)[30] Currency Government Official
language(s)
United Kingdom Akrotiri and Dhekelia Akrotiri and Dhekelia 254 18,195 72 Episkopi N/A N/A Euro De facto stratocratic dependency under a constitutional monarchy English
Bahrain Bahrain Bahrain 780 1,581,000 2,027 Manama $44,994 $28,464 Bahraini dinar Constitutional monarchy Arabic
Cyprus Cyprus Cyprus 9,250 921,000 100 Nicosia $32,032 $34,790 Euro Presidential republic Greek,
Turkish
Egypt Egypt Egypt 1,010,407 105,672,000 105 Cairo $398,397 $3,770 Egyptian pound Semi-presidential republic Arabic
Iran Iran 1,648,195 86,547,000 53 Tehran $366,438 $4,233 Iranian rial Islamic republic Persian
Iraq Iraq Iraq 438,317 43,345,000 99 Baghdad $254,993 $5,882 Iraqi dinar Parliamentary republic
Kurdish
Israel Israel Israel 20,770 9,807,000 472 Jerusalema $521,688 $53,195 Israeli shekel Parliamentary republic Hebrew
Jordan Jordan Jordan 92,300 10,312,000 112 Amman $50,022 $4,850 Jordanian dinar Constitutional monarchy Arabic
Kuwait Kuwait Kuwait 17,820 4,957,000 278 Kuwait City $159,687 $32,215 Kuwaiti dinar Constitutional monarchy Arabic
Lebanon Lebanon 10,452 6,633,000 (2022) 635 Beirut $21,780 (2022) $3,283 (2022) Lebanese pound Parliamentary republic Arabic
Oman Oman 309,500 5,092,000 16 Muscat $108,282 $21,265 Omani rial Absolute monarchy Arabic
State of Palestine State of Palestine Palestine 6,220 5,479,000 881 Jerusalem
Ramallaha 		$18,109 (2021) $3,464 (2021) Israeli shekel,
Jordanian dinar 		Semi-presidential republic Arabic
Qatar Qatar 11,437 2,873,000 251 Doha $235,500 $81,968 Qatari riyal Constitutional monarchy Arabic
Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia 2,149,690 32,819,000 15 Riyadh $1,069,437 $32,586 Saudi riyal Absolute monarchy Arabic
Syria Syria Syria 185,180 21,393,000 (2010) 116 Damascus $60,043 (2010) $2,806 (2010) Syrian pound Presidential republic Arabic
Turkey Turkey 783,562 86,268,000 110 Ankara $1,154,600 $13,383 Turkish lira Presidential republic Turkish
United Arab Emirates United Arab Emirates United Arab Emirates 82,880 10,062,000 121 Abu Dhabi $509,179 $50,602
Emirati dirham
 Federal constitutional monarchy Arabic
Yemen Yemen Yemen 527,970 34,071,000 65 Sanaab
Aden (provisional) 		$21,045 $617 Yemeni rial Provisional presidential republic Arabic
a. ^ ^ Jerusalem is the proclaimed capital of Israel, which is disputed, and the actual location of the Knesset, Israeli Supreme Court, and other governmental institutions of Israel. Ramallah is the actual location of the government of Palestine, whereas the proclaimed capital of Palestine is East Jerusalem, which is disputed.
b.
ongoing civil war
. Seat of government moved to Aden.

Other definitions of the Middle East

Further information:
MENA, and Near East
See also: Fertile Crescent and Levant

Various concepts are often being paralleled to the Middle East, most notably the Near East, Fertile Crescent, and Levant. The Near East, Fertile Crescent, and Levant are geographical concepts, which refer to large sections of the modern-day Middle East, with the Near East being the closest to the Middle East in its geographical meaning. Due to it primarily being Arabic speaking, the Maghreb region of North Africa is sometimes included.

The countries of the South Caucasus – Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia – are occasionally included in definitions of the Middle East.[31]

"Greater Middle East" is a political term coined by the second Bush administration in the first decade of the 21st century,[32] to denote various countries, pertaining to the Muslim world, specifically Afghanistan, Iran, Pakistan, and Turkey.[33] Various Central Asian countries are sometimes also included.[34]

History

Main article: History of the Middle East
See also:
Middle Eastern Empires, Pre-Islamic Arabia, and List of modern conflicts in the Middle East
Some henges at Göbekli Tepe were erected as far back as 9600 BC, predating those of Stonehenge, England, by over seven millennia. The site of the oldest known religious structure created by humans.[35]
Western Wall and Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem
Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem
The Kaaba, located in Mecca, Saudi Arabia

The Middle East lies at the juncture of

Manicheanism, and the Baháʼí Faith
. Throughout its history the Middle East has been a major center of world affairs; a strategically, economically, politically, culturally, and religiously sensitive area. The region is one of the regions where agriculture was independently discovered, and from the Middle East it was spread, during the Neolithic, to different regions of the world such as Europe, the Indus Valley and Eastern Africa.

Prior to the formation of civilizations, advanced cultures formed all over the Middle East during the Stone Age. The search for agricultural lands by agriculturalists, and pastoral lands by herdsmen meant different migrations took place within the region and shaped its ethnic and demographic makeup.

The Middle East is widely and most famously known as the

Sassanid Empire. Thus, the Romans
stationed up to five or six of their legions in the region for the sole purpose of defending it from Sassanid and Bedouin raids and invasions.

From the 4th century CE onwards, the Middle East became the center of the two main powers at the time, the

Kingdom of Armenia would incorporate parts of the region to their domain, the Seljuks would rule the region and spread Turko-Persian culture, and the Franks would found the Crusader states that would stand for roughly two centuries. Josiah Russell estimates the population of what he calls "Islamic territory" as roughly 12.5 million in 1000 – Anatolia 8 million, Syria 2 million, and Egypt 1.5 million.[36]
From the 16th century onward, the Middle East came to be dominated, once again, by two main powers: the Ottoman Empire and the Safavid dynasty.

The modern Middle East began after

French Mandates. Other defining events in this transformation included the establishment of Israel in 1948 and the eventual departure of European powers, notably Britain and France
by the end of the 1960s. They were supplanted in some part by the rising influence of the United States from the 1970s onwards.

In the 20th century, the region's significant stocks of

oil reserves, especially in Saudi Arabia and Iran, are some of the highest in the world, and the international oil cartel OPEC
is dominated by Middle Eastern countries.

During the Cold War, the Middle East was a theater of ideological struggle between the two superpowers and their allies:

Shiites
.

Demographics

Main article: Demographics of the Middle East
See also:
Largest metropolitan areas of the Middle East
Maunsell's map, a Pre-World War I British Ethnographical Map of the Middle East

Ethnic groups

Main article: Ethnic groups in the Middle East

Afro-Arabs
.

Migration

"Migration has always provided an important vent for labor market pressures in the Middle East. For the period between the 1970s and 1990s, the Arab states of the Persian Gulf in particular provided a rich source of employment for workers from Egypt, Yemen and the countries of the Levant, while Europe had attracted young workers from North African countries due both to proximity and the legacy of colonial ties between France and the majority of North African states."[39]

According to the

Arab nations in the world, of which 5.8 reside in other Arab countries. Expatriates from Arab countries contribute to the circulation of financial and human capital in the region and thus significantly promote regional development. In 2009 Arab countries received a total of US$35.1 billion in remittance in-flows and remittances sent to Jordan, Egypt and Lebanon from other Arab countries are 40 to 190 per cent higher than trade revenues between these and other Arab countries.[40] In Somalia, the Somali Civil War has greatly increased the size of the Somali diaspora, as many of the best educated Somalis left for Middle Eastern countries as well as Europe and North America
.

Non-Arab Middle Eastern countries such as Turkey, Israel and Iran are also subject to important migration dynamics.

A fair proportion of those migrating from Arab nations are from ethnic and religious minorities facing persecution and are not necessarily ethnic Arabs, Iranians or Turks.[

Zoroastrians have left since the Islamic Revolution of 1979.[41][42]

Religions

Main article: Religion in the Middle East
Islam is the largest religion in the Middle East. Here, Muslim men are prostrating during prayer in a mosque.

The Middle East is very diverse when it comes to

gnostic
sects.

Languages

The six top languages, in terms of numbers of speakers, are

Afro-Asiatic language family. Persian, Kurdish and Greek belong to the Indo-European language family. Turkish belongs to Turkic
language family. About 20 minority languages are also spoken in the Middle East.

Arabic, with all its dialects, is the most widely spoken language in the Middle East, with

Siwa
. It is a non-Semitic Afro-Asiatic language.

Kurdish dialects, Semmani, Lurish
, amongst many others.

The third-most widely spoken language, Turkish, is largely confined to Turkey, which is also one of the region's largest and most populous countries, but it is present in areas in neighboring countries. It is a member of the Turkic languages, which have their origins in East Asia. Another Turkic language, Azerbaijani, is spoken by Azerbaijanis in Iran.

Hebrew is one of the two official languages of Israel
, the other being Arabic. Hebrew is spoken and used by over 80% of Israel's population, the other 20% using Arabic.

Asia Minor
; after that it was gradually replaced by the Turkish language as the Anatolian Turks expanded and the local Greeks were assimilated, especially in the interior.

1911 Ottoman calendar shown in several different languages such as: Ottoman Turkish (in Arabic script), Greek, Armenian, Hebrew, Bulgarian, and French.

English is one of the official languages of Akrotiri and Dhekelia.[47][48] It is also commonly taught and used as a second language, especially among the middle and upper classes, in countries such as Egypt, Jordan, Iran, Kurdistan, Iraq, Qatar, Bahrain, United Arab Emirates and Kuwait.[49][50] It is also a main language in some Emirates of the United Arab Emirates. It is also spoken as native language by Jewish immigrants from Anglophone countries (UK, US, Australia) in Israel and understood widely as second language there.

French Jews to Israel
, it is the native language of approximately 200,000 Jews in Israel.

Armenian speakers are to be found in the region. Georgian is spoken by the Georgian diaspora.

emigration in the late 1990s.[51] Russian today is a popular unofficial language in use in Israel; news, radio and sign boards can be found in Russian around the country after Hebrew and Arabic. Circassian
is also spoken by the diaspora in the region and by almost all Circassians in Israel who speak Hebrew and English as well.

The largest Romanian-speaking community in the Middle East is found in Israel, where as of 1995 Romanian is spoken by 5% of the population.[note 3][52][53]

Bengali, Hindi and Urdu are widely spoken by migrant communities in many Middle Eastern countries, such as Saudi Arabia (where 20–25% of the population is South Asian), the United Arab Emirates (where 50–55% of the population is South Asian), and Qatar, which have large numbers of Pakistani, Bangladeshi and Indian immigrants.

Economy

Main articles: Economy of the Middle East and Middle East economic integration
Oil and gas pipelines in the Middle-East

Middle Eastern economies range from being very poor (such as Gaza and Yemen) to extremely wealthy nations (such as Qatar and UAE). Overall, as of 2007, 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,[54] the three largest Middle Eastern economies in nominal GDP in 2023 were Saudi Arabia ($1.062 trillion), Turkey ($1.029 trillion), and Israel ($539 billion). Regarding nominal GDP per capita, the highest ranking countries are Qatar ($83,891), Israel ($55,535), the United Arab Emirates ($49,451) and Cyprus ($33,807).[54] Turkey ($3.573 trillion), Saudi Arabia ($2.301 trillion), and Iran ($1.692 trillion) had the largest economies in terms of GDP PPP.[54] When it comes to GDP PPP per capita, the highest-ranking countries are Qatar ($124,834), the United Arab Emirates ($88,221), Saudi Arabia ($64,836), Bahrain ($60,596) and Israel ($54,997). The lowest-ranking country in the Middle East, in terms of GDP nominal per capita, is Yemen ($573).[54]

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 Cyprus, Israel, 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 Cyprus, Turkey, Egypt, Lebanon and Israel, tourism has been a relatively undeveloped area of the economy, in part because of the socially conservative nature of the region as well as political turmoil in certain regions of the Middle East. In recent years,[when?] however, countries such as the UAE, Bahrain, and Jordan have begun attracting greater numbers of tourists because of improving tourist facilities and the relaxing of tourism-related restrictive policies.[citation needed]

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 Labour Organization, was 13.2%,[55] and among youth is as high as 25%,[56] up to 37% in Morocco and 73% in Syria.[57]

Climate change

This section is an excerpt from Climate change in the Middle East and North Africa.[edit]
Köppen climate classification maps for the Middle East at present (top) and predicted for North Africa for 2071–2100 (bottom).

Middle Eastern and North African economies due to the extensive oil and natural gas reserves that are found within the region.[61][62] The region of Middle East is one of the most vulnerable to climate change. The impacts include increase in drought conditions, aridity, heatwaves and sea level rise
.

Sharp global temperature and sea level changes, shifting precipitation patterns and increased frequency of extreme weather events are some of the main impacts of climate change as identified by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).[63] The MENA region is especially vulnerable to such impacts due to its arid and semi-arid environment, facing climatic challenges such as low rainfall, high temperatures and dry soil.[63][64] The climatic conditions that foster such challenges for MENA are projected by the IPCC to worsen throughout the 21st century.[63] If greenhouse gas emissions are not significantly reduced, part of the MENA region risks becoming uninhabitable before the year 2100.[65][66][67]

Climate change is expected to put significant strain on already scarce water and agricultural resources within the MENA region, threatening the national security and political stability of all included countries.[68] Over 60 percent of the region's population lives in high and very high water-stressed areas compared to the global average of 35 percent.[69] This has prompted some MENA countries to engage with the issue of climate change on an international level through environmental accords such as the Paris Agreement. Law and policy are also being established on a national level amongst MENA countries, with a focus on the development of renewable energies.[70]

Gallery

This video over Central Africa and the Middle East was taken by the crew of Expedition 29 on board the
Sahara Desert and the Middle East was taken by the crew of Expedition 29 on board the International Space Station.
A pass beginning over Turkmenistan, east of the Caspian Sea to south-eastern China, just north-west of Hong Kong
.

See also

Notes

  1. South Azerbaijani: اوْرتاشرق; Turkish
    : Orta Doğu.
  2. ^ In Italian, the expression "Vicino Oriente" (Near East) was also widely used to refer to Turkey, and Estremo Oriente (Far East or Extreme East) to refer to all of Asia east of Middle East
  3. ^ According to the 1993 Statistical Abstract of Israel there were 250,000 Romanian speakers in Israel, at a population of 5,548,523 (census 1995).

References

  1. ^ Population 1971–2010 (pdf Archived 6 January 2012 at the Wayback Machine p. 89) IEA (OECD/ World Bank) (original population ref OECD/ World Bank e.g. in IEA Key World Energy Statistics 2010 p. 57)
  2. ^ a b Khraish, Louay (16 July 2021). "Don't Call Me Middle Eastern". Raseef 22.
  3. ^ a b Hanafi, Hassan (1998). "The Middle East, in whose world? (Primary Reflections)". Oslo: Nordic Society for Middle Eastern Studies (The fourth Nordic conference on Middle Eastern Studies: The Middle East in globalizing world Oslo, 13–16 August 1998). Archived from the original on 8 October 2006.
  4. ISBN 978-0-8131-3672-1
    p. xi.
  5. ISBN 978-0-16-087640-0
    p. 177
  6. ISBN 978-0-8108-6302-6
    p. xxxi.
  7. ISBN 978-1446289761
    . The Middle East is the cradle of the three monotheistic faiths of Judaism, Christianity and Islam.
  8. ISBN 978-1-59884-362-0. Archived
    from the original on 24 April 2016. Retrieved 26 May 2014.
  9. ^ Beaumont, Blake & Wagstaff 1988, p. 16.
  10. doi:10.1080/00263207608700307
    .
  11. ^ Lewis, Bernard (1965). The Middle East and the West. p. 9.
  12. ISBN 978-0-8050-0857-9
    .
  13. ^ Melman, Billie (November 2002), Companion to Travel Writing, Collections Online, vol. 6 The Middle East/Arabia, Cambridge, archived from the original on 25 July 2011, retrieved 8 January 2006.
  14. ISBN 0-02-923843-9
    pp. 12–13.
  15. ^ Laciner, Sedat. "Is There a Place Called 'the Middle East'? Archived 2007-02-20 at the Wayback Machine", The Journal of Turkish Weekly, 2 June 2006. Retrieved 10 January 2007.
  16. ^ Adelson 1995, pp. 22–23.
  17. ^ Adelson 1995, p. 24.
  18. ^ Adelson 1995, p. 26.
  19. ^
    S2CID 157454140
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  20. ^ a b "How the Middle East was invented". The Washington Post.
  21. ^ a b "Where Is the Middle East? | Center for Middle East and Islamic Studies".
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  23. S2CID 154611116
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  28. ISBN 0-465-00488-1
    p. 156
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  30. ^ a b c "Report for Selected Countries and Subjects". IMF. Retrieved 12 October 2023.
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  35. ^ "The World's First Temple". Archaeology magazine. November–December 2008. p. 23.
  36. ISBN 0-299-09140-6
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  39. hdl:10822/1042998. Archived
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  41. ISBN 978-1838609344
    . Although the Christians of Iran, unlike their Iraqi brothers, were not called up for military service in the Iran–Iraq War ... was so radical that a genuine exodus took place – more than half the 250,000 Christians left Iran after 1979.
  42. ISBN 978-0857727886
    .
  43. ISBN 978-1538124185
    . The Middle East still stands at the heart of the Christian world. After all, it is the birthplace, and the death place, of Christ, and the cradle of the Christian tradition.
  44. ISBN 978-1351510721
    . Christian communities and individuals have played a vital role in the Middle East, the cradle of Christianity as of other religions.
  45. ISBN 1860641709
    .
  46. ISBN 978-0429962004
    . Worldwide, they number 1 million or so, with about 45 to 50 percent in Syria, 35 to 40 percent in Lebanon, and less than 10 percent in Israel. Recently there has been a growing Druze diaspora.
  47. ^ "Europe :: Akrotiri – The World Factbook – Central Intelligence Agency". CIA. 25 October 2021.
  48. ^ "Europe :: Dhekelia – The World Factbook – Central Intelligence Agency". CIA. 25 October 2021.
  49. ^ "World Factbook – Jordan". 20 October 2021.
  50. ^ "Kuwait". Central Intelligence Agency. 19 October 2021 – via CIA.gov.
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