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WHERE IS THE MIDDLE EAST?
The concept of a region called the "Middle East"
is a relatively recent and unstable construction. Since the term was
first coined at the beginning of the 20th century, it has been applied
to different sets of countries and territories. To complicate matters
further, territories which have at times been categorized as "Middle
East" have also attracted other designations: Near East, western Asia,
eastern Mediterranean, the Arab world, and so on. These designations
all represent different ways of conceptualizing what these territories
have in common and how they relate to other parts of the world.
For practical purposes, CCSMEMC uses an admittedly
arbitrary designation of contemporary nations into "core areas" and
"extended regions" of the Middle East as follows:
Core Areas:
Algeria, Azerbaijan,
Bahrain, Cyprus (northern), Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait,
Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan,
Syria, Tunisia, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, West Bank and Gaza
(Palestine) and Yemen
Extended Regions of Muslim Civilizations:
Afghanistan, Albania,
Bangladesh, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Brunei, Burkina Faso, Chad, Djibouti,
Eritrea, Gambia, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, India, Indonesia, Kazakhstan,
Kyrgyzstan, Malaysia, Mali, Mauretania, Niger, Nigeria, Pakistan,
Sahara, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan
The following presentation uses maps to illustrate
the lack of consensus among governments, international organizations,
and scholars regarding how to define the Middle East or even whether to
use that term. The instability of the concept "Middle East" points to
the need to break down traditional area studies barriers.
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Begin presentation
Or use the index below to view a specific map. |
British Usage
Alfred
T. Mahan, 1902
Valentine
Chirol, 1903
Royal
Geographical Society, 1920
Royal
Air Force, 1939
Middle
East Command, 1942
Official British Usage, 1952
American Usage
U.S.
Department of State, 1944
U.S.
Department of State, 1948
U.S.
Department of State, 1992
CENTCOM, 1983-2005
CIA,
Directorate of Intelligence, 2002
CIA,
Directorate of Operations, 1955-1975
The UN and Other International
Organizations
Proposed
Economic Commission for the Middle East, 1947
Economic
Commission for Western Asia, 1977
International
Labour Organisation, 1947
International
Labour Organisation, 2005
Food
and Agriculture Organization, 1948
Food
and Agriculture Organization, 2005
Proposed
Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zone in the Middle East, 1990
UNESCO,
2005
World
Health Organization, 1948
World
Health Organization, 2005
World
Bank, 1953
World
Bank, 2005
Scholarly Usage
Middle
East Institute, 1947
Middle
East Institute, 2005
Middle
East Studies Association, 1970
Middle
East Studies Association, 2000
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