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The Middle East is a historical and political region of Afro-Eurasia with no clear boundaries. The term "Middle East" was popularized around 1900 in Britain; it has a loose definition traditionally encompassing countries or regions in Western Asia and parts of North Africa. The corresponding adjective to Middle East is Middle-Eastern and the derived noun is Middle-Easterner.
The history of the Middle East dates back to ancient times, and throughout it?s history the Middle East has been a major center of world affairs. The Middle East is also the geographic origin of three of the world?s great religions - Christianity, Islam, Judaism. The Middle East generally has an arid and hot climate, with several major rivers providing for irrigation to support agriculture in limited areas. Many countries located around the Persian Gulf have large quantities of crude oil. In modern times, the Middle East remains a strategically, economically, politically, culturally, and religiously sensitive region.
The Middle East defines a geographical area, but does not have precise defined borders. The modern definition of the region includes: Bahrain, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, the Palestinian territories, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, and Yemen. Egypt, with its Sinai Peninsula in Asia, is considered part of the Middle East, although most of the country lies geographically in North Africa. According to international media, North African nations without Asian links, such as Libya, Tunisia and Algeria, are increasingly being called North African.
The Middle East is primarily arid and semi-arid consisting of grasslands, rangelands, and deserts. Water shortages are a problem in many parts of the Middle East, with rapidly growing populations increasing demands for water, while salinization and pollution threaten water supplies. Major rivers, including the Nile and the Euphrates, provide sources for irrigation water to support agriculture.
Languages of the Middle East span many different families, including Indo-European, Afro-Asiatic, and Altaic. Arabic in its numerous varieties and Persian are most widely spoken in the region, with Arabic being the most widely spoken language in the Arab countries. Other languages spoken in the region include Armenian, Syriac, Azeri, , Berber languages, Circassian, Persian, , Georgian, Gilaki language and Mazandarani languages, Hebrew in its numerous varieties, Kurdish, Luri, Turkish and other Turkic languages, Greek. In Turkey, Kurdish, Dimli, Azeri, Kabardian, and Gagauz languages are spoken, in addition to the Turkish language.
English is also spoken, especially among the middle and upper class, in countries such as Egypt, Jordan, Israel, Iraq and Kuwait. French is spoken in Algeria, Israel, Lebanon, Morocco, Syria, and Egypt. Urdu and other South Asian languages are spoken in many Middle Eastern countries, such as the United Arab Emirates, Israel, and Qatar, which have large numbers of South Asian immigrants. The largest Romanian-speaking community in the Middle East is found in Israel, where as of 1995 Romanian is spoken by 5% of the population. Romanian is spoken mostly as a secondary language by people from Arab-speaking countries that made their studies in Romania. It is estimated that almost half a million Middle Eastern Arabs studied in Romania during the 1980s. Russian language is also spoken by a large portion of the Israeli population, due to emigration in the late 1990s.
Regions: Iranian Plateau - Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan, Arabian Peninsula - Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, U.A.E., Oman, Yemen and Bahrain, Mesopotamian region ? Iraq,
Anatolia ? Turkey, Transcaucasia - Armenia and Azerbaijan, The Levant - Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, Palestine and Israel, The Northern Africa - Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, Tunisia
As one of the wellsprings of human civilisation in the ancient and medieval worlds, the birthplace of several world religions (Judaism, Christianity, Islam and Bahai) and an area of much modern economic and political importance, the Middle East remains a popular destination for travellers.
Ethnically, the region is extremely mixed. Arabs, Persians and Turks are the largest groups, but there are several substantial minorities ? Kurds, Armenians and others ? with their own languages, customs and sometimes their own countries. Every invading army ? from Alexander and the Romans through Genghis Khan to the 19th century colonial powers ? has left descendants behind. There are also substantial numbers of workers from other countries coming to the region for higher pay ? mainly Afghan, Pakistani for jobs like construction labourer, with Egyptians, Philipinos, more Pakistanis, and some westerners in the more skilled jobs.
A great majority of people throughout the region are Muslim ? with Iran mainly Shia, other areas mainly Sunni, and both with minorities of the other ? and the legal systems in most of these countries are influenced by Islamic Law; a few are entirely based on it.
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