Middle East

• 1. Origins Of The Term

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  In September 1902, a United States naval strategist named Alfred Thayer Mahan published an article titled "The Persian Gulf and International Relations" in the British journal National Review. He used the phrase Middle East to designate the area between Arabia and India during a time when British and Russian empires vied for influence in Central Asia. Mahan realized that the center of this region, the Persian Gulf, was the most important passage for Britain to control to keep Russians from advancing toward British India. Before his usage, Western European nations referred to areas centered on Turkey and the eastern Mediterranean as the Near East while calling China, India, and Japan the Far East. Sir Ignatius Valentine Chirol followed Mahan's lead with a twenty-article series called "The Middle Eastern Question" starting in October 1903. This series expanded the definition to include regions extending to the borders of India or commanding approaches to India. After the series ended, The Times removed quotation marks from subsequent uses of the term. Until World War II, it remained customary to refer to areas centered on Turkey and the eastern shore of the Mediterranean as the Near East. In the late 1930s, the British established the Middle East Command based in Cairo for its military forces in the region. Following World War II, the term gained broader usage in Europe and the United States. The Middle East Institute was founded in Washington, D.C., in 1946.

• 2. Ancient Civilizations

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  The world's earliest civilizations emerged within the Fertile Crescent and Nile Valley regions of the ancient Near East. Mesopotamia included Sumer, Akkad, Assyria, and Babylonia, all originating in this area. Ancient Egypt developed alongside these societies, forming one of the first great powers in human history. Kish in the Levant also originated here before being followed by Hittite, Greek, Hurrian, and Urartian civilizations of Asia Minor. Elam, Persia, and Median civilizations arose in Iran while Ebla, Mari, Nagar, Ugarit, Canaan, Aramea, Mitanni, Phoenicia, and Israel flourished in the Levant. Magan, Sheba, and Ubar developed on the Arabian Peninsula. The Near East was first largely unified under the Neo Assyrian Empire, then the Achaemenid Empire, followed later by the Macedonian Empire. Iranian empires including Parthian and Sassanid Empires exerted influence over parts of the region. The Roman Empire and Byzantine Empire controlled significant portions of the territory. Romans stationed up to five or six legions in the region solely for defending it from Sassanid and Bedouin raids and invasions. Göbekli Tepe features henges erected as far back as 9600 BC, predating Stonehenge by over seven millennia. This site represents the oldest known religious structure created by humans.

• 3. Religious Birthplace

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  The Middle East serves as the birthplace and spiritual center of Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Manichaeism, Yezidi, Druze, Yarsan, Mandeanism, Mithraism, Zoroastrianism, and the Bahá'í Faith. Islam is the largest religion in the Middle East today but other faiths that originated there remain well represented. Christian communities have played a vital role throughout history, representing 78% of Cyprus's population and 40.5% of Lebanon's population. In Lebanon, the president, half of the cabinet, and half of the parliament follow one of various Lebanese Christian rites. Important minority religions include the Bahá'í Faith, Yarsanism, Yazidism, Zoroastrianism, Mandaeism, Druze, and Shabakism. Ancient times saw Mesopotamian religions, Canaanite religions, Manichaeism, Mithraism, and various monotheist gnostic sects flourish across the region. The Islamic conquest of the region began in the 7th century AD, creating the dominant Islamic Arab ethnic identity that largely persists today. Four caliphates dominated the Middle East for more than 600 years: Rashidun Caliphate, Umayyad Caliphate, Abbasid Caliphate, and Fatimid Caliphate. Josiah Russell estimated the population of what he called "Islamic territory" as roughly 12.5 million in 1000 CE, with Anatolia holding 8 million people, Syria 2 million, and Egypt 1.5 million.

• 4. Modern Geopolitics

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  The modern Middle East began after World War I when the Ottoman Empire was defeated by the Allies and partitioned into separate nations under British and French Mandates. Other defining events included the establishment of Israel in 1948 and the eventual departure of European powers like Britain and France by the end of the 1960s. Rising influence from the United States emerged from the 1970s onwards. During the Cold War, the region became a theater of ideological struggle between NATO and the United States on one side versus Soviet Union and Warsaw Pact on the other. Louise Fawcett argues that superpowers sought strategic advantage while competing over regions containing some two-thirds of the world's oil reserves. The United States sought to divert the Arab world from Soviet influence throughout the 20th and 21st centuries. The first official use of the term Middle East by the United States government appeared in the 1957 Eisenhower Doctrine pertaining to the Suez Crisis. Secretary of State John Foster Dulles defined the Middle East as the area lying between Libya on the west and Pakistan on the east, including Syria, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, and Qatar. In 1958, the State Department explained that terms Near East and Middle East were interchangeable, defining the region as including only Egypt, Syria, Israel, Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, and Qatar.

• 5. Economic Landscapes

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  Middle Eastern economies range from very poor nations like Gaza and Yemen to extremely wealthy countries such as Qatar and UAE. According to the International Monetary Fund, three largest Middle Eastern economies in nominal GDP in 2023 were Saudi Arabia at $1.06 trillion, Turkey at $1.03 trillion, and Israel at $0.54 trillion. For nominal GDP per person, highest ranking countries include Qatar at $83,891, Israel at $55,535, United Arab Emirates at $49,451, and Cyprus at $33,807. The lowest-ranking country in terms of GDP nominal per capita is Yemen at just $573. While some nations are heavily dependent on export of oil and oil-related products like Saudi Arabia, UAE, and Kuwait, others maintain highly diverse economic bases such as Cyprus, Turkey, Egypt, and Israel. Industries include oil and oil-related products, agriculture, cotton, cattle, dairy, textiles, leather products, surgical instruments, defense equipment, banking, tourism, and manufacturing. With exception of Cyprus, Turkey, Egypt, Lebanon, and Israel, tourism has been relatively undeveloped due to socially conservative nature and political turmoil in certain regions. Since end of COVID pandemic, countries like UAE, Bahrain, and Jordan have begun attracting greater numbers of tourists through improving facilities and relaxing restrictive policies.

• 6. Demographic Diversity

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  Arabs constitute the largest ethnic group in the Middle East followed by various Iranian peoples then Turkic peoples including Turkish, Azeris, Syrian Turkmen, and Iraqi Turkmen. Native ethnic groups include Arameans, Assyrians, Baloch, Berbers, Copts, Druze, Greek Cypriots, Jews, Kurds, Lurs, Mandaeans, Persians, Samaritans, Shabaks, Tats, and Zazas. European diaspora includes Albanians, Bosniaks, Circassians, Crimean Tatars, Greeks, Franco-Levantines, Italo-Levantines, and Iraqi Turkmens. Migrant populations encompass Chinese, Filipinos, Indians, Indonesians, Pakistanis, Pashtuns, Romani, and Afro-Arabs. Migration has always provided important vent for labor market pressures between 1970s and 1990s when Arab states of Persian Gulf provided rich source of employment for workers from Egypt, Yemen, and Levant countries. International Organization for Migration reports 13 million first-generation migrants from Arab nations worldwide with 5.8 residing in other Arab countries. In Somalia, civil war greatly increased size of Somali diaspora as many educated Somalis left for Middle Eastern countries, Europe, and North America. Large numbers of Kurds, Jews, Assyrians, Greeks, Armenians, and Mandeans have left Iraq, Iran, Syria, and Turkey during last century due to persecution. In Iran, religious minorities including Christians, Bahá'ís, Jews, and Zoroastrians have departed since Islamic Revolution of 1979.