The Middle East

The Middle East is located ‘at the tricontinental hub of Europe Asia and Africa’ but there are always differences in the definitions of the Middle East depending on an author or a researcher. Some definitions include all North African countries in the region whereas others consider only some North African countries such as Egypt as a core part of the Middle East. To make the conceptualization of the Middle East easier the region is usually divided into smaller regions. The division is made not only based on the geography but also based on the culture. The regions are called the Persian Gulf the Eastern Mediterranean and North Africa. The Eastern Mediterranean (also called Mashriq and Levant) includes countries such as Lebanon Syria Israel Palestine Jordan Turkey and Egypt. North Africa (also called Maghreb) consists of Tunisia Algeria Morocco Libya and Mauritania. The Persian Gulf (also called Arabian Gulf) includes countries such as Iraq Saudi Arabia Kuwait Bahrain Qatar the United Arab Emirates Oman Yemen and Iran. Sometimes also Afghanistan Pakistan central Asia and the Caucasus are associated with the larger Middle East.