Iran, Iraq, and Afghanistan are in Asia, then why use the term "Middle East" rather than "Western Asia"?

Question

sub question: How, why, when and by whom was the term "middle east" first used?

Answer 1

Everything is relative. The term was invented by Europeans to whom Turkey and surrounding areas were "Near East" and India, China, Southeast Asia and Japan were "Far East;" the "Middle East" was in between.

To answer you subquestion, the terms were first used by Europeans, I think, in the late colonial era when their imperialism reached those areas.

See:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Far_east

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Middle_east

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Near_east

Hope it helps!

Answer 2

The middle east is a region and Asia is a continent. Compare Haiti, Cuba, and Puerto Rico, which are in the Caribbean (region) but also in North America (continent).

Since parts of the Middle East are in Africa "Western Asia" might be misleading. The whole of Western Asia also includes several regions outside of the Middle East, even though they overlap.

Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan are only sometimes included in definitions of the Middle East. Historically and linguistically speaking, their populations are Indo-European and not part of the "Arab world", which has caused tensions. Wikipedia has a good map illustrating varying definitions of what the Middle East is: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Middle_East...

You will frequently find criticisms denouncing the use of "the Middle East". Obviously, no substitute has entered the general population. We in the West clearly feel a need to define this area, and even Arabic now uses a translation of the same term.

The origin of the term? I have read a lot of literature from the middle ages in French, Spanish, English, etc., and never encountered the term there. A quick scan of the wikipedia article suggests it only dates back 150 years and was originally used during the British occupation of India.

Answer 3

Near,middle,and far east are measured relative to the western world such as the U.S.     The far east inludes China and the near east include the Mediterranean Sea.

Answer 4

so simple imao! The world is divided by 3 parts with 3 religions.

East Middle West - Christian, Muslim and Buddha. no3 is unlucky cos it created havoc environments. look at today's world. h**l of mess, right? hee hee..thereforce only 2 is always peace...

Kongming once said before 3 countries claim world peace but eventually he was way wrong about it but he correct it from 3 to 2. imao....

Answer 5

The largest area of western Asia would be Siberia, not Iran etc.  As a region the Middle East also tends to involve Egypt, and that's not in Asia.  Personally, I wouldn't refer to Afghanistan as being part of the Middle East.