With all the escalations happening recently in this area, the Middle East has been in the news and social media even more than normal over the month of June 2025.
The month of June is also when I read a social media post from an Iranian-American saying that the Middle East as a region doesn’t exist, as its a “region” set by colonial powers and was not self-determined by the population living here.
The month of June is also when I started Yalla Habibti, where I share my travels across the Middle East region.
So, this begs the question: what exactly do we mean when we say the Middle East?
One would think this is an easy answer. I mean, the phrase is utilized so frequently, we should all have a similar understanding of what we mean when we say the Middle East.
Alas, it’s not so simple.
Merriam-Webster dictionary defines the Middle East as “the countries of northern Africa and southwestern Asia that are on or near the eastern edge of the Mediterranean Sea”.
Not amazingly helpful…
Encyclopedia Britannica is more verbose. They say it’s “loosely defined” as the area that covers southwest Asia, especially the Arabian peninsula and the Levant. It often includes Türkiye, Iran and north Africa, and even sometimes Afghanistan, Pakistan and Central Asia. But not always.
The League of Arab States (an intergovernmental body formed in 1945) includes 22 countries: Algeria, Bahrain, Comoros, Djibouti, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, the United Arab Emirates, and Yemen.
Notably, it doesn’t include Türkiye or any central Asian country. Nor does it include Israel or Iran for that matter. Well… it’s a political body, and those are definitely political statements there.
When I look into the history of the term the “Middle East”, there looks to be some strong facts for my Iranian-American friend’s social media post, actually. The term the Middle East was coined sometime between 1850 and 1902, used to designate the area between Egypt and Singapore (or possibly Arabia and India) when British and Russian empires were vying for influence across the region.
The borders we see now didn’t exist then, as much of this supposed region was under the authority of the Ottoman Empire, so defining the Middle East as such really seems to be intended to generalize an area with an aim to conquer and control. How colonial…
Personally – and not being a historian or anthropologist – I like to think about the Middle East region in terms of a mix of cultural and historical characteristics (below). They may not need to cover all characteristics, but covering a few of them leads there to be enough of a cultural and historical shared identity that crosses international borders, and truly helps us to understand the soul of the Middle East.
What is a Middle-Eastern Country: My Criteria
- Muslim-majority
- Arabic-speaking majority
- Was a part of the Persian Empire (550-330 BC)
- Was a part of the Umayyad Empire (661-750 AD)
- Was a part of the Ottoman Empire (1299-1922 AD)
When I indicate that a country (current borders) has to meet at least 2 of the above criteria, we get a list of 20 countries: Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, Türkiye, UAE, and Yemen.
As a non-historian, non-anthropologist, this feels appropriate to me. Even the inclusion of Iran and Türkiye, given the influence it has had over the rest of the countries over the centuries.
As of now, I’ve had the opportunity to visit 8 of the 20 countries: Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Qatar, Syria, Türkiye and the UAE.
Looks like I have a lot more travel in my future. I can’t say I mind.
For more reading, I found this article by Vox on 40 maps that explain the Middle East quite fascinating!
Angela was born and raised in the United States, but has spent the last 15 years of her life travelling around the globe as a humanitarian, responding to some of the world worst crises. She spent the last 11 years of her life travelling around the Middle East, supporting the humanitarian crisis in Syria. All of this work only spurred on her love of travel. Angela has now been to almost 50 countries, 8 of which are in the Middle East region. Yalla Habibti was born out of a deep love for the Middle East, and a desire to bring the beauty, history and culture of this region to encourage more women to visit! Angela still works full time as a humanitarian as well as providing advice and recommendations here on Yalla Habibti.
