PSC 321 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Sub-Saharan Africa, Fertile Crescent, Persian Language
18 May 2018
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Introduction to the Middle East
What is the Middle East
● Historically specific term
○ Turn of the 20th century
○ The terms near east and middle east came about
○ Later the name of a British military command
● Boundaries changed over time
● US v. British usage
○ British initially used the terms near and middle east
○ US was mostly using the term, the middle east
● Originally only included countries between Iraq over towards India
● The Near East was the very late phase of the Ottoman empire; Egypt, Lebanon,
Palestine, Iraq, and Syria
● British formed a military command in 1942, and the Middle East dipped much further into
Africa
● Middle East was used to determine the area between the near and the far east
● Other geographic groupings
○ The Near East
○ The Levant (Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria)
○ The Fertile Crescent (Syria and Lebanon)
○ The Gulf States (Saudi Arabia, Yemen, UAE, Kuwait, etc)
○ North Africa
○ Pakistan - considered part of the Muslim world but not the middle east
○ Contention about whether Afghanistan is part of the Middle East or not
○ Maghreb
Significance of the Middle East
● Natural resources
● Happened through an interest in getting to India
● Geographic location - Suez Canal: trade route to India (Britain)
● Economic - markets and commercial investments for European powers
● Cultural (France)
● Oil (more in the 20th century)
The Middle East vs.
● The Arab World
○ Denotes all the countries that have Arabic as their main language
● The Muslim World
○ Many Muslims live well outside of the Middle East
● Africa / North Africa
○ North Africa does have a lot in common with the Middle East
○ Many other countries especially in subsaharan Africa are not part of the Middle
East
Muslim Population by Region
● Most of the world’s Muslims live outside the Middle East
Document Summary
The terms near east and middle east came about. Later the name of a british military command. British initially used the terms near and middle east. Us was mostly using the term, the middle east. Originally only included countries between iraq over towards india. The near east was the very late phase of the ottoman empire; egypt, lebanon, British formed a military command in 1942, and the middle east dipped much further into. Middle east was used to determine the area between the near and the far east. The levant (iraq, israel, jordan, lebanon, and syria) The gulf states (saudi arabia, yemen, uae, kuwait, etc) Pakistan - considered part of the muslim world but not the middle east. Contention about whether afghanistan is part of the middle east or not. Happened through an interest in getting to india. Geographic location - suez canal: trade route to india (britain) Economic - markets and commercial investments for european powers.
