Middle east

Middle East

Location of the Middle East
Population	371 million (2010)
Countries	17 countries  Bahrain  Cyprus  Egypt  Iran  Iraq  Israel  Jordan  Kuwait  Lebanon  Oman  Palestine  Qatar  Saudi Arabia  Syria  Turkey  United Arab Emirates  Yemen
Languages	~60 languages Official languages Arabic Greek Hebrew Kurdish Persian Turkish Unofficial spoken/recognized languages Armenian Abaza Abkhaz Afshar language Amharic Azerbaijani Balochi Chechen Chinese Circassian Crimean Tatar Coptic Domari English French Balkan Gagauz Turkish Georgian Gilaki Hungarian Hindi Italian Kabardian Kazakh Kumyk Kurbet Kyrgyz Judaeo-Spanish Laz Lurish Marathi Malayalam Mazanderani Aramaic Nobiin Qashqai Romanian Siwa Somali Syriac Spanish Punjabi Tagalog Talysh Tatar Thai Tosk Turkmen Turoyo Ukrainian Urdu Uyghur Yiddish Zaza
Time Zones	UTC+2:00, UTC+3:00, UTC+3:30, UTC+4:00, UTC+4:30
Largest Cities	Cairo Istanbul Tehran Baghdad Riyadh

The Middle East is a transcontinental region centered on Western Asia and Egypt. The corresponding adjective is Middle-Eastern and the derived noun is Middle-Easterner. The term has come into wider usage as a replacement of the term Near East (as opposed to Far East) beginning in the early 20th century.

Arabs, Turks, Persians, Azeris and Kurds constitute the largest ethnic groups in the region by population, while Armenians, Assyrians, Circassians, Copts, Greeks, Jews, Somalis, Shabaks, Mandaeans and other ethnic and ethnoreligious groups form significant minorities.

The history of the Middle East dates back to ancient times, with the (geopolitical) importance of the region being recognized for millennia. Several major religions have their origins in the Middle East, including Judaism, Christianity, and Islam; the Baha'i faith, Mandaeism, Unitarian Druze, and numerous other belief systems were also established within the region.

The Middle East generally has a hot, arid climate, with several major rivers providing irrigation to support agriculture in limited areas such as the Nile Delta in Egypt, the Tigris and Euphrates watersheds of Mesopotamia, and most of what is known as the Fertile Crescent.