The Middle East is a geopolitical region that includes the Arabian Peninsula, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, the Levant, and Turkey. The term gained popularity in the early 20th century, replacing “Near East,” and is often criticized for being Eurocentric. Most countries in the region are part of the Arab world, with Egypt, Iran, and Turkey being the most populous. Known as the “cradle of civilization,” the Middle East is the birthplace of the Abrahamic religions—Christianity, Islam, and Judaism.
The region has a hot, arid climate, especially in the Arabian Peninsula and Egypt, though the Levantine coast and much of Turkey experience a Mediterranean climate. It is rich in petroleum reserves, impacting both the economy and the environment. Broader definitions of the region include the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) and the “Greater Middle East,” which extends to Afghanistan, Mauritania, Pakistan, and other areas.
Image Credit | By TownDown – Own work (Original text: Own work,)The map has been created with the Generic Mapping Tools: https://www.generic-mapping-tools.org/ using one or more of these public-domain datasets for the relief:ETOPO2 (topography/bathymetry): http://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/mgg/global/global.htmlGLOBE (topography): http://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/mgg/topo/gltiles.htmlSRTM (topography): http://www2.jpl.nasa.gov/srtm/বাংলা ∙ English ∙ español ∙ français ∙ italiano ∙ 日本語 ∙ македонски ∙ sicilianu ∙ 中文（简体） ∙ 中文（繁體） ∙ +/−Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2 or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no Invariant Sections, no Front-Cover Texts, and no Back-Cover Texts. A copy of the license is included in the section entitled GNU Free Documentation License., CC BY-SA 3.0. [Accessed 07/09/2025]
