Middle East
What is the Middle East?
According to the Encyclopaedia Britannica, the Middle East is the lands around the southern and eastern shores of the Mediterranean Sea, extending from Morocco to the Arabian Peninsula and Iran and sometimes beyond.
Geography
There is no single definition of what constitutes the Middle East. The CIA website states that the Middle East includes these countries. Egypt is also included in many lists of countries in the Middle East.
The borders of countries in the Middle East and the division of the land have changed countless times. It has no clear boundaries.
Religion
In general, the main religion in each country is Islam. The exception to this is in Israel where the main religion is Jewish.
This map shows the distribution of religion in the Middle East. Light Green shows Sunnis, Dark Green shows Shias, Christianity is Pink, Judaism is Orange and the Light Blue shows Wahhabism which is an ultra-conservative branch of Sunni Islam.
The two main sects of Islam are Sunni and Shia, Sunni is the most dominant in Middle Eastern countries except in Iran which is made up of 89% Shi’a. Islam in Iraq is made up of Shia 60%-65% and Sunni 32%-37%.
Ethnicity
The three main groups in the Middle East are the Arabs, Turks and Iranians. There are, in addition, smaller numbers of Kurds, who are scattered across Turkey, Iran, and Iraq; Jews (of varied ethnic origin), who live chiefly in Israel; Pakistanis; Armenians; and Greeks, who live mainly on the island nation of Cyprus.
The Arabs are shown in Yellow, Persians are Orange, the Jews are Pink, the Turks are Green, the Kurds are Red and the Brown is the Pashtuns or Afghans.
Languages
The top five languages in the Middle East: Arabic Persian (Iran) Turkish (Turkey, Azerbaijan) Berber (mainly North Africa) Kurdish (Turkey, Iran, Iraq, Syria, Armenia, Azerbaijan)
This map shows the distribution of languages in the Middle East. Yellow
According to the Encyclopaedia Britannica, the Middle East is the lands around the southern and eastern shores of the Mediterranean Sea, extending from Morocco to the Arabian Peninsula and Iran and sometimes beyond.
Geography
There is no single definition of what constitutes the Middle East. The CIA website states that the Middle East includes these countries. Egypt is also included in many lists of countries in the Middle East.
The borders of countries in the Middle East and the division of the land have changed countless times. It has no clear boundaries.
Religion
In general, the main religion in each country is Islam. The exception to this is in Israel where the main religion is Jewish.
This map shows the distribution of religion in the Middle East. Light Green shows Sunnis, Dark Green shows Shias, Christianity is Pink, Judaism is Orange and the Light Blue shows Wahhabism which is an ultra-conservative branch of Sunni Islam.
The two main sects of Islam are Sunni and Shia, Sunni is the most dominant in Middle Eastern countries except in Iran which is made up of 89% Shi’a. Islam in Iraq is made up of Shia 60%-65% and Sunni 32%-37%.
Ethnicity
The three main groups in the Middle East are the Arabs, Turks and Iranians. There are, in addition, smaller numbers of Kurds, who are scattered across Turkey, Iran, and Iraq; Jews (of varied ethnic origin), who live chiefly in Israel; Pakistanis; Armenians; and Greeks, who live mainly on the island nation of Cyprus.
The Arabs are shown in Yellow, Persians are Orange, the Jews are Pink, the Turks are Green, the Kurds are Red and the Brown is the Pashtuns or Afghans.
Languages
The top five languages in the Middle East: Arabic Persian (Iran) Turkish (Turkey, Azerbaijan) Berber (mainly North Africa) Kurdish (Turkey, Iran, Iraq, Syria, Armenia, Azerbaijan)
This map shows the distribution of languages in the Middle East. Yellow