122-759: The Middle East (term originally coined in English language) is a geopolitical region encompassing the Arabian Peninsula , the Levant , Turkey , Egypt , Iran , and Iraq . The term came into widespread usage by the United Kingdom and western European nations in the early 20th century as a replacement of the term Near East (both were in contrast to the Far East ). The term "Middle East" has led to some confusion over its changing definitions. Since
244-679: A military intervention in Yemen in March 2015. The civil war and subsequent military intervention and blockade caused a famine in Yemen . India Office The India Office was a British government department in London established in 1858 to oversee the administration of the Provinces of India , through the British viceroy and other officials. The administered territories comprised most of
366-539: A gradual devolution of authority to legislative bodies and local governments. The same administrative reforms also led in 1937 to the separation of Burma from rest of South Asia and the creation in London of the Burma Office , separate from the India Office though sharing the same Secretary of State and located in the same building. With the gradual events and establishments of sovereign independent nations and
488-782: A small number of urban trading settlements, such as Mecca and Medina , located in the Hejaz in the west of the peninsula. Archaeology has revealed the existence of many civilizations in pre-Islamic Arabia (such as the Thamud ), especially in South Arabia . South Arabian civilizations include the Himyarite Kingdom , the Kingdom of Awsan , the Kingdom of Ma'īn , and the Sabaean Kingdom (usually considered to be
610-865: A vital role in the Middle East, and they represent 40.5% of Lebanon, where the Lebanese president , half of the cabinet, and half of the parliament follow one of the various Lebanese Christian rites. There are also important minority religions like the Baháʼí Faith , Yarsanism , Yazidism , Zoroastrianism , Mandaeism , Druze , and Shabakism , and in ancient times the region was home to Mesopotamian religions , Canaanite religions , Manichaeism , Mithraism and various monotheist gnostic sects. The six top languages, in terms of numbers of speakers, are Arabic , Persian , Turkish , Kurdish , Modern Hebrew and Greek . About 20 minority languages are also spoken in
732-545: Is Aramaic and its dialects are spoken mainly by Assyrians and Mandaeans , with Western Aramaic still spoken in two villages near Damascus, Syria. There is also an Oasis Berber -speaking community in Egypt where the language is also known as Siwa . It is a non-Semitic Afro-Asiatic sister language. Persian is the second most spoken language. While it is primarily spoken in Iran and some border areas in neighbouring countries,
854-538: 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 classificiation of the African country, Egypt, among those counted in the Middle East challenges the usefulness of using such terms. The description Middle has also led to some confusion over changing definitions. Before the First World War , "Near East"
976-741: Is Saudi Arabia. In the classical era, the Sinai Peninsula was also considered a part of Arabia. The Arabian Peninsula formed as a result of the rifting of the Red Sea between 56 and 23 million years ago, and is bordered by the Red Sea to the west and southwest, the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman to the northeast, the Levant and Mesopotamia to the north and the Arabian Sea and
1098-552: Is a large volcanic field that extends from northwestern Arabia into Jordan and southern Syria . The Peninsula's constituent countries are (clockwise from north to south) Kuwait, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on the east, Oman on the southeast, Yemen on the south, and Saudi Arabia at the center. The island country of Bahrain lies just off the east coast of the Peninsula. Due to Yemen's jurisdiction over
1220-763: Is also commonly taught and used as a foreign second language, in countries such as Egypt , Jordan , Iran , Iraq , Qatar , Bahrain , United Arab Emirates and Kuwait . 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. Arabian Peninsula The Arabian Peninsula ( / ə ˈ r eɪ b i ə n p ə n ɪ n sj u l ə / ; Arabic : شِبْهُ الْجَزِيرَة الْعَرَبِيَّة , shibhu l-jazīra l-ʿarabiyya , "Arabian Peninsula" or جَزِيرَةُ الْعَرَب , jazīratu l-ʿarab , lit. ' Island of
1342-614: Is known for its rich oil, i.e. petroleum production due to its geographical location. According to NASA's Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) satellite data (2003–2013) analysed in a University of California, Irvine (UCI) -led study published in Water Resources Research on 16 June 2015, the most over-stressed aquifer system in the world is the Arabian Aquifer System , upon which more than 60 million people depend for water. Twenty-one of
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#17327512063411464-766: Is located in the continent of Asia and is bounded by (clockwise) the Persian Gulf on the northeast, the Strait of Hormuz and the Gulf of Oman on the east, the Arabian Sea on the southeast, the Gulf of Aden , and the Guardafui Channel on the south, and the Bab-el-Mandeb strait on the southwest and the Red Sea, which is located on the southwest and west. The northern portion of the peninsula merges with
1586-646: 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. 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
1708-669: Is the location of the Kaaba , Islam's holiest site, and the Masjid al-Nabawi (the Prophet's Mosque) in Medina is the location of Muhammad 's grave; as a result, from the 7th century, Mecca and Medina became the pilgrimage destinations for large numbers of Muslims from across the Islamic world . Despite its spiritual importance, in political terms Arabia soon became a peripheral region of
1830-429: Is the official language of Israel , with Arabic given a special status after the 2018 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 being revived in the late 19th century by Elizer Ben-Yehuda (Elizer Perlman) and European Jewish settlers, with
1952-407: Is unsuited to agriculture, making irrigation and land reclamation projects essential. The narrow coastal plain and isolated oases, amounting to less than 1% of the land area, are used to cultivate grains, coffee and tropical fruits . Goat, sheep, and camel husbandry is widespread elsewhere throughout the rest of the Peninsula. Some areas have a summer humid tropical monsoon climate , in particular
2074-727: The Maghreb , the western part). 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, the Persian equivalent for Middle East is خاورمیانه ( Khāvar-e miyāneh ), the Hebrew is המזרח התיכון ( hamizrach hatikhon ), and the Turkish is Orta Doğu. Traditionally included within the Middle East are Arabia , Asia Minor , East Thrace , Egypt , Iran ,
2196-545: 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
2318-739: The Al Saud , began in Najd in central Arabia in 1744, when Muhammad bin Saud , founder of the dynasty, joined forces with the religious leader Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab , founder of the Wahhabi movement , a strict puritanical form of Sunni Islam. The Emirate of Diriyah established in the area around Riyadh rapidly expanded and briefly controlled most of the present-day territory of Saudi Arabia, sacking Karbala in 1802, and capturing Mecca in 1803. The Damascus Protocol of 1914 provides an illustration of
2440-775: The Arabian Peninsula ( Magan , Sheba , Ubar ). The Near East was first largely unified under the Neo Assyrian Empire , then the Achaemenid Empire followed later by the Macedonian Empire and after this to some degree by the Iranian empires (namely the Parthian and Sassanid Empires ), the Roman Empire and Byzantine Empire . The region served as the intellectual and economic center of
2562-788: The Arabs ' ), or Arabia , is a peninsula in West Asia , situated northeast of Africa on the Arabian Plate . At 3,237,500 km (1,250,000 sq mi), comparable in size to India , the Arabian Peninsula is the largest peninsula in the world. Geographically, the Arabian Peninsula includes Bahrain , Kuwait , Oman , Qatar , Saudi Arabia , the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Yemen , as well as southern Iraq and Jordan . The largest of these
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#17327512063412684-547: 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
2806-455: The Dhofar and Al Mahrah areas of Oman and Yemen. These areas allow for large scale coconut plantations. Much of Yemen has a tropical monsoon rain influenced mountain climate. The plains usually have either a tropical or subtropical arid desert climate or arid steppe climate . The sea surrounding the Arabian Peninsula is generally tropical sea with a very rich tropical sea life and some of
2928-597: The First Islamic State - a single Arab Muslim religious polity in the Arabian Peninsula. Under the subsequent Rashidun and Umayyad Caliphates , rapid expansion of Arab power well beyond the Arabian peninsula formed a vast Muslim Arab Empire with an area of influence that stretched from the northwest Indian subcontinent , across Central Asia , the Middle East , North Africa , southern Italy , and
3050-684: The Foreign Office , Colonial Office , Home Office and War Office . The Secretary of State for India was assisted by a statutory body of advisors, the Council of India, and headed a staff of civil servants organised into a system of departments largely taken over from the East India Company and Board of Control establishments, and housed in a new India Office building in Whitehall. The Secretary of State for India inherited all
3172-661: 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. He said that, beyond Egypt's Suez Canal , the Gulf was the most important passage for Britain to control in order to keep the Russians from advancing towards British India . Mahan first used the term in his article "The Persian Gulf and International Relations", published in September 1902 in
3294-585: The Hejaz ( Tihamah for the western coast), as described by Ibn al-Faqih . In antiquity, the term "Arabia" encompassed a larger area than the current term "Arabian Peninsula" and included the Arabian desert and large parts of the Syrian-Arabian desert . During the Hellenistic period , the area was known as Arabia ( Ancient Greek : Ἀραβία ). The Romans named three regions "Arabia": One of
3416-721: The Iberian Peninsula , to the Pyrenees . With Muhammad's death in 632, disagreement broke out over who would succeed him as leader of the Muslim community. Umar ibn al-Khattab , a prominent companion of Muhammad, nominated Abu Bakr , who was Muhammad's intimate friend and collaborator. Others added their support and Abu Bakr was made the first caliph . This choice was disputed by some of Muhammad's companions, who held that Ali ibn Abi Talib , his cousin and son-in-law, had been designated his successor. Abu Bakr's immediate task
3538-581: The Indian Ocean to the southeast. The peninsula plays a critical geopolitical role in the Arab world and globally due to its vast reserves of oil and natural gas . Before the modern era, the region was divided into primarily four distinct regions: the Central Plateau ( Najd and Al-Yamama ), South Arabia ( Yemen , Hadhramaut and Oman ), Al-Bahrain (Eastern Arabia or Al-Hassa ), and
3660-692: The International Organization for Migration , there are 13 million first-generation migrants from 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. In Somalia ,
3782-497: The Islamic world , in which the most important medieval Islamic states were based at various times in such far away cities as Damascus , Baghdad , and Cairo . However, from the 10th century (and, in fact, until the 20th century) the Hashemite Sharifs of Mecca maintained a state in the most developed part of the region, the Hejaz . Their domain originally comprised only the holy cities of Mecca and Medina but in
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3904-587: The Levant , Mesopotamia , and the Socotra Archipelago . The region includes 17 UN -recognized countries and one British Overseas Territory . Various concepts are often paralleled to the Middle East, most notably the Near East , Fertile Crescent , and Levant . These are geographical concepts, which refer to large sections of the modern-day Middle East, with the Near East being the closest to
4026-637: The Nefud Desert dates to approximately 90,000 years ago and is the oldest human fossil discovered outside of Africa and the Levant. This indicates human migrations from Africa to Arabia occurred around this time. The Arabian Peninsula may have been the homeland of a ' Basal Eurasian ' population, which diverged from other Eurasians soon after the Out-of-Africa migration, and subsequently became isolated, until it started to mix with other populations in
4148-447: 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 (multiple regions of the world have since been classified as also having developed independent, original civilizations). Conversely,
4270-412: The Rashidun or "rightly guided" Caliphate . Under the Rashidun Caliphs, and, from 661, their Umayyad successors , the Arabs rapidly expanded the territory under Muslim control outside of Arabia. In a matter of decades Muslim armies decisively defeated the Byzantine army and destroyed the Persian Empire , conquering huge swathes of territory from the Iberian peninsula to India. The political focus of
4392-404: The Sassanid Empire . However, it would be the later Islamic Caliphates of the Middle Ages , or Islamic Golden Age which began with the Islamic conquest of the region in the 7th century AD, that would first unify the entire Middle East as a distinct region and create the dominant Islamic Arab ethnic identity that largely (but not exclusively) persists today. The 4 caliphates that dominated
4514-427: The Socotra Archipelago , the Peninsula's geopolitical outline faces the Guardafui Channel and the Somali Sea to the south. The six countries of Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE form the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia covers the greater part of the Peninsula. The majority of the population of the Peninsula lives in Saudi Arabia and Yemen. The Peninsula contains
4636-668: 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. Large numbers of Kurds , Jews , Assyrians , Greeks and Armenians as well as many Mandeans have left nations such as Iraq, Iran, Syria and Turkey for these reasons during
4758-402: The Straits of Magellan ; the term "India" had been derived from the name of the Indus River , long important to commerce and civilisation in the region. The Company soon established a network of " factories " throughout the south and east Indies in Asia. Over a period of 250 years the Company underwent several substantial changes in its basic character and functions. A period of rivalry between
4880-404: The Syrian Desert with no clear borderline, although the northern boundary of the peninsula is generally considered to be the northern borders of Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, also southern regions of Iraq and Jordan. The most prominent feature of the peninsula is desert , but in the southwest, there are mountain ranges, which receive greater rainfall than the rest of the peninsula. Harrat ash Shaam
5002-409: The Tuwayr , Shammar and Dhofar generally do not exceed 1,000 m (3,300 ft) in height. Not all mountains in the peninsula are visibly within ranges. Jebel Hafeet in particular, on the border of the UAE and Oman, measuring between 1,100 and 1,300 m (3,600 and 4,300 ft), is not within the Hajar range, but may be considered an outlier of that range. Most of the Arabian Peninsula
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5124-410: The United States –led 2003 invasion of Iraq . Despite its historically sparse population, political Arabia stands out for its rapid population growth, driven by both significant inflows of migrant labor and persistently high birth rates. The population is characterized by its relative youth and a heavily skewed gender ratio favoring males. In several states, the number of South Asians surpasses that of
5246-432: The first native Hebrew speaker being born in 1882. Greek is one of the two official languages of Cyprus , 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 the lingua franca for many areas of
5368-464: The nomes of Ptolemaic Egypt was named Arabia . Arabians used a north–south division of Arabia: ash-Sham vs. al-Yaman , or Arabia Deserta vs. Arabia Felix . Arabia Felix had originally been used for the whole peninsula, and at other times only for the southern region. Because its use became limited to the south, the whole peninsula was simply called Arabia. Arabia Deserta was the entire desert region extending north from Arabia Felix to Palmyra and
5490-430: The 13th century it was extended to include the rest of the Hejaz . Although, the Sharifs exercised at most times independent authority in the Hejaz , they were usually subject to the suzerainty of one of the major Islamic empires of the time. In the Middle Ages, these included the Abbasids of Baghdad , and the Fatimids , Ayyubids , and Mamluks of Egypt . The provincial Ottoman Army for Arabia (Arabistan Ordusu)
5612-432: The Arabic equivalent of Middle East (Arabic: الشرق الأوسط ash-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 for East , also denotes a variously defined region around the Levant , the eastern part of the Arabic-speaking world (as opposed to
5734-500: The Board of Control or Board of Commissioners for the Affairs of British India (1784–1858), the India Office (1858–1947), the Burma Office (1937–1948), and a number of related British agencies overseas which were officially linked with one or other of the four main bodies. The focus of the India Office Records is in the territories mainly that today include Central Asia, the Middle East, regions of Africa, South Asia, Southeast Asia and their administration before 1947. The official archives of
5856-483: The British government in 1784 to institute standing Commissioners (the Board of Control ) in London to exercise supervision over the Company's Indian policies. This change in the Company's status, along with other factors, led to the Acts of Parliament of 1813 and 1833 , which opened British trade with the East Indies to all shipping and resulted in the Company's complete withdrawal from its commercial functions. The Company continued to exercise responsibility, under
5978-466: The Euphrates, including all the area between Pelusium on the Nile and Babylon. This area was also called Arabia and not sharply distinguished from the peninsula. The Arabs and the Ottoman Empire considered the west of the Arabian Peninsula region where the Arabs lived 'the land of the Arabs' – Bilad al-'Arab ( Arabia ), and its major divisions were the bilad al-Sham ( Levant ), bilad al-Yaman ( Yemen ), and Bilad al-'Iraq ( Iraq ). The Ottomans used
6100-445: The Gulf Cooperation Council's mediation. He eventually handed power to Vice President Hadi, who was sworn in as President of Yemen on 25 February 2012. Hadi launched a national dialogue to address new constitutional, political and social issues. The Houthi movement , dissatisfied with the outcomes of the national dialogue, launched an offensive and stormed the Yemeni capital Sanaa on 21 September 2014. In response, Saudi Arabia launched
6222-423: The India Office Records are complemented by over 300 collections and over 3,000 smaller deposits of Private Papers relating to the British experience in India. The India Office Records, previously housed in the India Office Library, became the responsibility of the British Library Board in 1982, and are now administered as part of the Asia, Pacific and Africa Collections of the British Library , London, as part of
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#17327512063416344-410: The Levant, all originated in the Fertile Crescent and Nile Valley regions of the ancient Near East. These were followed by the Hittite , Greek , Hurrian and Urartian civilisations of Asia Minor ; Elam , Persia and Median civilizations in Iran , as well as the civilizations of the Levant (such as Ebla , Mari , Nagar , Ugarit , Canaan , Aramea , Mitanni , Phoenicia and Israel ) and
6466-407: 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 . Monarchs of the Arabian Peninsula in particular have benefitted economically from petroleum exports. Because of the arid climate and dependence on the fossil fuel industry,
6588-481: The Middle East for more than 600 years were the Rashidun Caliphate , the Umayyad caliphate , the Abbasid caliphate and the Fatimid caliphate . Additionally, the Mongols would come to dominate the region, 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
6710-415: 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. " Greater Middle East " is a political term coined by the second Bush administration in
6832-421: The Middle East is both a major contributor to climate change and a region that is expected to be severely adversely affected 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 . The term the " Greater Middle East " also includes parts of East Africa , Mauritania , Afghanistan , Pakistan , and sometimes
6954-416: The Middle East since around 25,000 years ago. These different Middle Eastern populations would later spread Basal Eurasian ancestry via the Neolithic Revolution to all of Western Eurasia. There is evidence that human habitation in the Arabian Peninsula dates back to about 106,000 to 130,000 years ago. The harsh climate historically prevented much settlement in the pre-Islamic Arabian Peninsula, apart from
7076-504: The Middle East. Arabic, with all its dialects, is the most widely spoken language in the Middle East, with Literary 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 the Semitic branch of the Afro-Asiatic languages. Several Modern South Arabian languages such as Mehri and Soqotri are also spoken in Yemen and Oman. Another Semitic language
7198-405: The Middle East. Arabs constitute the main ethnic group in the region, 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
7320-407: 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." According to
7442-459: The Muslim world then shifted to the newly conquered territories. Nevertheless, Mecca and Medina remained the spiritually most important places in the Muslim world . The Qur'an requires every able-bodied Muslim who can afford it, as one of the five pillars of Islam , to make a pilgrimage, or Hajj , to Mecca during the Islamic month of Dhu al-Hijjah at least once in his or her lifetime. The Masjid al-Haram (the Grand Mosque) in Mecca
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#17327512063417564-500: The Old and New Companies after 1698 resulted in the formation in 1709 of the United Company of Merchants Trading to the East Indies. This 'new' East India Company was transformed during the second half of the 18th century from a mainly commercial body with scattered Asian trading interests into a major territorial power in South Asia with its headquarters in Bengal , present day state of West Bengal of India and Bangladesh . The political implications of this development eventually caused
7686-400: The Roman Empire and played an exceptionally important role due to its periphery on 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 Byzantine Empire and
7808-403: The Saudi Arabian border and rallied popular support. The royalist side received support from Saudi Arabia, while the republicans were supported by Egypt and the Soviet Union. Both foreign irregular and conventional forces were also involved. The Egyptian President , Gamal Abdel Nasser , supported the republicans with as many as 70,000 troops. Despite several military moves and peace conferences,
7930-433: The South Caucasus and Central Asia . The term "Middle East" may have originated in the 1850s in the British India Office . However, it became more widely known when United States naval strategist Alfred Thayer Mahan used the term in 1902 to "designate the area between Arabia and India". During this time the British and Russian empires were vying for influence in Central Asia , a rivalry that would become known as
8052-401: The United Kingdom's relations with the new countries was transferred to the Commonwealth Relations Office (formerly the Dominions Office ). The East India Company was established in 1600 as a joint-stock company of English merchants who received, by a series of charters, exclusive rights to English trade with the " Indies ", defined as the lands lying between the Cape of Good Hope and
8174-407: The United States from the 1970s onwards. 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, and
8296-472: 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 between Sunnis and Shiites . Arabs constitute the largest ethnic group in the Middle East, followed by various Iranian peoples and then by Turkic peoples ( Turkish , Azeris , Syrian Turkmen , and Iraqi Turkmen ). Native ethnic groups of
8418-456: The Viceroy and provincial Governors covering large areas in the regions of Asia, Africa and the Middle East, more effective in the last quarter of the nineteenth century. It was only with the constitutional reforms initiated during the First World War, and carried forward by the India Acts of 1919 and 1935 , that there came about a significant relaxation of India Office supervision over the Government of British India , and with it, in South Asia,
8540-465: 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 , 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. Following World War II, for example, the Middle East Institute was founded in Washington, D.C. in 1946. The corresponding adjective
8662-461: The biblical land of Sheba ). From 106 AD to 630 AD northwestern Arabia was under the control of the Roman Empire , which renamed it Arabia Petraea . Central Arabia was the location of the Kingdom of Kinda in the 4th, 5th and early 6th centuries. Eastern Arabia was home to the Dilmun civilization . The earliest known events in Arabian history are migrations from the peninsula into neighbouring areas. The Arabian Peninsula has long been accepted as
8784-409: The biggest ongoing threat believed to be coastal construction activity altering the marine environment. The fertile soils of Yemen have encouraged settlement of almost all of the land from sea level up to the mountains at 10,000 feet (3,000 m). In the higher elevations, elaborate terraces have been constructed to facilitate grain, fruit, coffee, ginger and khat cultivation. The Arabian peninsula
8906-477: The borders of India or command the approaches to India." After the series ended in 1903, The Times removed quotation marks from subsequent uses of the term. Until World War II , it was customary 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 , India and Japan . The Middle East was then defined as
9028-479: The country and are generally different from the English terms. 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). In the four Slavic languages, Russian Ближний Восток or Blizhniy Vostok , Bulgarian Близкия Изток , Polish Bliski Wschód or Croatian Bliski istok (terms meaning Near East are
9150-515: The country is one of the region's largest and most populous. It belongs to the Indo-Iranian branch of the family of Indo-European languages . Other Western Iranic languages spoken in the region include Achomi , 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
9272-860: The daily conduct of Company business. The Board of Control maintained its separate office close to the Government buildings in Westminster. With the Government of India Act 1858 , the Company and the Board of Control of the East India Companies were replaced by a single new department of state in London, the India Office, which functioned, under the Secretary of State for India, as an executive office of United Kingdom government alongside
9394-573: The east) constituting only a quarter of people aged between 20 and 40. The eleven most populous cities on the Arabian Peninsula are: The rocks exposed vary systematically across Arabia, with the oldest rocks exposed in the Arabian-Nubian Shield near the Red Sea, overlain by earlier sediments that become younger towards the Persian Gulf. Perhaps the best-preserved ophiolite on Earth, the Semail Ophiolite , lies exposed in
9516-530: The eastern Al-Qassim Province , which would indicate that many prehistoric sites, located along a network of rivers, had once existed in the area. Acheulean tools found in Saffaqah, Riyadh Region reveal that hominins lived in the Arabian Peninsula around 188,000 years ago. Human habitation in Arabia may have occurred as early as 130,000 years ago. A fossilized Homo sapiens finger bone found at Al Wusta in
9638-551: The eastern, southern and northwestern borders of the peninsula. Broadly, the ranges can be grouped as follows: From the Hejaz southwards, the mountains show a steady increase in altitude westward as they get nearer to Yemen, and the highest peaks and ranges are all located in Yemen. The highest, Jabal An-Nabi Shu'ayb or Jabal Hadhur of the Haraz subrange of the Sarawat range, is 3,666 metres (12,028 ft) high. By comparison,
9760-479: The emerging independent countries of the Islamic world . However, the usage "Near East" was retained by a variety of academic disciplines, including archaeology and ancient history . In their usage, the term describes an area identical to the term Middle East , which is not used by these disciplines (see ancient Near East ). The first official use of the term "Middle East" by the United States government
9882-531: The executive functions previously carried out by the Company, and all the powers of 'superintendence, direction and control' over the British provincial administrations in South Asia previously exercised by the Board of Control. Improved communications with South Asia – the overland and submarine telegraph cables (1868–70), and the opening of the Suez Canal (1869) – rendered this control, exercised through
10004-511: 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 . During this series, Sir Ignatius expanded the definition of Middle East to include "those regions of Asia which extend to
10126-408: 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. European languages have adopted terms similar to Near East and Middle East . Since these are based on a relative description, the meanings depend on
10248-505: The final grant of independence to present-day India and Pakistan in 1947, and to present-day Myanmar in 1948, both the India Office and the Burma Office were officially dissolved. As a result of the widespread involvement in the external relations and defence policy of pre-1947 African, Asian and Middle Eastern countries, the India Office was also responsible for particular neighbouring or connected areas at different times. Among
10370-723: The first decade of the 21st century to denote various countries, pertaining to the Muslim world , specifically Afghanistan , Iran , Pakistan , and Turkey . Various Central Asian countries are sometimes also included. The Middle East lies at the juncture of Africa and Eurasia and of the Indian Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea (see also: Indo-Mediterranean ). It is the birthplace and spiritual center of religions such as Christianity , Islam , Judaism , Manichaeism , Yezidi , Druze , Yarsan , and Mandeanism , and in Iran, Mithraism , Zoroastrianism , Manicheanism , and
10492-561: 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 cradle of civilization . The world's earliest civilizations, Mesopotamia ( Sumer , Akkad , Assyria and Babylonia ), ancient Egypt and Kish in
10614-603: 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: NATO and the United States on one side, and the Soviet Union and Warsaw Pact on the other, as they competed to influence regional allies. Besides the political reasons there was also the "ideological conflict" between
10736-519: The last century. In Iran, many religious minorities such as Christians , Baháʼís , Jews and Zoroastrians have left since the Islamic Revolution of 1979 . The Middle East is very diverse when it comes to religions , many of which originated there. Islam is the largest religion in the Middle East, but other faiths that originated there, such as Judaism and Christianity , are also well represented. Christian communities have played
10858-547: The late 20th century, it has been criticized as being too Eurocentric . The region includes the vast majority of the territories included in the closely associated definition of West Asia , but without the South Caucasus . It also includes all of Egypt (not just the Sinai ) and all of Turkey (including East Thrace ). Most Middle Eastern countries (13 out of 18) are part of the Arab world . The most populous countries in
10980-589: The modern era, the term bilad al-Yaman came to refer specifically to the southwestern parts of the peninsula. Arab geographers started to refer to the whole peninsula as 'jazirat al-Arab', or the peninsula of the Arabs. The railway was started in 1900 at the behest of the Ottoman Sultan Abdul Hamid II and was built largely by the Turks , with German advice and support. A public subscription
11102-491: The modern state of Saudi Arabia. The Saudis absorbed the Emirate of Asir , with their expansion only ending in 1934 after a war with Yemen . Two Saudi states were formed and controlled much of Arabia before Ibn Saud was even born. Ibn Saud, however, established the third Saudi state. The second major development has been the discovery of vast reserves of oil in the 1930s. Its production brought great wealth to all countries of
11224-728: The modern-day nations of the Indian Subcontinent as well as Yemen and other territories around the Indian Ocean. The India Office was headed by the Secretary of State for India , a member of the British cabinet , who was formally advised by the Council of India . Upon the independence of India in 1947 into the new independent dominions of India and Pakistan , the India Office was closed down. Responsibility for
11346-632: The most significant of these are: Other groups of involvement have also resulted from India Office interest in the status of Indian emigrants to the West Indies, south and east Africa, and Fiji . The India Office had its offices in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office Main Building in Whitehall . The India Office Records are the repository of the archives of the East India Company (1600–1858),
11468-521: The mountains of the UAE and northern Oman. The peninsula consists of: Arabia has few lakes or permanent rivers. Most areas are drained by ephemeral watercourses called wadis , which are dry except during the rainy season. Plentiful ancient aquifers exist beneath much of the peninsula, however, and where this water surfaces, oases form (e.g. Al-Hasa and Qatif , two of the world's largest oases ) and permit agriculture, especially palm trees , which allowed
11590-436: The native population. The four smallest states (by area), with coastlines entirely bordering the Persian Gulf, showcase the world's most extreme population growth, nearly tripling every two decades. In 2014, the estimated population of the Arabian Peninsula was 77,983,936 (including expatriates). The Arabian Peninsula is known for having one of the most uneven adult sex ratios in the world, with females in some regions (especially
11712-403: The only appropriate ones for the region. However, some European languages do have "Middle East" equivalents, such as French Moyen-Orient , Swedish Mellanöstern , Spanish Oriente Medio or Medio Oriente , Greek is Μέση Ανατολή ( Mesi Anatoli ), and Italian Medio Oriente . Perhaps because of the political influence of the United States and Europe, and the prominence of Western press,
11834-510: The original Urheimat of the Semitic languages by most scholars. The seventh century saw the rise of Islam as the peninsula's dominant religion. The Islamic prophet Muhammad was born in Mecca in about 570 and first began preaching in the city in 610, but migrated to Medina in 622. From there he and his companions united the tribes of Arabia under the banner of Islam and created
11956-399: The peninsula to produce more dates than any other region in the world. In general, the climate is extremely hot and arid , although there are exceptions. Higher elevations are made temperate by their altitude, and the Arabian Sea coastline can receive cool, humid breezes in summer due to cold upwelling offshore. The peninsula has no thick forests. Desert-adapted wildlife is present throughout
12078-664: 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. 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 World War I , when the Ottoman Empire, which was allied with the Central Powers ,
12200-413: 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 , and it was long considered the "cradle of civilization". The geopolitical importance of the region has been recognized and competed for during millennia. The Abrahamic religions, Judaism , Christianity , and Islam , have their origins in
12322-435: The region as including only Egypt , Syria, Israel , Lebanon , Jordan , Iraq, Saudi Arabia , Kuwait , Bahrain , and Qatar . Since the late 20th century, scholars and journalists from the region, such as journalist Louay Khraish and historian Hassan Hanafi have criticized the use of "Middle East" as a Eurocentric and colonialist term. The Associated Press Stylebook of 2004 says that Near East formerly referred to
12444-662: The region include, in addition to Arabs, Arameans , Assyrians , Baloch , Berbers , Copts , Druze , Greek Cypriots , Jews , Kurds , Lurs , Mandaeans , Persians , Samaritans , Shabaks , Tats , and Zazas . European ethnic groups that form a diaspora in the region include Albanians , Bosniaks , Circassians (including Kabardians ), Crimean Tatars , Greeks , Franco-Levantines , Italo-Levantines , and Iraqi Turkmens . Among other migrant populations are Chinese , Filipinos , Indians , Indonesians , Pakistanis , Pashtuns , Romani , and Afro-Arabs . "Migration has always provided an important vent for labor market pressures in
12566-636: The region, with the exception of Yemen. The North Yemen Civil War was fought in North Yemen between royalists of the Mutawakkilite Kingdom of Yemen and factions of the Yemen Arab Republic from 1962 to 1970. The war began with a coup d'état carried out by the republican leader, Abdullah as-Sallal , which dethroned the newly crowned Muhammad al-Badr and declared Yemen a republic under his presidency. The Imam escaped to
12688-419: The region. A plateau more than 2,500 feet (760 m) high extends across much of the Arabian Peninsula. The plateau slopes eastwards from the massive, rifted escarpment along the coast of the Red Sea, to the shallow waters of the Persian Gulf. The interior is characterized by cuestas and valleys, drained by a system of wadis . A crescent of sand and gravel deserts lies to the east. There are mountains at
12810-613: The regional relationships. Arabs living in one of the existing districts of the Arabian peninsula, the Emirate of Hejaz , asked for a British guarantee of independence. Their proposal included all Arab lands south of a line roughly corresponding to the northern frontiers of present-day Syria and Iraq. They envisioned a new Arab state, or confederation of states, adjoining the southern Arabian Peninsula. It would have comprised Cilicia – İskenderun and Mersin , Iraq with Kuwait, Syria, Mount Lebanon Mutasarrifate , Jordan, and Palestine . In
12932-786: The ruling Ottoman Empire and creating a single unified Arab state spanning from Aleppo in Syria to Aden in Yemen. During World War I, the Sharif Hussein entered into an alliance with the United Kingdom and France against the Ottomans in June 1916. These events were followed by the foundation of Saudi Arabia under King Abdulaziz Ibn Saud . In 1902, Ibn Saud had captured Riyadh . Continuing his conquests, Abdulaziz subdued Al-Hasa, Jabal Shammar , Hejaz between 1913 and 1926 founded
13054-556: The supervision of the Board, for the government of British India until the re-organisation of 1858. Throughout most of these changes the basic structure of Company organisation in East India House in the City of London remained largely unaltered, comprising a large body of proprietors or shareholders and an elected Court of Directors, headed by a chairman and deputy chairman who, aided by permanent officials, were responsible for
13176-629: The term Arabistan in a broad sense for the region starting from Cilicia , where the Euphrates river makes its descent into Syria, through Palestine , and on through the remainder of the Sinai and Arabian peninsulas. The provinces of Arabia were: Al Tih, the Sinai peninsula, Hejaz, Asir, Yemen, Hadramaut, Mahra and Shilu, Oman, Hasa, Bahrain, Dahna, Nufud, the Hammad, which included the deserts of Syria, Mesopotamia and Babylonia. The Arabian Peninsula
13298-549: The thirty seven largest aquifers "have exceeded sustainability tipping points and are being depleted" and thirteen of them are "considered significantly distressed". Stone tools from the Middle Paleolithic age along with fossils of other animals discovered at Ti's al Ghadah, in northwestern Saudi Arabia, might imply that hominins migrated through a "Green Arabia" between 300,000 and 500,000 years ago. 200,000-year-old stone tools were discovered at Shuaib Al-Adgham in
13420-495: The two systems. Moreover, as Louise 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 [...] Within this contextual framework,
13542-511: The war in Yemen as analogous to the United States ' role in the Vietnam War . In 1990, Iraq invaded Kuwait. The invasion of Kuwait by Iraqi forces led to the 1990–91 Gulf War . Egypt, Qatar, Syria, and Saudi Arabia joined a multinational coalition that opposed Iraq. Displays of support for Iraq by Jordan and Palestine resulted in strained relations between many of the Arab states. After
13664-484: The war sank into a stalemate. Egypt's commitment to the war is considered to have been detrimental to its performance in the Six-Day War of June 1967, after which Nasser found it increasingly difficult to maintain his army's involvement and began to pull his forces out of Yemen. By 1970, King Faisal of Saudi Arabia recognized the republic and a truce was signed. Egyptian military historians refer to Egypt's role in
13786-643: The war, a so-called "Damascus Declaration" formalized an alliance for future joint Arab defensive actions between Egypt, Syria, and the GCC member states. The Arab Spring reached Yemen in January 2011. People of Yemen took to the street demonstrating against three decades of rule by President Ali Abdullah Saleh . The demonstration led to cracks in the ruling General People's Congress (GPC) and Saleh's Sanhani clan. Saleh used tactics of concession and violence to save his presidency. After numerous attempts, Saleh accepted
13908-530: 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 in 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. English is one of the official languages of Akrotiri and Dhekelia. It
14030-517: The world's largest reserves of oil. Saudi Arabia and the UAE are economically the wealthiest in the region. Qatar, the only peninsular country in the Persian Gulf on the larger peninsula, is home to the Arabic-language television station Al Jazeera and its English-language subsidiary Al Jazeera English . Kuwait, on the border with Iraq, is an important country strategically, forming one of the main staging grounds for coalition forces mounting
14152-578: The world's largest, undestroyed and most pristine coral reefs. In addition, the organisms living in symbiosis with the Red Sea coral, the protozoa and zooxanthellae , have a unique hot weather adaptation to sudden rise (and fall) in sea water temperature. Hence, these coral reefs are not affected by coral bleaching caused by rise in temperature as elsewhere in the indopacific coral sea. The reefs are also unaffected by mass tourism and diving or other large scale human interference. The Persian gulf has suffered significant loss and degradation of coral reefs with
14274-471: Was defeated by the British Empire and their allies and partitioned into a number of separate nations, initially under British and 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
14396-581: Was headquartered in Syria , which included Palestine, the Transjordan region in addition to Lebanon ( Mount Lebanon was, however, a semi-autonomous mutasarrifate ). It was put in charge of Syria, Cilicia, Iraq, and the remainder of the Arabian Peninsula. The Ottomans never had any control over central Arabia, also known as the Najd region. The emergence of what was to become the Saudi royal family, known as
14518-684: 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 ." In 1958, the State Department explained that the terms "Near East" and "Middle East" were interchangeable, and defined
14640-611: Was opened throughout the Islamic world to fund the construction. The railway was to be a waqf , an inalienable religious endowment or charitable trust. The major developments of the early 20th century were the Arab Revolt during World War I and the subsequent collapse and partitioning of the Ottoman Empire . The Arab Revolt (1916–1918) was initiated by the Sherif Hussein ibn Ali with the aim of securing independence from
14762-455: Was to avenge a recent defeat by Byzantine (or Eastern Roman Empire ) forces, although he first had to put down a rebellion by Arab tribes in an episode known as the Ridda wars , or "Wars of Apostasy". On his death in 634, he was succeeded by Umar as caliph, followed by Uthman ibn al-Affan and Ali ibn Abi Talib . The period of these first four caliphs is known as al-khulafā' ar-rāshidūn :
14884-559: Was used in English to refer to the Balkans and the Ottoman Empire , while "Middle East" referred to the Caucasus , Persia , and Arabian lands, and sometimes Afghanistan , India and others. In contrast, " Far East " referred to the countries of East Asia (e.g. China , Japan , and Korea ). 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
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