{"id":112,"date":"2016-07-19T13:01:30","date_gmt":"2016-07-19T13:01:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pressbooks.ulib.csuohio.edu\/religionsofmiddleeast1\/chapter\/defining-the-term-middle-east\/"},"modified":"2022-10-31T00:43:33","modified_gmt":"2022-10-31T00:43:33","slug":"defining-the-term-middle-east","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/pressbooks.ulib.csuohio.edu\/religionsofmiddleeast1\/chapter\/defining-the-term-middle-east\/","title":{"rendered":"Part 2. Defining the Term \u201cMiddle East\u201d"},"content":{"raw":"Culturally-speaking, it is difficult to limit the Middle East to a geographic area with hard borders. Civilizations outside of what is commonly referred to as the \u201cMiddle East\u201d made intellectual, cultural and biological imprints in today\u2019s Middle East that are indelible, especially in regard to the waves of migration from Central Asia. Further, North Africa has profound cultural connections through language, religious practices and philosophical discourses. There have been contiguous flows of thought and ideas, whether through the spiritual content of Sufism and Muslim folk practices, or through practices and technologies of law, medicine, education, and food production.\r\n\r\nWith the exception of Israel, the countries in our definition span from North Africa to Central Asia, and are Muslim-majority countries with large populations speaking one or more of the major Middle Eastern languages (Chapter One). Historically, there have been many definitions, however, which do not correspond to our definition closely, if at all. Currently, West Asia, from about the Amu Darya (Oxus) River westward, North Africa, and often Turkey, are usually considered a part of the region. Our definition is one of the more inclusive ones because of the shared languages and many shared religious and cultural practices within the countries listed in the introduction.\u00a0 For Middle East map, see link below\r\n\r\nhttps:\/\/ohiostate.pressbooks.pub\/app\/uploads\/sites\/13\/2016\/07\/Middle_East_location_map_Update.png<\/a>\r\n\r\nIn 1902 the term \u201cMiddle East\u201d was coined in order to designate the area residing between Egypt and Singapore, comprising major access points to Asia, such as the Suez Canal, the Red Sea, the Persian Gulf, etc.\u00a0 West Asia, where most of the countries of the Middle East reside, used to be called the \u201cNear East\u201d, but the newer term \u201cMiddle East\u201d also came into usage in the early part of the 20th century.\r\n\r\nThe main purpose for covering these definitions in this chapter is to demonstrate that the bases for any of the most commonly used terms, also including \u201cOrient\u201d and simply \u201cthe East\u201d, are rooted in European perspectives. These terms center Europe in the geography of the world map. \u00a0 Thus, geographic definitions tended to refer to strategic lands which provided Europeans with access to resources and military advantage, especially India.","rendered":"

Culturally-speaking, it is difficult to limit the Middle East to a geographic area with hard borders. Civilizations outside of what is commonly referred to as the \u201cMiddle East\u201d made intellectual, cultural and biological imprints in today\u2019s Middle East that are indelible, especially in regard to the waves of migration from Central Asia. Further, North Africa has profound cultural connections through language, religious practices and philosophical discourses. There have been contiguous flows of thought and ideas, whether through the spiritual content of Sufism and Muslim folk practices, or through practices and technologies of law, medicine, education, and food production.<\/p>\n

With the exception of Israel, the countries in our definition span from North Africa to Central Asia, and are Muslim-majority countries with large populations speaking one or more of the major Middle Eastern languages (Chapter One). Historically, there have been many definitions, however, which do not correspond to our definition closely, if at all. Currently, West Asia, from about the Amu Darya (Oxus) River westward, North Africa, and often Turkey, are usually considered a part of the region. Our definition is one of the more inclusive ones because of the shared languages and many shared religious and cultural practices within the countries listed in the introduction.\u00a0 For Middle East map, see link below<\/p>\n

https:\/\/ohiostate.pressbooks.pub\/app\/uploads\/sites\/13\/2016\/07\/Middle_East_location_map_Update.png<\/a><\/p>\n

In 1902 the term \u201cMiddle East\u201d was coined in order to designate the area residing between Egypt and Singapore, comprising major access points to Asia, such as the Suez Canal, the Red Sea, the Persian Gulf, etc.\u00a0 West Asia, where most of the countries of the Middle East reside, used to be called the \u201cNear East\u201d, but the newer term \u201cMiddle East\u201d also came into usage in the early part of the 20th century.<\/p>\n

The main purpose for covering these definitions in this chapter is to demonstrate that the bases for any of the most commonly used terms, also including \u201cOrient\u201d and simply \u201cthe East\u201d, are rooted in European perspectives. These terms center Europe in the geography of the world map. \u00a0 Thus, geographic definitions tended to refer to strategic lands which provided Europeans with access to resources and military advantage, especially India.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"menu_order":2,"template":"","meta":{"pb_show_title":"on","pb_short_title":"","pb_subtitle":"","pb_authors":[],"pb_section_license":""},"chapter-type":[],"contributor":[],"license":[],"class_list":["post-112","chapter","type-chapter","status-publish","hentry"],"part":107,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.ulib.csuohio.edu\/religionsofmiddleeast1\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/112","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":5,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.ulib.csuohio.edu\/religionsofmiddleeast1\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/112\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":391,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.ulib.csuohio.edu\/religionsofmiddleeast1\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/112\/revisions\/391"}],"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\/112\/metadata\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.ulib.csuohio.edu\/religionsofmiddleeast1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=112"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"chapter-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.ulib.csuohio.edu\/religionsofmiddleeast1\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapter-type?post=112"},{"taxonomy":"contributor","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.ulib.csuohio.edu\/religionsofmiddleeast1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/contributor?post=112"},{"taxonomy":"license","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.ulib.csuohio.edu\/religionsofmiddleeast1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/license?post=112"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}