POLITICAL

There is no single, agreed upon, definition of what specifically constitutes the Middle East.
Defining the Middle East through ethnicity, religion, or national identity is problematic.
Therefore, the Middle East will include the states of Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Oman, United
Arab Emirates (UAE), Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, Iran, Iraq, Syria, Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan and
Israel.
PHYSICAL
The Middle East region represents an area of over 5.0 million square miles. The physical
geography of the Middle East is varied. Best deserts are common in the region. The Sahara
Desert runs across North Africa, essentially limiting settlement to along the Mediterranean
coastline and in Egypt along the Nile River. The desert of the Arabian Peninsula is do
inhospitable that it has been given the name “The Empty Quarter”. Other significant deserts
exist throughout the region. In areas better served by rain fall and rivers ( for example, the
Tigris – Euphrates river system, the Jordan River, and along the Mediterranean coast), rich
agriculture is abundant. Mountain ranged exist throughout the region with some peaks rising as
high as 19,000 feet. Snow is a common sight in these mountain ranges. Between the
mountains, high plateaus are common.
Ease of movement in and out of the Middle East by water is also affected by the presence of a
number of narrow water passage ways. Gibraltar controls the water route linking the Atlantic
ocean and the Mediterranean Sea. Water access between the Mediterranean and Black seas is
only possible through the Bosporus and the Dardanelles, which in some places is only half smile
wide. Other critical water routes include: the Suez Canal, which links the Mediterranean Sea to
the Red Sea; Bab el Mandeb, a strait that separates the Red Sea from the Indian Ocean; and the
strait of Hormuz, which links the Persian Gulf and the Indian Ocean.
ENVIRONMENTAL
As for climate, the region again displays a great variety. In the desert areas, rainfall is low,
averaging about four inches per year. Temperatures in such areas shows great extremes. Along
the coast of the Mediterranean Sea, as well as the Black and Caspian Seas, the water serves to
lessen the temperature extremes of the desert resulting in a more moderate climate that is
similar to that is southern Italy or California.
PEOPLES/ ETHNIC GROUPS OF THE MIDDLE EAST
Over 350 million people live in the Middle East. The peoples of the Middle East can be
differentiated on the basis of their ethnicity, religion, and national identity.
ETHNICITY
Arabs constitutes the majority ethnic group in all of the Middle East states except Iran, Israel
and Turkey. Originally, the term 'Arab' referred to the peoples that inhabited the northern and
central portions of the Arab Peninsula. Following the spread of various Arab-Islamic empires
throughout the Middle East and into Europe and south Asia, the term 'Arab' has come to be
synonymous with those who speak Arabic. Presently, about 60% of the total population in the
Middle East speak Arabic and consider themselves to be an Arab. Another significant ethnic
group would be the Kurds, who exist as a minority population distributed throughout Iraq,
Syria, Iran and Turkey.
The ethnic groups in the Middle East refers to the peoples that reside in West Asia and Egypt in
North Africa. The region has historically been a crossroad of different cultures. Since the 1960s,
the changes in political and economic factors (especially the enormous oil wealth in the and
conflicts) have significantly altered the ethnic composition of groups in the region. Whole some
ethnic groups have been present in the region of millennia, others have arrived fairly recently
through immigration. The five largest ethnic groups in the region are Arabs, Azerbaijan, Kurds,
Persian and Turks, but there are dozens of other ethnic groups which have hundred of
thousands and millions of members.
Other indigenous native or long standing ethnic groups include: Arameans, Armenians,
Assyrians, Balochs, Berbera, Copts, Mhallami, Nawar, Samaritans, Shabaks, Talishis, Tats,
Turcomans, Yazidis, and Zadas. More recent migrant or diaspora populations include Albanians,
Bengalis, British people, Bosniaks, Chinese, Circassians, Crimean Tatars, Filipinos, French
people, Indians, Indonesians, Italians, Malaysia, Pakistanis, Pashtuns, Punjabis, Romani, Sikhs,
Sindhis, Somalis, Sri Lankan, and sub Saharan Africans.
RELIGION

In addition to ethnicity, the peoples of the Middle East are differentiated by their religion. Most
of the people in the Middle East practice Islam. They are referred to as Muslims. Islam is the
dominant religion in all of the Middle Eastern states except Israel and Palestinian areas.
According to the list of states, the Middle East is almost uniformly populated by Muslims.
However, this apparent uniformity of religion masks a number of important distinctions. For
instance, there are a number of different sects within Islam. Most people in the Middle East
belong to the Sunni sect of Islam.
Another sect, Shiite or Shia Islam, is the majority religion in Iran, Lebanon, Iraq and Bahrain.
There are also Shiite minorities in Lebanon, Kuwait, and Yemen.
Other smaller sects also exist within Islam. These sects include, among others, the Alawites, the
Druze, the Ibadis, the Ismailis, the Shafis, and various Sufi orders.
Islam is practiced in other countries besides the Middle Eastern states listed above. Over the
centuries Islam spread far and wide, through Asia and Africa, and even to parts of Europe. This
spreading of Islam has resulted in Islam becoming the dominant religion in non-Middle Eastern
states such as Afghanistan, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Malaysia, and Indonesia. There are also large
numbers of Muslims in the Philippines, China, the former Yugoslavia, Ethiopia, Nigeria, parts of
Europe, and even the United States. In fact, more Muslims live outside the Middle East than
within.
In addition to Islam, other religions are practiced in the Middle East. For example, in Israel 82%
of the population are Jews who practice Judaism. Israel the only state in the Middle East where
Islam is not the majority faith. Christianity is also practiced in the region, especially in such
states as Lebanon, Egypt, and Israel.
National Identity
The peoples of the Middle East are differentiated by their national identity (such as people who
live in Syria are Syrian, people who live in Iran are Iranian, etc.). While ethnic and religious
identities are important in the Middle East, people often have a strong sense of nationalism (a
strong attachment to the state) that is connected to their national identity. These individuals
often place more emphasis on their country of origin than their ethnic or religious background.
LANGUAGE
The Middle East geographical region comprised of nations that cover territory in both Asia and
Africa. The region spans an area of roughly 2,782,860 square miles, and in 2010 it was home to
more than 370 million people. The Middle East is one of the most linguistically diverse regions
with more than 60 languages being spoken in the region including Arabic, Greek, and Kurdish.
Most of the languages spoken in the Middle East are native to the region while others were
introduced from other parts of the world.
The most common spoken language of the “Middle East” is Arabic, a Semitic language
closely related to Hebrew that was developed beginning in the 8th century BC.  Currently,
around 280 million people speak Arabic in the regions of the “Middle East” and North Africa
encompassing the countries between Morocco to Iraq.  The Qur’an, the central religious text of
Islam, is only allowed to be written in Arabic, giving the language a very important role in the
Muslim world.  Different from some other languages, there are many different dialects of
Arabic, which can make it difficult for speakers from different areas of the Arabic speaking
world to understand one another3. 

The next major language of the Middle East is Persian or Farsi, the national language of
Iran.  Persian is spoken by an estimated 65 million people, most of which are concentrated in
Iran but there are significant Persian speaking populations in Afghanistan and the United Arab
Emirates.  Younger than Arabic, Persian was developed around 400 BC and is closely related to
Hindi and Urdu.  There are three main dialects of Persian: Iranian Persian (spoken in Iran), Dari
Persian (spoken in Afghanistan) and Tajik Persian (spoken in Tajikistan.) 4

Hebrew is spoken by roughly 3.8 million people in the “Middle East,” but this population
is now concentrated in Israel and the neighboring countries.  Though, not all Jews, even Israeli
Jews, speak Hebrew since centuries ago, Hebrew ceased being a working language; however,
due to Jewish nationalism, the Zionist movement, and the need for a unifying language
between immigrants into Israel the language has been revived. 

Turkish, the national language of Turkey and the main spoken language of the Turkish
nation is also spoken by roughly 170,000 people in Cyprus and by minorities in the Fertile
Crescent area.  Kurdish is the language that unifies the Kurds, a nation that spans a large
geographical range from Beirut to Afghanistan.  

Additionally, almost all countries in the “Middle East” have several minority languages,
such as Berber, spoken by many North Africans, including some parts of northwestern Egypt.
Azeri, a minority Turkic language, is often spoken in northwestern Iran.  Turkish tribes in the
southern Zagros Mountains in Iran speak Qashqai, while Baluchi is spoken in southeastern and
eastern Iran by the Baluch peoples and migrants in United Arab Emirates and Oman.  Nomadic
tribes in the Zagros Mountains can be found speaking Luri.  Lastly, Armenian, due to its
historical significance is spoken by minorities in urban centers such as Beirut, Damascus,
Aleppo, Tehran, and Cairo1.