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Middle East, geographic and cultural region located in southwestern Asia and northeastern Africa. The geopolitical term Middle East, first coined in 1902 by United States naval officer Alfred Thayer Mahan, originally referred to the Asian region south of the Black Sea between the Mediterranean Sea to the west and India to the east. In modern scholarship, and for the purposes of this article, the term refers collectively to the Asian countries of Bahrain, Cyprus, Iran, Iraq, Israel (and the Israeli-occupied Gaza Strip and West Bank), Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, and Yemen, and the African country of Egypt. A broader, more cultural definition might include the Muslim countries of Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, Sudan, Afghanistan, and Pakistan.
The area is mostly arid with hot, dry summers and cool winters
. It contains about 65 percent of the world's oil reserves, primarily in the states bordering the Persian Gulf. Oil is the region's main export. Buy Middle East Calling Cards securely online with your credit card and receive your PINs instantly! Some Middle Eastern countries are extremely rich because of their oil reserves. Others with high populations and no significant oil resources (notably Egypt and Yemen) are considerably poorer.
The first civilizations of the Middle East, which grew in the valleys of the Nile, Tigris, and Euphrates rivers, are among the oldest in the world. Alphabets, law codes, and cities all began in the Middle East, as did the world's three great monotheistic religions, Judaism (13th century bc), Christianity (1st century to 4th century ad) and Islam (7th century ad). Of the three, Islam continues to mark the region most profoundly. More than 90 percent of the people of the Middle East are Muslims.
The Middle East Times
The Middle East Times: News from Egypt and the region. Your weekly, independent source for news and analysis of politics, culture and religion in the Near East. We cover Egypt, Sudan, Libya, Syria, Israel, Lebanon, Algeria, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, the Gulf, Turkey Iran and Pakistan. An archive is available for researchers.
Middle East Network Information Center
A public service of The Center of Middle Eastern Studiest at the Univercity of Texas. Wealth of information about the region, its peoples, culture, history, arts and more.
Map of Middle East
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