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Middle East
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For other uses, see Middle East (disambiguation).
Middle East
Location of the Middle East
Population
371 million (2010)[1]
Countries
18 countries[show]
Bahrain
Cyprus
Egypt
Iran
Iraq
Israel
Jordan
Kuwait
Lebanon
Northern Cyprus
Oman
Palestine
Qatar
Saudi Arabia
Syria
Turkey
United Arab Emirates
Yemen
Languages
~60 languages[show]
Official languages
Arabic varieties
Greek
Hebrew
Kurdish
Persian
Turkish
Languages without official status (spoken by diaspora or other minorities)
Albanian
Armenian
Abaza
Abkhaz
Amharic
Azerbaijani
Balochi
Bosniak
Chechen
Chinese
Circassian
Crimean Tatar
Coptic
Domari
English
French
Balkan Gagauz Turkish
Georgian
Gilaki
Hungarian
Hindi
Italian
Kazakh
Kumyk
Kurbet
Kyrgyz
Judæo-Spanish
Laz
Lurish
Marathi
Malayalam
Mazanderani
Neo-Aramaic
Nobiin
Qashqai
Romanian
Siwa
Somali
Syriac
Spanish
Punjabi
Tagalog
Talysh
Tatar
Thai
Turkmen
Turoyo
Ukrainian
Urdu
Uyghur
Yiddish
Zaza
Time Zones
UTC+2:00, UTC+3:00, UTC+3:30, UTC+4:00, UTC+4:30
Largest cities
Cairo
Tehran
Istanbul
Map of the Middle East between Africa, Europe, and Central Asia.
Middle East map of Köppen climate classification.
The Middle East[note 1] is a transcontinental region centered on Western Asia, Turkey (both Asian and European), and Egypt (which is mostly in North Africa). The corresponding adjective is Middle-Eastern and the derived noun is Middle-Easterner. The term has come into wider usage as a replacement of the term Near East (as opposed to the Far East) beginning in the early 20th century.
Arabs, Turks, Persians, Kurds, and Azeris (excluding Republic of Azerbaijan) constitute the largest ethnic groups in the region by population.[2] Minorities of the Middle East include Jews, Greeks, Assyrians and other Arameans, Baloch, Berbers, Coptic Christians, Druze, Lurs, Mandaeans, Samaritans, Shabaks, Tats, and Zazas. In the Middle East, there is also a Romani community. European ethnic groups that form a diaspora in the region include Albanians, Bosniaks, Circassians, Crimean Tatars, Franco-Levantines, and Italo-Levantines. Among other migrant populations are Bengalis as well as other Indians, Chinese, Filipinos, Indonesians, Pakistanis, and Sub-Saharan Africans.
The history of the Middle East dates back to ancient times, with the (geopolitical) importance of the region being recognized for millennia.[3][4][5] Several major religions have their origins in the Middle East, including Judaism, Christianity, and Islam; the Baha'i faith, Mandaeism, Unitarian Druze, and numerous other belief systems were also established within the region.
The Middle East generally has a hot, arid climate, with several major rivers providing irrigation to support agriculture in limited areas such as the Nile Delta in Egypt, the Tigris and Euphrates watersheds of Mesopotamia, and most of what is known as the Fertile Crescent.
Most of the countries that border the Persian Gulf have vast reserves of crude oil, with monarchs of the Arabian Peninsula in particular benefiting economically from petroleum exports.
Contents
[hide]
1 Terminology
1.1 Criticism and usage
1.2 Translations
2 Territories and regions
2.1 Territories and regions usually within the Middle East
2.2 Other definitions of the Middle East
3 History
4 Demographics
4.1 Ethnic groups
4.2 Migration
4.3 Religions
4.4 Languages
5 Economy
6 Gallery
7 See also
8 Notes
9 References
10 Further reading
11 External links
Terminology
The term "Middle East" may have originated in the 1850s in the British India Office.[6] However, it became more widely known when American naval strategist Alfred Thayer Mahan used the term in 1902[7] to "designate the area between Arabia and India".[8][9] During this time the British and Russian Empires were vying for influence in Central Asia, a rivalry which would become known as The Great Game. Mahan realized not only the strategic importance of the region, but also of its center, the Persian Gulf.[10][11] He labeled the area surrounding the Persian Gulf as the Middle East, and said that after Egypt's Suez Canal, it was the most important passage for Britain to control in order to keep the Russians from advancing towards British India.[12] Mahan first used the term in his article "The Persian Gulf and International Relations", published in September 1902 in the National Review, a British journal.
The Middle East, if I may adopt a term which I have not seen, will some day need its Malta, as well as its Gibraltar; it does not follow that either will be in the Persian Gulf. Naval force has the quality of mobility which carries with it the privilege of temporary absences; but it needs to find on every scene of operation established bases of refit, of supply, and in case of disaster, of security. The British Navy should have the facility to concentrate in force if occasion arise, about Aden, India, and the Persian Gulf.[13]
Mahan's article was reprinted in The Times and followed in October by a 20-article series entitled "The Middle Eastern Question," written by Sir Ignatius Valentine Chirol. During this series, Sir Ignatius expanded the definition of Middle East to include "those regions of Asia which extend to the borders of India or command the approaches to India."[14] After the series ended in 1903, The Times removed quotation marks from subsequent uses of the term.[15]
Until World War II, it was customary to refer to areas centered around Turkey and the eastern shore of the Mediterranean as the "Near East", while the "Far East" centered on China,[16] and the Middle East then meant the area from Mesopotamia to Burma, namely the area between the Near East and the Far East.[citation needed] In the late 1930s, the British established the Middle East Command, which was based in Cairo, for its military forces in the region. After that time, the term "Middle East" gained broader usage in Europe and the United States, with the Middle East Institute founded in Washington, D.C. in 1946, among other usage.[17]
Criticism and usage
Play media
1957 American film about the Middle East
The description Middle has also led to some confusion over changing definitions. Before the First World War, "Near East" was used in English to refer to the Balkans and the Ottoman Empire, while "Middle East" referred to Iran, the Caucasus, Afghanistan, Central Asia, and Turkestan. In contrast, "Far East" referred to the countries of East Asia (e.g. China, Japan, Korea, etc.)
With the disappearance of the Ottoman Empire in 1918, "Near East" largely fell out of common use in English, while "Middle East" came to be applied to the re-emerging countries of the Islamic world. However, the usage "Near East" was retained by a variety of academic disciplines, including archaeology and ancient history, where it describes an area identical to the term Middle East, which is not used by these disciplines (see Ancient Near East).
The first official use of the term "Middle East" by the United States government was in the 1957 Eisenhower Doctrine, which pertained to the Suez Crisis. Secretary of State John Foster Dulles defined the Middle East as "the area lying between and including Libya on the west and Pakistan on the east, Syria and Iraq on the North and the Arabian peninsula to the south, plus the Sudan and Ethiopia."[16] In 1958, the State Department explained that the terms "Near East" and "Middle East" were interchangeable, and defined the region as including only Egypt, Syria, Israel, Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, and Qatar.[18]
The Associated Press Stylebook says that Near East formerly referred to the farther west countries while Middle East referred to the eastern ones, but that now they are synonymous. It instructs:
Use Middle East unless Near East is used by a source in a story. Mideast is also acceptable, but Middle East is preferred.[19]
The term Middle East has also been criticised as Eurocentric ("based on a British Western perception") by Hanafi (1998).[20]
Translations
There are terms similar to Near East and Middle East in other European languages, but since it is a relative description, the meanings depend on the country and are different from the English terms generally. In German the term Naher Osten (Near East) is still in common use (nowadays the term Mittlerer Osten is more and more common in press texts translated from English sources, albeit having a distinct meaning) and in Russian Ближний Восток or Blizhniy Vostok, Bulgarian Близкия Изток, Polish Bliski Wschód or Croatian Bliski istok (meaning Near East in all the four Slavic languages) remains as the only appropriate term for the region. However, some languages do have "Middle East" equivalents, such as the French Moyen-Orient, Swedish Mellanöstern, Spanish Oriente Medio or Medio Oriente, and the Italian Medio Oriente.[note 2]
Perhaps because of the influence of the Western press, the Arabic equivalent of Middle East (Arabic: الشرق الأوسط ash-Sharq al-Awsaṭ), has become standard usage in the mainstream Arabic press, comprehending the same meaning as the term "Middle East" in North American and Western European usage. The designation, Mashriq, also from the Arabic root for East, also denotes a variously defined region around the Levant, the eastern part of the Arabic-speaking world (as opposed to the Maghreb, the western part).[21] Even though the term originated in the West, apart from Arabic, other languages of countries of the Middle East also use a translation of it. The Persian equivalent for Middle East is خاورمیانه (Khāvar-e miyāneh), the Hebrew is המזרח התיכון (hamizrach hatikhon) and the Turkish is Orta Doğu.
Territories and regions
For a more comprehensive list, see List of Middle Eastern countries by population.
Territories and regions usually within the Middle East
Traditionally included within the Middle East are Iran (Persia), Asia Minor, Mesopotamia, the Levant, the Arabian Peninsula, and Egypt. In modern-day-country terms they are these:
Country,
with flag
Area
(km²)
Population
(2012)
Density
(per km²)
Capital
Nominal
GDP, bn (2012)[22]
Per capita (2012)[23]
Currency
Government
Official
languages
Coat
of
arms
Bahrain 665 1,234,596 1,646.1 Manama $30.355 $26,368 Bahraini dinar Absolute monarchy Arabic
Cyprus 9,250 1,088,503 117 Nicosia $22.995 $26,377 Euro Presidential republic Greek,
Turkish
Egypt 1,010,407 72,798,000 90 Cairo $262.26 $3,179 Egyptian pound Presidential republic Egyptian Arabic
Iran 1,648,195 78,868,711 45 Tehran $548.59 $7,207 Iranian rial Islamic republic Persian
Iraq 438,317 33,635,000 73.5 Baghdad $216.04 $6,410 Iraqi dinar Parliamentary republic Arabic,
Kurdish
Israel 20,770 7,653,600 365.3 Jerusalema $257.62 $33,451 Israeli shekel Parliamentary republic Hebrew,
Arabic
Jordan 92,300 6,318,677 68.4 Amman $30.98 $4,843 Jordanian dinar Constitutional monarchy Arabic
Kuwait 17,820 3,566,437 167.5 Kuwait City $184.54 $48,761 Kuwaiti dinar Constitutional monarchy Arabic
Lebanon 10,452 4,228,000 404 Beirut $42.519 $10,425 Lebanese pound Parliamentary republic Arabic
Oman 212,460 2,694,094 9.2 Muscat $78.290 $25,356 Omani rial Absolute monarchy Arabic
Palestine 6,220 4,260,636 667 Ramallaha $6.6 $1,600 Israeli shekel,
Jordanian dinar Semi-presidential republic Arabic
Qatar 11,437 1,696,563 123.2 Doha $192.40 $104,756 Qatari riyal Absolute monarchy Arabic
Saudi Arabia 2,149,690 27,136,977 12 Riyadh $733.95 $25,139 Saudi riyal Absolute monarchy Arabic
Syria 185,180 23,695,000 118.3 Damascus n/a n/a Syrian pound Presidential republic Arabic
Turkey 783,562 73,722,988 94.1 Ankara $788.04 $10,523 Turkish lira Parliamentary republic Turkish
United Arab Emirates 82,880 8,264,070 97 Abu Dhabi $383.79 $43,774 UAE dirham Federal Absolute monarchy Arabic
Yemen 527,970 23,580,000 44.7 Sana'ab
Aden (provisional) $35.05 $1,354 Yemeni rial Provisional presidential republic Arabic
a. ^ ^ Jerusalem is the proclaimed capital of Israel and the actual location of the Knesset, Israeli Supreme Court, and other governmental institutions of Israel. Ramallah is the actual location of the government of Palestine, whereas the proclaimed capital of Palestine is East Jerusalem, which is disputed.
b. ^ Controlled by the Houthis due to the ongoing war. Seat of government moved to Aden.
Other definitions of the Middle East
Main articles: Near East and Greater Middle East
Various concepts are often being paralleled to Middle East, most notably Near East, Fertile Crescent and the Levant. Near East, Levant and Fertile Crescent are geographic concepts, which refer to large sections of the modern defined Middle East, with Near East being the closest to Middle East in its geographic meaning.
The countries of the South Caucasus—Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia—are occasionally included in definitions of the Middle East.[24]
The Greater Middle East was a political term coined by the second Bush administration in the first decade of the 21st century,[25] to denote various countries, pertaining to the Muslim world, specifically Iran, Turkey, Afghanistan and Pakistan.[26] Various Central Asian countries are sometimes also included.[27]
History
Main article: History of the Middle East
See also: List of modern conflicts in the Middle East
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Western Wall and Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem
The Kaaba, located in Mecca, Saudi Arabia
The Middle East lies at the juncture of Eurasia and Africa and of the Mediterranean Sea and the Indian Ocean. It is the birthplace and spiritual center of religions such as Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Manichaeism, Yezidi, Druze, Yarsan and Mandeanism, and in Iran, Mithraism, Zoroastrianism, Manicheanism, and the Bahá'í Faith. Throughout its history the Middle East has been a major center of world affairs; a strategically, economically, politically, culturally, and religiously sensitive area.
The world's earliest civilizations, Mesopotamia (Sumer, Akkad, Assyria and Babylonia) and ancient Egypt, originated in the Fertile Crescent and Nile Valley regions of the ancient Near East. These were followed by the Hittite, Greek and Urartian civilisations of Asia Minor, Elam in pre-Iranian Persia, as well as the civilizations of the Levant (such as Ebla, Ugarit, Canaan, Aramea, Phoenicia and Israel), Persian and Median civilizations in Iran, North Africa (Carthage/Phoenicia) and the Arabian Peninsula (Magan, Sheba, Ubar). The Near East was first largely unified under the Neo Assyrian Empire, then the Achaemenid Empire followed later by the Macedonian Empire and after this to some degree by the Iranian empires (namely the Parthian and Sassanid Empires), the Roman Empire and Byzantine Empire. However, it would be the later Arab Caliphates of the Middle Ages, or Islamic Golden Age which began with the Arab conquest of the region in the 7th century AD, that would first unify the entire Middle East as a distinct region and create the dominant Islamic ethnic identity that largely (but not exclusively) persists today. The Mongols, the Kingdom of Armenia, the Seljuks, the Safavids, the Ottoman Empire, and the British Empire also dominated the region.
The modern Middle East began after World War I, when the Ottoman Empire, which was allied with the Central Powers, was defeated by the British Empire and their allies and partitioned into a number of separate nations, initially under British and French Mandates. Other defining events in this transformation included the establishment of Israel in 1948 and the eventual departure of European powers, notably Britain and France by the end of the 1960s. They were supplanted in some part by the rising influence of the United States from the 1970s onwards.
In the 20th century, the region's significant stocks of crude oil gave it new strategic and economic importance. Mass production of oil began around 1945, with Saudi Arabia, Iran, Kuwait, Iraq, and the United Arab Emirates having large quantities of oil.[28] Estimated oil reserves, especially in Saudi Arabia and Iran, are some of the highest in the world, and the international oil cartel OPEC is dominated by Middle Eastern countries.
During the Cold War, the Middle East was a theater of ideological struggle between the two superpowers and their allies: NATO and the United States on one side, and the Soviet Union and Warsaw Pact on the other, as they competed to influence regional allies. Of course, besides the political reasons there was also the "ideological conflict" between the two systems. Moreover, as Louise Fawcett argues, among many important areas of contention, or perhaps more accurately of anxiety, were, first, the desires of the superpowers to gain strategic advantage in the region, second, the fact that the region contained some two thirds of the world's oil reserves in a context where oil was becoming increasingly vital to the economy of the Western world [...][29] Within this contextual framework, the United States sought to divert the Arab world from Soviet influence. Throughout the 20th and 21st centuries, the region has experienced both periods of relative peace and tolerance and periods of conflict particularly between Sunnis and Shiites.
Demographics
Main article: Demographics of the Middle East
See also: Largest metropolitan areas of the Middle East
Ethnic groups
Main article: Ethnic groups in the Middle East
Arabs constitute the largest ethnic group in the Middle East, followed by Turkic people. Native ethnic groups of the region include, in addition to Arabs, Jews, Arameans, Assyrians, Baloch, Berbers, Copts, Druze, Kurds, Lurs, Mandaeans, Persians, Samaritans, Shabaks, Tats, and Zazas.
Migration
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"Migration has always provided an important vent for labor market pressures in the Middle East. For the period between the 1970s and 1990s, the Arab states of the PersianGulf in particular provided a rich source of employment for workers from Egypt, Yemen and the countries of the Levant, while Europe had attracted young workers from North African countries due both to proximity and the legacy of colonial ties between Franceand the majority of North African states." [30] According to the International Organization for Migration, there are 13 million first-generation migrants from Arab nations in the world, of which 5.8 reside in other Arab countries. Expatriates from Arab countries contribute to the circulation of financial and human capital in the region and thus significantly promote regional development. In 2009 Arab countries received a total of 35.1 billion USD in remittance in-flows and remittances sent to Jordan, Egypt and Lebanon from other Arab countries are 40 to 190 per cent higher than trade revenues between these and other Arab countries.[31] In Somalia, the Somali Civil War has greatly increased the size of the Somali diaspora, as many of the best educated Somalis left for Europe, North America and other Middle Eastern countries.
Non-Arab Middle Eastern countries such as Turkey, Israel and Iran are also subject to important migration dynamics.
A fair proportion of those migrating from Arab nations are from ethnic and religious minorities facing racial and or religious persecution and are not necessarily ethnic Arabs, Iranians or Turks.[citation needed] Large numbers of Kurds, Jews, Assyrians, Greeks and Armenians as well as many Mandeans have left nations such as Iraq, Iran, Syria and Turkey for these reasons during the last century. In Iran, many religious minorities such as Christians, Baha'is and Zoroastrians have left since the Islamic Revolution of 1979.[citation needed]
Religions
Main article: Religion in the Middle East
Islam is the largest religion in the Middle East. Here, Muslim men are prostrating during prayer in a mosque.
The Middle East is very diverse when it comes to religions, many of which originated there. Islam is the largest religion in the Middle East, but other faiths that originated there, such as Judaism and Christianity, are also well represented. Christians represent 40.5% of Lebanon, where the Lebanese president, half of the cabinet, and half of the parliament follow one of the various Lebanese Christian rites. There are also important minority religions like the Bahá'í Faith, Yarsanism, Yazidism, Zoroastrianism, Mandaeism, Druze, and Shabakism, and in ancient times the region was home to Mesopotamian religions, Canaanite religions, Manichaeism, Mithraism and various monotheist gnostic sects.
Languages
The five top languages, in terms of numbers of speakers, are Arabic, Persian, Turkish, Kurdish, and Hebrew. Arabic and Hebrew represent the Afro-Asiatic language family. Persian and Kurdish belong to the Indo-European language family. Turkish belongs to Turkic language family. About 20 minority languages are also spoken in the Middle East.
Arabic, with all its dialects, are the most widely spoken languages in the Middle East, with Literary Arabic being official in all North African and in most West Asian countries. Arabic dialects are also spoken in some adjacent areas in neighbouring Middle Eastern non-Arab countries. It is a member of the Semitic branch of the Afro-Asiatic languages. Several Modern South Arabian languages such as Mehri and Soqotri are also spoken Yemen and Oman. Another Semitic language such as Aramaic and its dialects are spoken mainly by Assyrians and Mandaeans. There is also a Oasis Berber-speaking community in Egypt where the language is also known as Siwa. It is a non-Semitic Afro-Asiatic language.
Persian is the second most spoken language. While it is primarily spoken in Iran and some border areas in neighbouring countries, the country is one of the region's largest and most populous. It belongs to the Indo-Iranian branch of the family of Indo-European languages. Other Western Iranic languages spoken in the region include Achomi, Daylami, Kurdish dialects, Semmani, Lurish, amongst many others.
The third-most widely spoken language, Turkish, is largely confined to Turkey, which is also one of the region's largest and most populous countries, but it is present in areas in neighboring countries. It is a member of the Turkic languages, which have their origins in Central Asia. Another Turkic language, Azerbaijani, is spoken by Azerbaijanis in Iran.
Hebrew is one of the two official languages of Israel, the other being Arabic. Hebrew is spoken and used by over 80% of Israel's population, the other 20% using Arabic.
English is commonly taught and used as a second language, especially among the middle and upper classes, in countries such as Egypt, Jordan, Iran, Kurdistan, Iraq, Qatar, Bahrain, United Arab Emirates and Kuwait.[32][33] It is also a main language in some Emirates of the United Arab Emirates.
French is taught and used in many government facilities and media in Lebanon, and is taught in some primary and secondary schools of Egypt and Syria. Maltese, a Semitic language mainly spoken in Europe, is also used by the Franco-Maltese diaspora in Egypt.
Armenian and Greek speakers are also to be found in the region. Georgian is spoken by the Georgian diaspora. Russian is spoken by a large portion of the Israeli population, because of emigration in the late 1990s. Russian today is a popular unofficial language in use in Israel; news, radio and sign boards can be found in Russian around the country after Hebrew and Arabic. Circassian is also spoken by the diaspora in the region and by almost all Circassians in Israel who speak Hebrew and English as well. The largest Romanian-speaking community in the Middle East is found in Israel, where as of 1995[update] Romanian is spoken by 5% of the population.[note 3][34][35]
Bengali, Hindi and Urdu is widely spoken by migrant communities in many Middle Eastern countries, such as Saudi Arabia (where 20–25% of the population is South Asian), the United Arab Emirates (where 50–55% of the population is South Asian), and Qatar, which have large numbers of Pakistani, Bangladeshi and Indian immigrants.
Economy
This section needs to be updated. Please update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information. (December 2016)
Main articles: Economy of the Middle East and Middle East economic integration
Oil and gas pipelines in the Middle-East
Middle Eastern economies range from being very poor (such as Gaza and Yemen) to extremely wealthy nations (such as Qatar and UAE). Overall, as of 2007[update], according to the CIA World Factbook, all nations in the Middle East are maintaining a positive rate of growth.
According to the World Bank's World Development Indicators database published on July 1, 2009, the three largest Middle Eastern economies in 2008 were Turkey ($794,228), Saudi Arabia ($467,601) and Iran ($385,143) in terms of Nominal GDP.[36] Regarding nominal GDP per capita, the highest ranking countries are Qatar ($93,204), the UAE ($55,028), Kuwait ($45,920) and Cyprus ($32,745).[37] Turkey ($1,028,897), Iran ($839,438) and Saudi Arabia ($589,531) had the largest economies in terms of GDP-PPP.[38] When it comes to per capita (PPP)-based income, the highest-ranking countries are Qatar ($86,008), Kuwait ($39,915), the UAE ($38,894), Bahrain ($34,662) and Cyprus ($29,853). The lowest-ranking country in the Middle East, in terms of per capita income (PPP), is the autonomous Palestinian Authority of Gaza and the West Bank ($1,100).
The economic structure of Middle Eastern nations are different in the sense that while some nations are heavily dependent on export of only oil and oil-related products (such as Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Kuwait), others have a highly diverse economic base (such as Cyprus, Israel, Turkey and Egypt). Industries of the Middle Eastern region include oil and oil-related products, agriculture, cotton, cattle, dairy, textiles, leather products, surgical instruments, defence equipment (guns, ammunition, tanks, submarines, fighter jets, UAVs, and missiles). Banking is also an important sector of the economies, especially in the case of UAE and Bahrain.
With the exception of Cyprus, Turkey, Egypt, Lebanon and Israel, tourism has been a relatively undeveloped area of the economy, in part because of the socially conservative nature of the region as well as political turmoil in certain regions of the Middle East. In recent years, however, countries such as the UAE, Bahrain, and Jordan have begun attracting greater number of tourists because of improving tourist facilities and the relaxing of tourism-related restrictive policies.
Unemployment is notably high in the Middle East and North Africa region, particularly among young people aged 15–29, a demographic representing 30% of the region's total population. The total regional unemployment rate in 2005, according to the International Labour Organization, was 13.2%,[39] and among youth is as high as 25%,[40] up to 37% in Morocco and 73% in Syria.[41]
Gallery
Abu Dhabi - UAE
Amman - Jordan
Ankara - Turkey
Baghdad - Iraq
Beirut - Lebanon
Cairo - Egypt
Damascus - Syria
Doha - Qatar
Dubai - UAE
Istanbul - Turkey
Jerusalem - Israel
Kuwait City - Kuwait
Manama - Bahrain
Mecca - Saudi Arabia
Muscat, Oman
Ramallah - Palestine
Riyadh - Saudi Arabia
Sana'a - Yemen
Tabriz - Iran
Tehran - Iran
Tel Aviv - Israel
Play media
This video over Central Africa and the Middle East was taken by the crew of Expedition 29 on board the International Space Station.
Play media
This video over the Sahara Desert and the Middle East was taken by the crew of Expedition 29 on board the International Space Station.
Play media
A pass beginning over Turkmenistan, east of the Caspian Sea to south-eastern China, just north-west of Hong Kong.
See also
Middle East portal
Asia portal
Africa portal
Geography portal
Biomedical research in the Middle East
Hilly Flanks
Maayan (magazine)
MENA
Mental health in the Middle East
Middle East Studies Association of North America
Middle East Youth Initiative
Middle Eastern cuisine
Middle Eastern music
Orientalism
State feminism § Middle East
Timeline of Middle Eastern history
Notes
Jump up ^ Arabic: الشرق الأوسط, Ash-Sharq al-Awsaṭ; Armenian: Միջին Արևելք, Miǰin Arevelk’; Azerbaijani: Orta Şərq; Central Kurdish: ڕۆژھەڵاتی ناوین, Rojhelatî Nawîn; French: Moyen-Orient; Georgian: ახლო აღმოსავლეთი, Axlo Aɣmosavleti; Greek: Μέση Ανατολή, Mési Anatolí; Hebrew: המזרח התיכון, Ha'Mizrah Ha'Tihon; error: {{lang-xx}}: text has italic markup (help); Persian: خاورمیانه, Xāvar-Miāne; Somali: Bariga Dhexe; Turkish: Orta Doğu; Urdu: مشرق وسطی, Maśriq Vosta
Jump up ^ In Italian, the expression "Vicino Oriente" (Near East) was also widely used to refer to Turkey, and Estremo Oriente (Far East or Extreme East) to refer to all of Asia east of Middle East
Jump up ^ According to the 1993 Statistical Abstract of Israel there were 250,000 Romanian speakers in Israel, at a population of 5,548,523 (census 1995).
References
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Jump up ^ Ethnic Groups of Africa and the Middle East: An Encyclopedia. Archived from the original on 24 April 2016. Retrieved 26 May 2014.
Jump up ^ Cairo, Michael F. The Gulf: The Bush Presidencies and the Middle East Archived 2015-12-22 at the Wayback Machine. University Press of Kentucky, 2012 ISBN 978-0813136721 p xi.
Jump up ^ Government Printing Office. History of the Office of the Secretary of Defense: The formative years, 1947–1950 Archived 2015-12-22 at the Wayback Machine. ISBN 978-0160876400 p 177
Jump up ^ Kahana, Ephraim. Suwaed, Muhammad. Historical Dictionary of Middle Eastern Intelligence Archived 2015-12-23 at the Wayback Machine. Scarecrow Press, 13 apr. 2009 ISBN 978- 0810863026 p xxxi.
Jump up ^ Beaumont, Blake & Wagstaff 1988, p. 16.
Jump up ^ Koppes, CR (1976). "Captain Mahan, General Gordon and the origin of the term "Middle East"". Middle East Studies. 12: 95–98. doi:10.1080/00263207608700307.
Jump up ^ Lewis, Bernard (1965). The Middle East and the West. p. 9.
Jump up ^ Fromkin, David (1989). A Peace to end all Peace. p. 224. ISBN 0-8050-0857-8.
Jump up ^ Melman, Billie, Companion to Travel Writing, Collections Online, 6 The Middle East/Arabia, Cambridge, archived from the original on December 8, 2007, retrieved January 8, 2006 .
Jump up ^ Palmer, Michael A. Guardians of the Persian Gulf: A History of America's Expanding Role in the Persian Gulf, 1833–1992. New York: The Free Press, 1992. ISBN 0-02-923843-9 pp. 12–13.
Jump up ^ Laciner, Dr. Sedat. "Is There a Place Called 'the Middle East'? Archived 2007-02-20 at the Wayback Machine.", The Journal of Turkish Weekly, June 2, 2006. Retrieved January 10, 2007.
Jump up ^ Adelson 1995, pp. 22–23.
Jump up ^ Adelson 1995, p. 24.
Jump up ^ Adelson 1995, p. 26.
^ Jump up to: a b Davison, Roderic H. (1960). "Where is the Middle East?". Foreign Affairs. 38 (4): 665–75. doi:10.2307/20029452.
Jump up ^ Held, Colbert C. (2000). Middle East Patterns: Places, Peoples, and Politics. Westview Press. p. 7. ISBN 0-8133-8221-1.
Jump up ^ "'Near East' is Mideast, Washington Explains". The New York Times. August 14, 1958. Archived from the original on October 15, 2009. Retrieved 2009-01-25. (subscription required)
Jump up ^ Goldstein, Norm. The Associated Press Stylebook and Briefing on Media Law. New York: Basic Books, 2004. ISBN 0-465-00488-1 p. 156
Jump up ^ Hanafi, Hassan. "The Middle East, in whose world? (Primary Reflections)". Nordic Society for Middle Eastern Studies (The fourth Nordic conference on Middle Eastern Studies: The Middle East in globalizing world Oslo, 13–16 August 1998). Archived from the original on 8 October 2006. ("unedited paper as given at the Oslo conference. An updated and edited version has been published in Utvik and Vikør, The Middle East in a Globalized World, Bergen/London 2000, 1-9. Please quote or refer only to the published article") "The expression Middle East is an old British label based on a British Western perception of the East divided into middle or near and far". see also Shohat, Ella. "Redrawing American Cartographies of Asia". City University of New York. Archived from the original on 2007-03-12. Retrieved 2007-01-12.
Jump up ^ Anderson, Ewan W., William Bayne Fisher (2000). The Middle East: Geography and Geopolitics. Routledge. pp. 12–13. CS1 maint: Multiple names: authors list (link)
Jump up ^ "GDP". IMF. Archived from the original on 2014-09-22. Retrieved 2014-04-16.
Jump up ^ "GDP per capita". IMF. Archived from the original on 2014-09-22. Retrieved 2014-04-16.
Jump up ^ Novikova, Gayane (December 2000). "Armenia and the Middle East" (PDF). Middle East Review of International Affairs. Archived (PDF) from the original on 21 August 2014. Retrieved 14 August 2014.
Jump up ^ Haeri, Safa (2004-03-03). "Concocting a 'Greater Middle East' brew". Asia Times. Retrieved 2008-08-21.
Jump up ^ Ottaway, Marina & Carothers, Thomas (2004-03-29), The Greater Middle East Initiative: Off to a False Start Archived 2009-03-12 at the Wayback Machine., Policy Brief, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, 29, Pages 1–7
Jump up ^ Middle East Archived 2016-04-15 at the Wayback Machine. What Is The Middle East And What Countries Are Part Of It? worldatlas.com. Retrieved 16 April 2016.
Jump up ^ Goldschmidt (1999), p. 8
Jump up ^ Louise, Fawcett. International Relations of the Middle East. (Oxford University Press, New York, 2005)
Jump up ^ Hassan, Islam; Dyer, Paul (2017). "The State of Middle Eastern Youth". The Muslim World. 107 (1): 3–12. hdl:10822/1042998. Archived from the original on 2017-04-03.
Jump up ^ "IOM Intra regional labour mobility in Arab region Facts and Figures (English)" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 2011-04-30. Retrieved 2012-10-31.
Jump up ^ "World Factbook – Jordan". Archived from the original on 2011-06-29.
Jump up ^ "World Factbook – Kuwait". Archived from the original on 2014-07-02.
Jump up ^ "Reports of about 300,000 Jews that left the country after WW2". Eurojewcong.org. Archived from the original on 2010-08-13. Retrieved 2010-07-07.
Jump up ^ "Evenimentul Zilei". Evz.ro. Archived from the original on 2007-12-24. Retrieved 2010-07-07.
Jump up ^ The World Bank: World Economic Indicators Database. GDP (Nominal) 2008. Archived 2009-09-12 at the Wayback Machine. Data for 2008. Last revised on July 1, 2009.
Jump up ^ Data refer to 2008. World Economic Outlook Database-October 2009, International Monetary Fund. Retrieved October 1, 2009.
Jump up ^ The World Bank: World Economic Indicators Database. GDP (PPP) 2008. Archived 2014-02-09 at the Wayback Machine. Data for 2008. Last revised on July 1, 2009.
Jump up ^ "Unemployment Rates Are Highest in the Middle East". Progressive Policy Institute. August 30, 2006. Archived from the original on July 14, 2010.
Jump up ^ Navtej Dhillon; Tarek Yousef (2007). "Inclusion: Meeting the 100 Million Youth Challenge". Shabab Inclusion. Archived from the original on 2008-11-09.
Jump up ^ Hilary Silver (December 12, 2007). "Social Exclusion: Comparative Analysis of Europe and Middle East Youth". Middle East Youth Initiative Working Paper. Shabab Inclusion. Archived from the original on August 20, 2008.
Further reading
Adelson, Roger (1995). London and the Invention of the Middle East: Money, Power, and War, 1902–1922. Yale University Press. ISBN 0-300-06094-7.
Anderson, R; Seibert, R; Wagner, J. (2006). Politics and Change in the Middle East (8th ed.). Prentice-Hall.
Barzilai, Gad; Aharon, Klieman; Gil, Shidlo (1993). The Gulf Crisis and its Global Aftermath. Routledge. ISBN 0-415-080029.
Barzilai, Gad (1996). Wars, Internal Conflicts and Political Order. State University of New York Press. ISBN 0-7914-2943-1.
Beaumont, Peter; Blake, Gerald H; Wagstaff, J. Malcolm (1988). The Middle East: A Geographical Study. David Fulton. ISBN 0-470-21040-0.
Cleveland, William L., and Martin Bunton. A history of the modern Middle East (Westview Press, 2016).
Cressey, George B. (1960). Crossroads: Land and Life in Southwest Asia. Chicago, IL: J.B. Lippincott Co. xiv, 593 p., ill. with maps and b&w photos.
Freedman, Robert O. (1991). The Middle East from the Iran-Contra Affair to the Intifada, in series, Contemporary Issues in the Middle East. 1st ed. Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press. x, 441 p. ISBN 0-8156-2502-2 pbk.
Goldschmidt, Arthur Jr (1999). A Concise History of the Middle East. Westview Press. ISBN 0-8133-0471-7.
Halpern, Manfred. Politics of Social Change: In the Middle East and North Africa (Princeton University Press, 2015).
Ismael, Jacqueline S., Tareq Y. Ismael, and Glenn Perry. Government and politics of the contemporary Middle East: Continuity and change (Routledge, 2015).
Lynch, Marc, ed. The Arab Uprisings Explained: New Contentious Politics in the Middle East (Columbia University Press, 2014). p. 352.
Palmer, Michael A. (1992). Guardians of the Persian Gulf: A History of America's Expanding Role in the Persian Gulf, 1833–1992. New York: The Free Press. ISBN 0-02-923843-9.
Reich, Bernard. Political leaders of the contemporary Middle East and North Africa: a biographical dictionary (Greenwood Publishing Group, 1990).
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Coordinates: 29°N 41°E / 29°N 41°E / 29; 41
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Disney's River Country
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
Disney's River Country
Location
Walt Disney World Resort, Bay Lake, Florida, United States
Coordinates
28°24′41″N 81°33′53″W / 28.411325°N 81.5646805556°W / 28.411325; -81.5646805556Coordinates: 28°24′41″N 81°33′53″W / 28.411325°N 81.5646805556°W / 28.411325; -81.5646805556
Theme
Old-fashioned swimming hole
Owner
The Walt Disney Company
Operated by
Walt Disney Parks and Resorts
Opened
June 20, 1976 (1976-06-20)
Closed
November 2001 (2001-11)
Status
Closed
Pools
2 pools
Water slides
5 water slides
Children's areas
2 children's areas
Disney's River Country was the first water park at Walt Disney World. Located near Disney's Fort Wilderness Resort & Campground, it opened on June 20, 1976, and closed indefinitely in November 2001. On January 20, 2005, The Walt Disney Company announced that River Country would remain closed permanently.
Along with Discovery Island, it is one of only two Disney parks in their history to close permanently. Both were left to deteriorate rather than be demolished.
Contents
[hide]
1 History
1.1 Closure
2 List of attractions
3 References
4 External links
History[edit]
River Country in 1977.
Positioned on the shore of Bay Lake, near Discovery Island, the park featured a rustic wilderness theme, complete with rocks and man-made boulders. It was described as an "old-fashioned swimming hole"[1] with "a twist of Huckleberry Finn."[2] The original working title was "Pop's Willow Grove."[3]
The park was featured in a musical number from the 1977 Wonderful World of Disney episode "The Mouseketeers at Walt Disney World", which included a song titled "River Country" and featured the then-current Mouseketeer lineup from the late 70s incarnation of The Mickey Mouse Club enjoying its attractions.
The park featured a sandy bottom and unique water filtering system using confluent water from adjacent Bay Lake, which was dammed off creating a natural-looking man-made lagoon. The park's water was at a higher level than the lake's, which was an effort to prevent lake water from going into the park.[4]
On August 22, 1980, an 11-year-old boy died after contracting Naegleria fowleri while swimming in Disney's River Country.[4]
Closure[edit]
In 1989, Disney opened a second water park, Typhoon Lagoon. It had much more parking, many more slides, newer amenities, and was much larger. In 1995, Disney opened a third water park, Blizzard Beach, which was also much bigger than River Country.
As it did every year, the park closed at the end of the warm-weather season in November 2001, with the expectation that it would reopen in spring of 2002. On April 11, 2002, the Orlando Sentinel reported that “Walt Disney World’s first water park, River Country, has closed and may not reopen." Disney World spokesman Bill Warren stated that River Country could be reopened if ‘there’s enough guest demand.’”[5]
The abandoned Slippery Slide Falls attraction in 2013.
In 2005, Disney officially announced that River Country would be closed permanently and would never reopen. River Country was left abandoned, instead of being demolished and is currently fenced off with signs up reading "Sorry River Country is closed".[6]
On August 25, 2016, Disney announced that they would drain and fill in Upstream Plunge, the 330,000 gallon pool. There were no immediate plans to tear down any other part of the park.[7]
On March 5, 2018, Disney officially filed permits for a new mystery development labeled "Project 89" to be built along Bay Lake and over the former River Country site.[8]
On March 12, 2018, It was rumored that "Project 89" will most likely be another themed Hotel Resort or DVC timeshare property, and if the development goes through it's estimated to open in 2021, for Walt Disney World's 50th Anniversary.[9]
List of attractions[edit]
Slippery Slide Falls and Upstream Plunge in 1977.
Attractions included:[10][11]
Upstream Plunge, a kidney shaped clean-water pool.
Slippery Slide Falls, two water slides that emptied into Upstream Plunge.
Kiddie Cove, a kids zone with two large water slides and a cove. This area was targeted toward preteens.
Barrel Bridge, a bumpy bridge with barrels under it, similar to the one at Tom Sawyer Island.
White Water Rapids, a 330-foot (100 m) long inner tube river.
Bay Cove, a half-acre (2,000 m²) sand-bottom lake which featured a tire swing, boom swing, rope climb, and T-bar drop.
Boom Swing
Cable Ride
Tire Swing
Whoop 'n' Holler Hollow, two water slides, 260 ft (79 m) and 160 ft (49 m) long, that emptied into Bay Cove.
Bay Bridge
Indian Springs, a very small splash zone with fountains spraying kids. This area was mainly designed for guests under age 8.
Cypress Point Nature Trail, a trail among trees beside Bay Lake.
Pony Rides
Mercury WaterMouse Rental
References[edit]
Jump up ^ "Almost Forgotten". Teen Disney: For Kids By Kids. Retrieved December 5, 2012.
Jump up ^ "River Country". WDWhistory.com. Retrieved February 5, 2013.
Jump up ^ "A Tribute to Disney's River Country". BigFloridaCountry.com. Retrieved February 5, 2013.
^ Jump up to: a b "Yesterland.com: River Country Closed by Brain-Eating Amoeba? amoeba is bad- racing1000 (Part 1 of 2)". Yesterland.
Jump up ^ "As Crowds Dry Up, Disney Closes River Country Park". tribunedigital-orlandosentinel. Retrieved June 19, 2017.
Jump up ^ Sim, Nick (March 29, 2015). "Abandoned: The Rise, Fall and Decay of Disney's River Country". Theme Park Tourist. Retrieved November 1, 2015.
Jump up ^ Pedicini, Sandra (August 25, 2016). "Disney World draining, filling in long-abandoned River Country pool". Orlando Sentinel. Retrieved August 25, 2016.
Jump up ^ Cox, Danny (March 7, 2018). "Walt Disney World Planning New Mystery Project On Site Of Old River Country Water Park". The Inquisitr. Retrieved March 7, 2018.
Jump up ^ Storey, Ken (March 12, 2018). "Disney's forgotten water park River Country may soon become high-end timeshares". Orlando Weekly. Retrieved March 12, 2018.
Jump up ^ Weiss, Werner. "River Country News". Yesterland. Retrieved December 5, 2012.
Jump up ^ "River Country". WDWinfo. Retrieved December 5, 2012.
External links[edit]
A photo essay in 2009 of the decaying River Country
Disney's River Country on Modern Day Ruins
A four-part series on the abandoned resort
White, Hillary (January 12, 2018). "These Abandoned Disney Park Photos Look Like Scenes From a Postapocalyptic World". MSN.com.
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Matthew 7:5
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Matthew 7:5 is the fifth verse of the seventh chapter of the Gospel of Matthew in the New Testament and is part of the Sermon on the Mount. This verse continues the discussion of judgmentalism.
In the King James Version of the Bible the text reads:
Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye;
and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye.
The World English Bible translates the passage as:
You hypocrite! First remove the beam out of your own eye,
and then you can see clearly to remove the speck out of your brother’s eye.
For a collection of other versions see https://www.bible.com/bible/116/mat.7.5
This verse continues the metaphor of a person with a plank in their own eye who criticizes someone for a speck in that person's eye. In this verse Jesus argues that one must first remove the plank before going on to remove the speck. This verse makes clear that it is the height of hypocrisy to point out a minor flaw (sin) in another, when your sins are much worse. Jesus always made clear that judging was to be done by the Father, and humans should concern themselves with making their own soul ready for acceptance into the kingdom of God. The focus should always be in ones own faults, not their neighbor’s. Such aid should only be given, however, once one's own much larger problems are dealt with. Seeing that humans are always fallible, your own salvation and righteousness should be your focus, not finding fault with others. [1]
It is impossible for one to ever completely clear away their own flaws, and thus the opportunity to begin judging others will never arise. Hill sees this statement as in the same spirit as the famous "He who is without sin" teaching of John 8:7.[2]
References[edit]
Jump up ^ Luz, Ulrich. Matthew 1-7: A Commentary. trans. Wilhlem C. Linss. Minneapolis: Augsburg Fortess, 1989.
Jump up ^ Hill, David. The Gospel of Matthew. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1981

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