Curated playlist
West Asia
- Middle EastAn American naval strategist popularized the name "Middle East" in 1902. Outsiders, not locals, named the region.
- Arab worldMalta speaks a language descended from Arabic, yet it is not part of the Arab world.
- MesopotamiaThe oldest monument celebrating a massacre comes from Mesopotamia.
- LevantThe Levant gets its name from a word meaning "rising," as in where the sun rises.
- South CaucasusThe South Caucasus sits on the edge of Iran, Russia and Turkey, which explains why empires kept fighting over it.
- CyprusIn March 2008, a wall that had cut across Ledra Street in the heart of Nicosia was demolished. The wall had stood for decades, and it had come to symbolise a division of the island that lasted 32 years. On the 3rd of April 2008, Ledra…
- Indian OceanThe Indian Ocean is the youngest and warmest of the world's oceans. Asia to the north traps its heat.
- AbkhaziaAbkhazia has two governments claiming the same ground. Only five UN member states call it independent.
- Caucasus MountainsMount Elbrus is called Europe's highest peak, but that depends on where you draw the line.
- AnatoliaMost Europeans carry DNA from farmers who left Anatolia about 9,000 years ago. Anatolia is the peninsula now in Turkey.