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Geography of the Middle East

  • Red SeaThe Red Sea began to form during the Eocene epoch, when tectonic forces started splitting the Arabian Peninsula from the Horn of Africa.
  • MesopotamiaThe Tigris and Euphrates rivers rise in the Armenian highlands, flowing southward to empty into the Persian Gulf. Their waters fed a semi-arid landscape that…
  • LevantThe word Levant appears in English texts from 1497. It originally meant the East or Mediterranean lands east of Italy. This term derives from the French word…
  • Near EastIn 1855, a letter to The Times by Thomas Taylor Meadows introduced the phrase Near East to describe Ottoman territories.
  • Greek East and Latin WestIn 330 AD, the Roman Empire shifted its administrative center to Constantinople. This move marked a turning point in how Greek and Latin functioned across…
  • AnatoliaThe westernmost protrusion of Asia extends into the Mediterranean Sea to the south and the Aegean Sea to the west. The Turkish Straits mark the northwestern…