What is the Middle East?

The Middle East, also known as the Middle East, is a Europe-centered vocabulary, meaning the region east of Europe and between the Far East and the Near East. Geographically speaking, it refers to the eastern and southern Mediterranean, a large area from the eastern Mediterranean to the Persian Gulf, and parts of West Asia and North Africa, including West Asia except Afghanistan and Egypt in Africa. The area is about 6.5438+0.5 million square kilometers and the total population is about 490 million. The main beliefs are Islam, Judaism and Christianity.

Arabs, Persians, Turks and Kurds live here. Among them, Arabs, Turks and Persians all have their own countries, that is, many Arab countries, Turkey and Iran. There is only one country for Turks, and only one country for Turks and Persians, Iran. There are many Arab countries, such as Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Syria, Jordan, Yemen, Oman, Egypt, Qatar, Bahrain and many other countries.

As an Arab national hero, Saladin's direct descendant Kurds is about 30 million, distributed in many countries, including 6,543,800,000 in Turkey, 7 million in Iran, 5 million in Iraq, 6,543,800,000 in Syria, 6,543,800,000 in Lebanon and 6,543,800,000 in Azerbaijan and Armenia. There are also Jews who believe in Judaism, and Arabs in Lebanon believe in Catholicism and Christianity.

So, according to this concept of the Middle East, which countries and regions does it include? In this regard, the international community has not yet made a clear and unified statement, but it is generally believed that there are 23 countries and regions, including West Asia 16, including Saudi Arabia, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, United Arab Emirates, Oman, Qatar, Bahrain, Turkey, Israel, Palestine, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Yemen and Cyprus; There are seven in North Africa, including Egypt, Libya, Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco, Madeira Islands and Azores Islands.

It can be seen that most of the Middle East is in West Asia, but it is different from West Asia: first, the Middle East does not include Afghanistan; second, the Middle East includes Egypt, a North African country; and third, the Middle East includes Thrace, a European part of Turkey.

The Middle East is a land of "one bay, two oceans, three continents and five seas" and is in a pivotal position connecting Asia, Europe and Africa, and connecting the Atlantic Ocean and the Indian Ocean. The five seas refer to the Caspian Sea, the Black Sea, the Mediterranean Sea, the Red Sea and the Arabian Sea. Arabian Gulf refers to the 970-kilometer Persian Gulf between Iranian Plateau and Arabian Peninsula.

Therefore, the Middle East, which is located in the land of "five seas, three continents and two oceans", is the main road connecting the Atlantic Ocean and the Indian Ocean, connecting the west and the east, and also the hub and throat of Europe leading to West Asia through North Africa.