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History of the Middle East
 Further information:Timeline of Middle Eastern history
 Map of the Middle East.This article is a general overview of the
history of the Middle East
. For more detailedinformation, seearticles on the histories of individual countries and regions.For discussion of the issues surrounding the definition of the area see the article onMiddle East.
Contents
1 The Ancient Near East 
1.1 Cradle of civilization 
1.2 Persian Empire 
1.3 Roman Empire 
2 The Medieval Middle East 
2.1 Islamic Caliphate 
2.2 Turks, Crusaders and Mongols 
3 The Ottoman era 
4 European domination 
5 A zone of conflict 
6 The contemporary Middle East 
7 References 
8 See also 
The Ancient Near East
See also:Short chronology timeline
 
Cradle of civilization
The earliestcivilizationsin history were established in the region now known as the Middle Eastaround 3500 BC, inMesopotamia(Iraq), widely regarded as thecradle of civilization. The Sumerians,Akkadians,BabyloniansandAssyriansall flourished in this region. Soon after the Sumerian civilization began, the Nile River valley of ancient Egyptwas unified under the Pharaohsin the 4th millennium BC, and civilization quickly spread through theFertile Crescent  to the west coast of theMediterranean Seaand throughout theLevant. ThePhoenicians, Israelitesand others later built important states in this region.In theArabian peninsula(modern day Saudi Arabia) the early Arabs, such as the Nabateans  (Arabic:
طابنل) and the
Sabaeans(Arabic:
يأبس) appeared around 800 B.C and
 
established powerful and influe
ntial civilizations that were the center of trade for centuries, in the heart of the desert.
Persian Empire
From the 6th century BC onwards, several empires dominated the region, beginning with thePersian Empireof theAchaemenids, followed by theMacedonian Empirefounded byAlexander  the Great,and successor kingdoms such asPtolemaic Egyptand theSeleucidstate inSyria. The Persian Empire was later revived by theParthiansin the 2nd century BC and continued bytheSassanidsfrom the 2nd century AD. This empire would dominate part of what is nowconsidered the Middle East and continue to influence the rest of the Middle East region until theIslamic conquest of Persiain the 7th century.
Roman Empire
In the 1st century BC, the expandingRoman Republicabsorbed the whole EasternMediterraneanarea (which included much of the Near East) and under theRoman Empirethe region was united with most of Europeand North Africain a single political and economic unit. Even areas not directly annexed became strongly influenced by the Empire which became themost powerful political and cultural entity for centuries. AlthoughLatinculture spread into theregion, theGreek culture and language first established in the region by theMacedonian Empire  would continue to dominate throughout the Roman period. Cities in the Middle East, especiallyAlexandria,became major urban centers for the Empire and the region became the Empire's"bread basket" as the key agricultural producer.As the Christian religion spread throughout the Empire it took root in the Middle East and citiessuch as Alexandria became important centers of Christian scholarship. By the 5th century,Roman Christianity was the dominant religion in the Middle East with other faiths (graduallyincluding 
heretical 
Christian sects) being actively repressed. The Middle East's ties to the city of Romewould gradually be severed as the EmpiresplitintoEastandWestwith the Middle East  becoming tied to the new Roman capital of Constantinople. The subsequentfall of Romeand the Western Roman Empire, therefore, had minimal direct impact on the region. The Eastern RomanEmpire, today commonly known as theByzantine Empire, ruling from theBalkansto the Euphrates, became increasingly defined by and dogmatic about Christianity gradually creatingreligious rifts between the doctrines dictated by the establishment in Constantinople and believers in many parts of the Middle East.
The Medieval Middle East
Islamic Caliphate
 
From the 7th century, a new power was rising in the Middle East, that of Islam, whilst theByzantineRoman andSassanidPersian empires were both weakened by centuries of stalemate warfare during theRoman-Persian Wars. In a series of rapidMuslim conquests, theArab armies, motivated by Islam and led by theCaliphsand skilled military commanders such asKhalid ibn al-Walid, swept through most of the Middle East;reducing Byzantine landsby more than half  and completelyengulfing the Persian lands. InAnatolia,their expansion was blockedby the still capable Byzantines with the help of theBulgarians.The Byzantine provinces of Roman Syria,  North Africa, and Sicily, however, could not mount such a resistance, and the Muslim conquerorsswept through those regions. At the far west, they crossed the sea takingVisigothic Hispania  before beinghalted in southern Franceby theFranks.At its greatest extent, theArab Empirewas the first empire to control the entire Middle East, as well 3/4 of theMediterranean region,theonly other empire besides the Roman Empire to control most of theMediterranean Sea.
[1]
Itwould be the ArabCaliphatesof theMiddle Agesthat would first unify the entire Middle East as a distinct region and create the dominantethnic identitythat persists today. TheSeljuk Empire  would also later dominate the region.Much of North Africa became a peripheral area to the main Muslim centres in the Middle East, but Iberia (Al Andalus) and Morocco soon broke from this distant control and founded one of theworld's most advanced societies at the time, along withBaghdadin the eastern Mediterranean.Between 831 and 1071, theEmirate of Sicilywas one of the major centres of Islamic culture inthe Mediterranean. After its conquest by the Normansthe island developed its own distinctculture with the fusion of Arab, Western and Byzantine influences. Palermo remained a leadingartistic and commercial centre of the Mediterranean well into the Middle Ages.Europe was reviving, however, as more organized and centralized states began to form in thelater Middle Agesafter theRenaissance of the 12th century. Motivated by religion and dreams of  conquest, the kings of Europe launched a number of Crusadesto try to roll back Muslim power and retake theholy land.The Crusades were unsuccessful in this goal, but they were far moreeffective in weakening the already tottering Byzantine Empire that began to lose increasingamounts of territory to theOttoman Turks. They also rearranged the balance of power in theMuslim world as Egypt once again emerged as a major power in the eastern Mediterranean.
Turks, Crusaders and Mongols
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