Near East

The Near East is a transcontinental region around the East Mediterranean encompassing parts of West Asia, the Balkans, and North Africa; it also includes the historical Fertile Crescent, the Levant, Anatolia, East Thrace and Egypt. The term was invented by modern Western geographers and was originally applied to the Ottoman Empire,^[1] but today has varying definitions within different academic circles. The term Near East was used in conjunction with the Middle East and the Far East (China and beyond), together known as the "three Easts"; it was a separate term from the Middle East during earlier times and official British usage. Both terms are used interchangeably to refer to the same region.^[2] Near East and Middle East are both Eurocentric terms.^[3]

According to National Geographic, the terms Near East and Middle East denote the same territories and are "generally accepted as comprising the countries of the Arabian Peninsula, Cyprus, Egypt, Iraq, Iran, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestinian territories, Syria, and Turkey".^[4] Also, Afghanistan is often included.^[5][6][2]

In 1997, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations defined the region similarly, but also included Afghanistan.^[7] The part of the region that is in Asia (ie., not including Egypt, the Balkans, and Thrace) is "now commonly referred to as West Asia."^[8] Later on in 2012, the FAO defined the Near East as a subregion of the Middle East. The Near East included Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine, Syrian Arab Republic, and Turkey while the Middle East included the Arabian Peninsula, the Caucasus, and Iran.^[9]