{"id":110,"date":"2016-07-19T13:01:02","date_gmt":"2016-07-19T13:01:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pressbooks.ulib.csuohio.edu\/religionsofmiddleeast1\/chapter\/the-middle-east-and-imperialism\/"},"modified":"2025-11-03T23:56:48","modified_gmt":"2025-11-03T23:56:48","slug":"the-middle-east-and-imperialism","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/pressbooks.ulib.csuohio.edu\/religionsofmiddleeast1\/chapter\/the-middle-east-and-imperialism\/","title":{"rendered":"Part 1. The Middle East and the Impact of Imperialism"},"content":{"raw":"
\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_474\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"581\"]\"Aerial<\/a> NASA image of the Suez Canal, taken by MISR satellite on January 30, 2001.C.C.0[\/caption]\r\n\r\n \r\n
\r\n

Visual Aids for Chapter 3. Imperialism<\/h3>\r\nMap: Kurdish Territory\r\n<\/a>Key Figure: Mossadegh<\/a>\r\nKey Figure: Ayatollah Khomeini<\/a>\r\nImages: Modernizing Leaders<\/a> (Atat\u00fcrk, Reza Shah and Amanullah Khan)\r\n<\/a>Key Figure: Gamal 'Abdul Nasser\r\n<\/a>Maps: NATO and other Alliances\/Treaty Orgs<\/a>\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n

The Middle East Map of Today<\/h2>\r\nAfter the First World War,\u00a0the contours of the major nation-states of today\u2019s Middle East were delineated. \u00a0The Paris Peace Conference of 1919 solidified the political boundaries that later became the countries of the Middle East. At the same time a movement to recognize the sovereignty of colonized countries let to the creation of mandates based on the territories ruled by European countries, with the idea that they would develop toward independent status.\r\n\r\nMany promises were left unfulfilled, however, as cultural communities such as the Kurds were left with no territory of their own. To this day, the Kurds are a \u201cstateless nation\u201d, with their territory spanning across 4 nation-states: Turkey, Syria, Iraq and Iran (see map, below). We cover the concept of a stateless nation<\/a> and provide other examples in\u00a0this chapter as part of a discussion on the national identities of the Middle East of today.\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n
It is important to recognize that nation-states of the Middle East do not accurately represent the cultural identities of all their inhabitants. An effort was made by European countries to draw boundaries, and in fact to move substantial populations, in ways which would create nation-states which aligned with the national identities of their inhabitants. Former colonies, and countries retaining sovereignty, \u00a0regrouped, gathered national populations together with a new sense of national unity, and joined the new global system of nation-state diplomacy. \u00a0A major part of this effort was modernization: of industry, government and society. After World War I, many of these countries were indeed \u201creincarnated\u201d as they began to rebuild after sustaining the impacts of war, famine and cultural hegemony. Economic collapse, war, forced migration and famine carved new contours into the region we now know as the Middle East, and created new cultural identities.<\/div>\r\n
<\/div>\r\n
For some recorded lectures on the impact of World War I in the Middle East see\u00a0World War I in the Middle East<\/a><\/div>\r\n
<\/div>\r\n
<\/a>Map of Kurdish Territory by the CIA<\/div>\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_607\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"982\"]\"Map<\/a> Map of Kurdish territory by English: \u201cThe following maps were produced by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency, unless otherwise indicated.\u201d Public Domain. via Wikimedia Commons.[\/caption]","rendered":"
\n
\"Aerial<\/a>
NASA image of the Suez Canal, taken by MISR satellite on January 30, 2001.C.C.0<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n

Visual Aids for Chapter 3. Imperialism<\/h3>\n

Map: Kurdish Territory
\n<\/a>Key Figure: Mossadegh<\/a>
\nKey Figure: Ayatollah Khomeini<\/a>
\nImages: Modernizing Leaders<\/a> (Atat\u00fcrk, Reza Shah and Amanullah Khan)
\n<\/a>Key Figure: Gamal ‘Abdul Nasser
\n<\/a>Maps: NATO and other Alliances\/Treaty Orgs<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

The Middle East Map of Today<\/h2>\n

After the First World War,\u00a0the contours of the major nation-states of today\u2019s Middle East were delineated. \u00a0The Paris Peace Conference of 1919 solidified the political boundaries that later became the countries of the Middle East. At the same time a movement to recognize the sovereignty of colonized countries let to the creation of mandates based on the territories ruled by European countries, with the idea that they would develop toward independent status.<\/p>\n

Many promises were left unfulfilled, however, as cultural communities such as the Kurds were left with no territory of their own. To this day, the Kurds are a \u201cstateless nation\u201d, with their territory spanning across 4 nation-states: Turkey, Syria, Iraq and Iran (see map, below). We cover the concept of a stateless nation<\/a> and provide other examples in\u00a0this chapter as part of a discussion on the national identities of the Middle East of today.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

It is important to recognize that nation-states of the Middle East do not accurately represent the cultural identities of all their inhabitants. An effort was made by European countries to draw boundaries, and in fact to move substantial populations, in ways which would create nation-states which aligned with the national identities of their inhabitants. Former colonies, and countries retaining sovereignty, \u00a0regrouped, gathered national populations together with a new sense of national unity, and joined the new global system of nation-state diplomacy. \u00a0A major part of this effort was modernization: of industry, government and society. After World War I, many of these countries were indeed \u201creincarnated\u201d as they began to rebuild after sustaining the impacts of war, famine and cultural hegemony. Economic collapse, war, forced migration and famine carved new contours into the region we now know as the Middle East, and created new cultural identities.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
For some recorded lectures on the impact of World War I in the Middle East see\u00a0World War I in the Middle East<\/a><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
<\/a>Map of Kurdish Territory by the CIA<\/div>\n
\"Map<\/a>
Map of Kurdish territory by English: \u201cThe following maps were produced by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency, unless otherwise indicated.\u201d Public Domain. via Wikimedia Commons.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"menu_order":1,"template":"","meta":{"pb_show_title":"on","pb_short_title":"","pb_subtitle":"","pb_authors":[],"pb_section_license":""},"chapter-type":[],"contributor":[],"license":[],"class_list":["post-110","chapter","type-chapter","status-publish","hentry"],"part":107,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.ulib.csuohio.edu\/religionsofmiddleeast1\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/110","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.ulib.csuohio.edu\/religionsofmiddleeast1\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.ulib.csuohio.edu\/religionsofmiddleeast1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/chapter"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.ulib.csuohio.edu\/religionsofmiddleeast1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.ulib.csuohio.edu\/religionsofmiddleeast1\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/110\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":457,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.ulib.csuohio.edu\/religionsofmiddleeast1\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/110\/revisions\/457"}],"part":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.ulib.csuohio.edu\/religionsofmiddleeast1\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/parts\/107"}],"metadata":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.ulib.csuohio.edu\/religionsofmiddleeast1\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/110\/metadata\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.ulib.csuohio.edu\/religionsofmiddleeast1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=110"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"chapter-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.ulib.csuohio.edu\/religionsofmiddleeast1\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapter-type?post=110"},{"taxonomy":"contributor","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.ulib.csuohio.edu\/religionsofmiddleeast1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/contributor?post=110"},{"taxonomy":"license","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.ulib.csuohio.edu\/religionsofmiddleeast1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/license?post=110"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}