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Near East

This article is about the geographical term. For the geopolitical region that it applies to, see Middle East. For another region that it roughly applies to, see West Asia. For the ancient history of the region, see Ancient Near East.

Topographic map of parts of the Near East

The Near East is a transcontinental region around the East Mediterranean encompassing parts of West Asia, the Balkans, and North Africa; it also includes the historical Fertile Crescent, the Levant, Anatolia, East Thrace and Egypt. The term was invented by modern Western geographers and was originally applied to the Ottoman Empire,[1] but today has varying definitions within different academic circles. The term Near East was used in conjunction with the Middle East and the Far East (China and beyond), together known as the "three Easts"; it was a separate term from the Middle East during earlier times and official British usage. Both terms are used interchangeably to refer to the same region.[2] Although historically familiar, Near East and Middle East are both Eurocentric terms that tend to be discarded today.[3]

According to National Geographic, the terms Near East and Middle East denote the same territories and are "generally accepted as comprising the countries of the Arabian Peninsula, Cyprus, Egypt, Iraq, Iran, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestinian territories, Syria, and Turkey"[4] with Afghanistan often included.[5][6][2]

In 1997, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations defined the region similarly, but also included Afghanistan.[7] The part of the region that is in Asia (ie., not including Egypt, the Balkans, and Thrace) is "now commonly referred to as West Asia."[8] Later on in 2012, the FAO defined the Near East as a subregion of the Middle East. The Near East included Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine, Syrian Arab Republic, and Türkiye while the Middle East included the Arabian Peninsula, the Caucasus, and Iran.[9]

  1. ^ "Near East | Middle East, Levant & Anatolia". Britannica. 23 December 2023. Retrieved 20 January 2024.
  2. ^ a b Grannan, Cydney. "Are the Middle East and the Near East the Same Thing?". Britannica. Retrieved 2 January 2024.
  3. ^ What Is The Difference Between Near East and Middle East? worldatlas.com
  4. ^ "Middle East, Near East". National Geographic Style Manual. National Geographic Society. Archived from the original on 23 September 2024.
  5. ^ "Country Profiles". TeachMideast. 29 September 2023. Retrieved 12 December 2023.
  6. ^ "The Near East". www.fao.org. Retrieved 12 December 2023.
  7. ^ "The Near East". Food and Agriculture Organization. United Nations.
  8. ^ Small, Zachary (9 February 2022). "Met Museum to Renovate Its Ancient Near East and Cypriot Galleries". The New York Times. Retrieved 10 February 2022.
  9. ^ "FAO - Regional Overview of Middle East". www.fao.org. Retrieved 10 August 2024.

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