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The Middle East is a modern term used to describe the area covering 16
countries and states in northeastern Africa and southwestern Asia. The
Middle East is the most ancient region of human civilization. Around
10,000 BC farming first developed in the area referred to as the
Fertile
Crescent (the area of land arching from the Persian Gulf over the
watersheds of the Tigris and
Euphrates river in Iraq through the eastern
coast of the Mediterranean into
Egypt.)
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Over the next 12,000 years many different great
civilizations and cultures developed from or invaded the area. The list of
ancient empires includes: Egyptians (c. 3000-1000 BC);
Assyrians and
Babylonians (c. 1000-500 BC);
Persians (c. 550-330 BC); Greeks (c. 330-60
BC); and Romans (C. 60 BC - 140 AD). In modern times, the
Ottoman Empire (c.
1300 - 1923) became the largest political entity in Europe and western Asia.
The Safavid empire (1501 - 1736) dominated the area of modern Iran. |
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The Middle East has been the center of more than 20 major
conflicts from the Persian-Greek
Wars to the Crusades to the Iran-Iraq War.
After World War I, the decline and dismemberment of the
Ottoman Empire
marked the beginning of a new stage of conflict over territory centering
around the lands of Palestine.
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While today about 92% of the population (292 million
people) are Muslims, the Middle East is the geographic and emotional
center of three of the world's great religions: Islam,
Christianity, and
Judaism. The struggle between the Israelis and the Palestinians is one of
the most enduring and explosive of all the world's conflicts. It has its
roots in the historic claim to the land which lies between the eastern
shores of the Mediterranean Sea and the
Jordan river. For the Palestinians
the last 100 years have brought colonization, expulsion and military
occupation, followed by a long and difficult search for self-determination
and for coexistence with the nation they hold responsible for their
suffering and loss. |
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