Middle East
 | This article needs more citations. (July 2025) |
.svg) The Middle East (green) combines African Egypt with West Asia, but excludes the Caucasus and includes European Turkey. | |
| Area | 7,222,411 km2 (2,788,588 sq mi) |
|---|---|
| Population |  469,300,000 (as of 2025)[1][2] |
| Demonym |
|
| Countries | UN members (16): UN observers (1): |
| Dependencies | External (1): Internal (1):
Occupied (3):
Buffer (2): |
| Non-UN states |  Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus[a] |
| Languages | |
| Time zones | UTC+02:00 to UTC+04:00 |
| Largest cities | |
The Middle East[e] is a geopolitical region that is generally defined as encompassing all of West Asia except for the Caucasus and including African Egypt and European Turkey. It roughly corresponds with what was historically referred to in Western Europe as the Near East, which was juxtaposed with the Far East. Unlike West Asia's adherence to continental boundaries, the Middle East is demarcated by following political borders. Since the early 20th century, the term "Middle East" has grown increasingly prominent in international discourse, although it is often prone to causing confusion or disagreement on account of vague and changing definitions of what countries and regions it spans.[4] The related terms "Middle East and North Africa" and "Greater Middle East" denote other existing concepts of the region that involve extending the "Middle East" to incorporate most Muslim-majority countries.
Today, the bulk of Middle Eastern countries (13 out of 18) are part of the Arab world. The three most populous Middle Eastern countries are Egypt, Iran, and Turkey, while Saudi Arabia is the largest Middle Eastern country by area. Arabs are the most widespread ethnic group in the region,[5] followed by Turks, Persians, Kurds, Jews, and Assyrians.[6] Significant geographical features or regions that constitute the Middle East are the Arabian Peninsula, Anatolia, the Levant and Mesopotamia (together comprising the Fertile Crescent), and the Iranian plateau.
The history of the Middle East is among the richest ever recorded as it was the first region to be settled by modern humans outside of Africa and the first region in which writing systems were developed. Situated at the intersection of Africa, Europe, and Asia, the Middle East was home to several cradles of civilization and has been recognized by both local and foreign populations as a region of great strategic importance for millennia.[7][8][9] All of the core Abrahamic religions (Judaism, Christianity, and Islam) originated and have their holiest sites in the Middle East.[10]
Most parts of the Middle East exhibit a hot and arid climate, especially in the Arabian and Egyptian regions. However, a number of major rivers provide irrigation to support agriculture in certain areas, such as the Nile in Egypt, the Tigris and the Euphrates in Mesopotamia, and the Jordan River in the Levant. Conversely, the Levantine coast and most of Turkey collectively boast a relatively temperate Mediterranean climate, which yields dry summers with cool and wet winters. A group of Middle Eastern countries that are located along the Persian Gulf—commonly called the Gulf Arab states—have vast reserves of petroleum, which has served as a critical economic resource and accordingly influenced regional politics. Owing to the Middle East's aridity and pervasive dependence on the fossil fuel industry, it is one of the most vulnerable regions to climate change and water scarcity.
Terminology
The term "Middle East" may have originated with the India Office of the United Kingdom in the 1850s.[11] However, it became more widely known through the United States, particularly after American naval strategist Alfred Thayer Mahan used the term[12] to "designate the area between Arabia and India" in 1902.[13][14] During this period, the United Kingdom was vying for influence in Central Asia as part of the "Great Game" against the Russian Empire, which was in the process of conquering the entire region.
Realizing the "Middle East" to be a region of immense strategic value centred around the Persian Gulf,[15][16] Mahan took the view that, beyond the Suez Canal in British-ruled Egypt, the Persian Gulf was the most important passage for the United Kingdom in the context of keeping in check any possible Russian advance towards British-ruled India.[17] Mahan first used the term in his September 1902 article "The Persian Gulf and International Relations" for the British journal National Review in London.
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.[18]
Mahan's article was reprinted in the British newspaper The Times and followed by a 20-article series entitled "The Middle Eastern Question" by British historian and diplomat Valentine Chirol. In this series, which began in October 1902, he would expand the definition of "Middle East" to include "those regions of Asia which extend to the borders of India or command the approaches to India."[19] After the series ended in 1903, The Times removed quotation marks from subsequent uses of the term.[20]
Until World War II, it was customary to refer to areas centred on Turkey and the Eastern Mediterranean as the "Near East" in juxtaposition with the "Far East" centred on China, India, and Japan.[21] The Middle East was then defined as the area from Mesopotamia to Burma—namely, the area between the Near East and the Far East—which now broadly corresponds with South Asia.[22][23]
In the late 1930s, the Cairo-based Middle East Command was established for the British Armed Forces. After that time, the term "Middle East" gained broader usage across both Europe and the United States. The Middle East Institute, for example, was founded in Washington, D.C. in 1946.[24]
While "Southwest Asia" or "Swasia" have been presented sparsely as alternatives, the inclusion of Egypt (located entirely in North Africa except for the Sinai Peninsula) among those countries that are counted as part of the Middle East challenges the usefulness of such terms.[25] Furthermore, the core term "Asia" itself is Eurocentric, having been expanded upon from a term coined by the ancient Greeks to refer to contemporary Anatolia.[26][27]
Usage and criticism
The description Middle has also led to some confusion over changing definitions. Before the First World War, "Near East" was used in English to refer to the Balkans and the Ottoman Empire, while "Middle East" referred to the Caucasus, Persia, and Arabian lands,[22] and sometimes Afghanistan, India and others.[23] In contrast, "Far East" referred to the countries of East Asia (e.g. China, Japan, and Korea).[28][29]
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 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).[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."[21] 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.[30]
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.[4][31][32]
The Associated 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:
Use Middle East unless Near East is used by a source in a story. Mideast is also acceptable, but Middle East is preferred.[33]
Translations
European languages have adopted terms similar to Near East and Middle East. Since these are based on a relative description, the meanings depend on 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 Slavic languages like Russian Ближний Восток (Blizhniy Vostok), Bulgarian Близкия Изток,