The term came into widespread usage by theUnited Kingdom and western European nations in the early 20th century as a replacement of the termNear East (both were in contrast to theFar East). The term "Middle East" has led to some confusion over its changing definitions.[3] Since the late 20th century, it has been criticized as being tooEurocentric.[4] The region includes the vast majority of the territories included in the closely associated definition ofWest Asia, but without theSouth Caucasus. It also includes all of Egypt (not just theSinai) and all of Turkey (includingEast Thrace).
The Middle East generally has a hot,arid climate, especially in the Arabian and Egyptian regions. Several major rivers provideirrigation to supportagriculture in limited areas here, such as theNile Delta in Egypt, theTigris andEuphrates watersheds ofMesopotamia, and thebasin of theJordan River that spans most of the Levant. These regions are collectively known as theFertile Crescent, and comprise the core of what historians had long referred to as thecradle of civilization; multiple regions of the world have since been classified as also having developed independent, original civilizations.
The term "Middle East" may have originated in the 1850s in the BritishIndia Office.[10] However, it became more widely known whenUnited States naval strategistAlfred Thayer Mahan used the term in 1902[11] to "designate the area between Arabia and India".[12][13]
During this time theBritish andRussian empires were vying for influence inCentral Asia, a rivalry that would become known as theGreat Game. Mahan realized not only the strategic importance of the region, but also of its center, thePersian Gulf.[14][15] He labeled the area surrounding the Persian Gulf as the Middle East. He said that, beyond Egypt'sSuez Canal, the Gulf was the most important passage for Britain to control in order to keep the Russians from advancing towardsBritish India.[16] Mahan first used the term in his article "The Persian Gulf and International Relations", published in September 1902 in theNational Review, a British journal.
The Middle East, if I may adopt a term which I have not seen, will some day needits Malta, as well asits 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, aboutAden, India, and the Persian Gulf.[17]
Mahan's article was reprinted inThe Times and followed in October by a 20-article series entitled "The Middle Eastern Question", written by SirIgnatius Valentine Chirol. During this series, Sir Ignatius expanded the definition ofMiddle East to include "those regions of Asia which extend to the borders ofIndia or command the approaches to India."[18] After the series ended in 1903,The Times removed quotation marks from subsequent uses of the term.[19]
The Middle East was then defined as the area fromMesopotamia toBurma; namely, the area between the Near East and the Far East.[21][22] In the late 1930s, the British established theMiddle East Command, which was based inCairo, for its military forces in the region. After that time, the term "Middle East" gained broader usage in Europe and the United States. Following World War II, for example, theMiddle East Institute was founded inWashington, D.C. in 1946.[23]
The corresponding adjective isMiddle Eastern and the derived noun isMiddle Easterner.
While non-Eurocentric terms such as "Southwest Asia" or "Swasia" have been sparsely used, the classification of the African country, Egypt, among those counted in the Middle East challenges the usefulness of using such terms.[24]
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 emerging independent countries of theIslamic world. However, the usage "Near East" was retained by a variety of academic disciplines, includingarchaeology andancient history. In their usage, the term describes an area identical to the termMiddle East, which is not used by these disciplines (seeancient Near East).[citation needed]
Since the late 20th century, scholars and journalists from the region, such as journalist Louay Khraish and historianHassan Hanafi have criticized the use of "Middle East" as aEurocentric andcolonialist term.[3][4][28]
TheAssociated Press Stylebook of 2004 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:
UseMiddle East unlessNear East is used by a source in a story.Mideast is also acceptable, butMiddle East is preferred.[29]
Translations
European languages have adopted terms similar toNear East andMiddle East. Since these are based on a relative description, the meanings depend on the country and are generally different from the English terms. InGerman the termNaher Osten (Near East) is still in common use (nowadays the termMittlerer Osten is more and more common in press texts translated from English sources, albeit having a distinct meaning).
Perhaps because of the political influence of the United States and Europe, and the prominence of Western press, the Arabic equivalent ofMiddle East (Arabic: الشرق الأوسطash-Sharq al-Awsaṭ) has become standard usage in the mainstream Arabic press. It comprises the same meaning as the term "Middle East" in North American and Western European usage. The designation,Mashriq, also from the Arabic root forEast, also denotes a variously defined region around theLevant, the eastern part of the Arabic-speaking world (as opposed to theMaghreb, the western part).[30] Even though the term originated in the West, countries of the Middle East that use languages other than Arabic also use that term in translation. For instance, thePersian equivalent for Middle East is خاورمیانه (Khāvar-e miyāneh), the Hebrew is המזרח התיכון (hamizrach hatikhon), and the Turkish is Orta Doğu.[31]
Various concepts are often paralleled to the Middle East, most notably theNear East,Fertile Crescent, andLevant. These 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, theMaghreb region of North Africa is sometimes included.
Prior to the formation of civilizations, advanced cultures formed all over the Middle East during theStone 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.
From the 4th century CE onwards, the Middle East became the center of the two main powers at the time, theByzantine Empire and theSassanid Empire. However, it would be the laterIslamic Caliphates of theMiddle Ages, orIslamic Golden Age which began with theIslamic conquest of the region in the 7th century AD, that would first unify the entire Middle East as a distinct region and create the dominantIslamicArab ethnic identity that largely (but not exclusively) persists today. The 4 caliphates that dominated the Middle East for more than 600 years were theRashidun Caliphate, theUmayyad caliphate, theAbbasid caliphate and theFatimid caliphate. Additionally, theMongols would come to dominate the region, theKingdom of Armenia would incorporate parts of the region to their domain, theSeljuks would rule the region and spread Turko-Persian culture, and theFranks would found theCrusader 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, andEgypt 1.5 million.[36]From the 16th century onward, the Middle East came to be dominated, once again, by two main powers: theOttoman Empire and theSafavid dynasty.
The modern Middle East began afterWorld War I, when the Ottoman Empire, which was allied with theCentral Powers, was defeated by the British Empire and their allies andpartitioned into a number of separate nations, initially underBritish andFrench Mandates. Other defining events in this transformation included the establishment of Israel in 1948 and the eventual departure of European powers, notablyBritain andFrance 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 ofcrude oil gave it new strategic and economic importance. Mass production of oil began around 1945, with Saudi Arabia, Iran, Kuwait, Iraq, and theUnited Arab Emirates having large quantities of oil.[37] Estimatedoil reserves, especially in Saudi Arabia and Iran, are some of the highest in the world, and the international oil cartelOPEC 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:NATO and the United States on one side, and theSoviet Union andWarsaw Pact on the other, as they competed to influence regional allies. Besides the political reasons there was also the "ideological conflict" between the two systems. Moreover, asLouise Fawcett argues, among many important areas of contention, or perhaps more accurately of anxiety, were, first, the desires of the superpowers to gain strategic advantage in the region, second, the fact that the region contained some two-thirds of the world's oil reserves in a context where oil was becoming increasingly vital to the economy of the Western world [...][38] Within this contextual framework, the United States sought to divert the Arab world from Soviet influence. Throughout the 20th and 21st centuries, the region has experienced both periods of relative peace and tolerance and periods of conflict particularly betweenSunnis andShiites.
"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 theInternational Organization for Migration, there are 13 million first-generation migrants fromArab 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 inremittance in-flows and remittances sent toJordan,Egypt andLebanon from other Arab countries are 40 to 190 per cent higher than trade revenues between these and other Arab countries.[40] InSomalia, theSomali Civil War has greatly increased the size of theSomali diaspora, as many of the best educated Somalis left for Middle Eastern countries as well asEurope andNorth America.
Non-Arab Middle Eastern countries such asTurkey,Israel andIran 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.[citation needed] Large numbers ofKurds,Jews,Assyrians,Greeks andArmenians as well as manyMandeans have left nations such as Iraq, Iran, Syria and Turkey for these reasons during the last century. In Iran, many religious minorities such asChristians,Baháʼís,Jews andZoroastrians have left since theIslamic Revolution of 1979.[41][42]
Arabic, with all its dialects, is the most widely spoken language in the Middle East, withLiterary Arabic being official in all North African and in most West Asian countries. Arabic dialects are also spoken in some adjacent areas in neighbouring Middle Eastern non-Arab countries. It is a member of theSemitic branch of the Afro-Asiatic languages. SeveralModern South Arabian languages such asMehri andSoqotri are also spoken in Yemen and Oman. Another Semitic language isAramaic and its dialects are spoken mainly byAssyrians andMandaeans, withWestern Aramaic still spoken in two villages near Damascus, Syria. There is also anOasis Berber-speaking community in Egypt where the language is also known asSiwa. It is a non-Semitic Afro-Asiatic sister language.
Persian is the second most spoken language. While it is primarily spoken inIran and some border areas in neighbouring countries, the country is one of the region's largest and most populous. It belongs to theIndo-Iranian branch of the family ofIndo-European languages. Other Western Iranic languages spoken in the region includeAchomi,Daylami,Kurdish dialects,Semmani,Lurish, amongst many others.
The close 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 theTurkic languages, which have their origins in East Asia. Another Turkic language,Azerbaijani, is spoken by Azerbaijanis in Iran.
The fourth-most widely spoken language,Kurdish, is spoken in the countries of Iran, Iraq, Syria and Turkey,Sorani Kurdish is the second official language in Iraq (instated after the 2005 constitution) after Arabic.
Hebrew is the official language ofIsrael, with Arabic given a special status after the2018 Basic law lowered its status from an official language prior to 2018. Hebrew is spoken and used by over 80% of Israel's population, the other 20% using Arabic. Modern Hebrew only began being spoken in the 20th century after beingrevived in the late 19th century by Elizer Ben-Yehuda (Elizer Perlman) andEuropean Jewish settlers, with thefirst native Hebrew speaker being born in 1882.
Greek is one of the two official languages ofCyprus, and the country's main language. Small communities of Greek speakers exist all around the Middle East; until the 20th century it was also widely spoken in Asia Minor (being the second most spoken language there, after Turkish) and Egypt. During the antiquity,Ancient Greek was thelingua franca for many areas of the western Middle East and until the Muslim expansion it was widely spoken there as well. Until the late 11th century, it was also the main spoken language inAsia 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.[48][49] It is also commonly taught and used as a foreign second language, in countries such asEgypt,Jordan,Iran,Iraq,Qatar,Bahrain,United Arab Emirates andKuwait.[50][51] 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 is taught and used in many government facilities and media inLebanon, and is taught in some primary and secondary schools ofEgypt andSyria.Maltese, a Semitic language mainly spoken in Europe, is used by theFranco-Maltese diaspora in Egypt. Due to widespread immigration ofFrench Jews toIsrael, 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.
Russian is spoken by a large portion of the Israeli population, because ofemigration in the late 1990s.[52] Russian today is a popular unofficial language in use inIsrael; 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 largestRomanian-speaking community in the Middle East is found inIsrael, where as of 1995[update] Romanian is spoken by 5% of the population.[note 3][53][54]
Bengali,Hindi andUrdu 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 ofPakistani,Bangladeshi andIndian immigrants.
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[update], according to the CIA World Factbook, all nations in the Middle East are maintaining a positive rate of growth.
According to theInternational Monetary Fund,[57] 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).[57] Turkey ($3.573 trillion), Saudi Arabia ($2.301 trillion), and Iran ($1.692 trillion) had the largest economies in terms ofGDP PPP.[57] 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).[57]
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 theInternational Labour Organization, was 13.2%,[58] and among youth is as high as 25%,[59] up to 37% inMorocco and 73% inSyria.[60]
Sharp global temperature and sea level changes, shifting precipitation patterns and increased frequency ofextreme weather events are some of the main impacts of climate change as identified by theIntergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).[69] 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.[69][70] The climatic conditions that foster such challenges for MENA are projected by theIPCC to worsen throughout the 21st century.[69] Ifgreenhouse gas emissions are not significantly reduced, part of the MENA region risks becoming uninhabitable before the year 2100.[71][72][73]
Climate change is expected to put significant strain on alreadyscarce water and agricultural resources within the MENA region, threatening the national security and political stability of all included countries.[74] 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.[75] This has prompted some MENA countries to engage with the issue of climate change on an international level through environmental accords such as theParis Agreement. Law and policy are also being established on a national level amongst MENA countries, with a focus on the development of renewable energies.[76]
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^Phiddian, Ellen (5 April 2022)."Explainer: IPCC Scenarios".Cosmos.Archived from the original on 20 September 2023. Retrieved30 September 2023."The IPCC doesn't make projections about which of these scenarios is more likely, but other researchers and modellers can.The Australian Academy of Science, for instance, released a report last year stating that our current emissions trajectory had us headed for a 3°C warmer world, roughly in line with the middle scenario.Climate Action Tracker predicts 2.5 to 2.9°C of warming based on current policies and action, with pledges and government agreements taking this to 2.1°C.
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