The Middle East is a concept that originated in European and U.S. geopolitical discourses of the twentieth century and has come to refer to a region with broad civilizational, linguistic, and cultural dimensions. Geographically, the Middle East spans western Asia and parts of Europe and North Africa—from the strategic straits of Hormuz and Bab al-Mandab to the Arabian deserts, the Iranian plateau, and the Mesopotamian plains, stretching westward across the Mediterranean coast and the Sahara to Mauritania. The precise boundaries of the Middle East vary according to different perspectives, but it generally includes more than 20 countries, such as Turkey, Iraq, Syria, Iran, Egypt, Sudan, and Morocco, to name a few.
Historically, the Middle East is recognized as one of the birthplaces of human civilization. The first agricultural societies developed in the Fertile Crescent in Mesopotamia, Egypt, the Levant, and the Iranian plateau. It was in these lands that the first cities, writing systems, centralized governments, and the basic concepts of law appeared. Ancient civilizations of Africa and Mesopotamia, such as the Sumerians, as well as the empires of the Assyrian, Babylonian, Sasanian, Byzantine, Umayyad, Abbasid, Seljuk, Almohad, Ottoman, and Safavid were all based in what is now the Middle East.
Linguistically, the Middle East is one of the most diverse regions in the world. Three major language families are prevalent throughout the region: Semitic languages (such as Arabic, Hebrew, Aramaic), Indo-European languages (Persian, Kurdish, Armenian), and Turkic languages. Linguistic diversity also reflects the cultural and ethnic diversity of the Middle East. Arabs, Persians, Turks, Kurds, Assyrians, Armenians, and Imazighen (also known as “Berbers”) are among the many ethnic groups that reside in this region. This diversity has fostered a vast heritage of literature, music, architecture, cuisine, and cultural traditions. In addition, the Middle East has long been a crossroad of cultural and scientific exchange between East and West. The translation of Greek texts into Arabic and the dissemination of medical, mathematical, and astronomical knowledge show the region’s importance in the global history of science.
CSAMES recognizes that the term ‘Middle East’ did not originate in the region that it represents today and it carries a long history of imperial interventions in the region. It’s a rather historical, geographical, cultural, political, economic, or a geostrategic concept. The ‘Middle East’ is just one of many terms that have been used, over time, to describe this region (or parts of it). Although alternative names exist—among them, the MENA (Middle East North Africa) region, the SWANA (Southwest Asia and North Africa) region, and the “Near East”—, CSAMES has adopted the term “Middle East” because it is in common use in academic and public discourse within and outside the region today.