Middle East
The Middle East is a region mainly in Western Asia, between the eastern shores of the Mediterranean Sea and the Indian Ocean. While the region is known for its arid climate, not all of the land consists of deserts, and contrary to common misconceptions, glaciers and deserts do indeed exist in close proximity in parts of the region.Tap on the map to travel |
Popular Destinations
Turkey
Photo: Moonik, CC BY-SA 3.0.
Turkey is a bi-continental country: an oft-repeated cliché about Turkey is that it is the bridge between Europe and Asia.
Iran
Iran, formerly Persia, can be considered part of the Middle East or Central Asia; indeed the Persian Empire was the dominant Central Asian power for many centuries.Destinations
Iraq
Photo: Wikimedia, Public domain.
Iraq is a republic in the Middle East. Once the site of ancient Mesopotamia, the cradle of civilisation, the country has been in a state of flux since the 1980s.
Syria
Photo: Yvonnefm, CC BY-SA 3.0.
Syria is a country in the Middle East. Rich in history, the capital, Damascus, is the world's oldest continuously inhabited city, and the country has been the site of numerous empires.
Saudi Arabia
Photo: Mardetanha, CC BY-SA 3.0.
Saudi Arabia is a kingdom covering a significant portion of the Arabian peninsula.
United Arab Emirates
Photo: Simisa, CC BY-SA 3.0.
The United Arab Emirates or simply the Emirates is a country rich in history and culture at the entrance to the Persian Gulf.
Palestine
Photo: KlausFoehl, CC BY-SA 3.0.
The Palestinian territories, also known as Palestine or the State of Palestine, consists of two physically separate entities, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, in the Middle East.
Yemen
Photo: JamesA, CC BY-SA 3.0.
Yemen is a country in the southern Arabian Peninsula of the Middle East.
Oman
Photo: Alfred Weidinger, CC BY 2.0.
Oman, officially the Sultanate of Oman, is a country located in West Asia.
Qatar
Qatar is a rich Arab state occupying a small peninsula extending into the Persian Gulf to the north of Saudi Arabia.Bahrain
The Kingdom of Bahrain is a Middle Eastern archipelago in the Persian Gulf, tucked into a pocket of the sea flanked by Saudi Arabia and Qatar.Kuwait
Photo: jackversloot, CC BY 2.0.
Kuwait is a monarchy situated at the Persian Gulf, nestled between Iraq and Saudi Arabia.
Jerusalem
Photo: Aniacra, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Jerusalem is the largest city of Israel. Israel claim it is their capital and a few countries including the US recognize that claim, but most other countries and the United Nations do not.
Middle East
- Type: region with 371,000,000 residents
- Description: geopolitical region encompassing Egypt and most of Western Asia, including Iran
- Neighbors: Bulgaria, Central Asia, Greece, Libya, South Asia and Sudan
- Category: cultural region
- Location: Asia
- View on OpenStreetMap
Latitude of centre
28.5354° or 28° 32' 7" northLongitude of centre
48.4295° or 48° 25' 46" eastPopulation
371,000,000Wikidata ID
Q7204Middle East Satellite Map
© OpenStreetMap, Mapbox and Maxar
Also Known As
- Abkhazian: Asamar alemmas
- Afrikaans: Midde-Ooste
- Albanian: Lindja e Mesme
- Albanian: Lindje e Mesme
- Amharic: መካከለኛው ምሥራቅ
- Angika: मध्य पूर्व
- Arabic: Butnga Sinirangan
- Arabic: الشرق الأوسط
- Arabic: العنصر المتوسطي الشرقي
- Aragonese: Orient Meyo
- Armenian: Միջին Արևելք
- Arpitan: Moyen-Oriant
- Asturian: Mediu Oriente
- Asturian: Oriente Mediu
- Azerbaijani: Orta Şərq
- Banjar: Timur Tangah
- Bashkir: Урта Көнсығыш
- Bashkir: Яҡын Көнсығыш
- Basque: Ekialde Hurbila
- Belarusian: Сярэдні Ўсход
- Belarusian: Сярэдні Усход
- Bengali: মধ্যপ্রাচ্য
- Bhojpuri: मध्य पूरुब
- Bosnian: Bliski Istok
- Bosnian: Srednji istok
- Breton: Reter-Kreiz
- Bulgarian: Близък Изток
- Burmese: အရှေ့အလယ်ပိုင်းဒေသ
- Catalan: Orient Mitjà
- Central Bikol: Tahaw na Sirangan
- Central Kurdish: رۆژهەڵاتی ناوەڕاست
- Central Kurdish: رۆژھەڵاتی ناوین
- Central Kurdish: ڕۆژهەڵاتی ناوەڕاست
- Central Kurdish: ڕۆژھەڵاتی ناوین
- Central Kurdish: ڕۆژھەڵاتی ناوەڕاست
- Chechen: Юккъера Малхбале
- Chinese: Tiong-tang
- Chinese: 中东
- Chinese: 中東
- Chinese: 中東人
- Chuvash: Малти Хĕвелтухăç
- Cornish: Est Kres
- Corsican: Mediu Urienti
- Croatian: Bliski istok
- Croatian: Srednji istok
- Czech: Střední východ
- Danish: Mellemøsten
- Dimli (individual language): Rocakewtena Miyani
- Dotyali: मध्य पूर्व
- Dutch: Midden-Oosten
- Egyptian Arabic: الشرق الاوسط
- English: Mid East
- English: Mideast
- English: Near East
- Esperanto: Meza Oriento
- Esperanto: Mezoriento
- Esperanto: Proksima oriento
- Esperanto: Proksimoriento
- Estonian: Lähis-Ida
- Extremaduran: Orienti Meiu
- Faroese: Miðeystur
- Fiji Hindi: Middle East
- Finnish: Lähi-itä
- French: Moyen-Orient
- Gagauz: Ortadoğu
- Galician: Oriente Medio
- Gan Chinese: 中東
- Georgian: შუა აღმოსავლეთი
- German: Mittlerer Osten
- German: Naher Osten
- German: Nahost
- German: Vorderer Orient
- Gothic: 𐌼𐌹𐌳𐌾𐌹𐍃 𐌰𐌿𐍃𐍄𐍂𐌰
- Greek: Μέση Ανατολή
- Guarani: Kuarahyresẽ Mbytegua
- Guianese Creole French: Mwayen-Oryan
- Hausa: Gabas ta Tsakiya
- Hausa: Gabas ta tsakiya
- Hebrew: המזרח התיכון
- Hindi: मध्य पूर्व
- Hungarian: Közel-Kelet
- Icelandic: Mið-Austurlönd
- Ido: Mez-Oriento
- Iloko: Tengnga a Daya
- Inari Sami: Alda-nuorttâ
- Inari Sami: Aldanuorttâ
- Indonesian: Timur Tengah
- Ingush: Юкъера Малхбоале
- Interlingua: Oriente Medie
- Irish: An Meánoirthear
- Italian: Medio Oriente
- Jamaican Creole English: Migl Iis
- Japanese: 中東
- Javanese: Wétan Tengah
- Kabiyè: Moyen-Orient tɛtʋ wandamm
- Kabyle: Agmuḍ alemmas
- Kannada: ಮಧ್ಯ ಪ್ರಾಚ್ಯ
- Karachay-Balkar: Орта Кюнчыгъыш
- Kazakh: Таяу Шығыс
- Khmer: មជ្ឈិមបូព៌ា
- Kirghiz: Жакынкы Чыгыш
- Kirghiz: Жакынкы чыгыш
- Komi-Permyak: Шӧрӧт Асыввыв
- Korean: 중동
- Kurdish: Rojhilata Navîn
- Kölsch: Nahe Oste
- Ladino: Medio Oryente
- Lao: Tengnga a Daya
- Latin: Asia occidentalis
- Latin: Oriens Medius
- Latvian: Tuvie Austrumi
- Limburgan: Midde-Ooste
- Literary Chinese: 中東
- Lithuanian: Viduriniai Rytai
- Lithuanian: Vidurinieji Rytai
- Lombard: Orient Median
- Low German: Midden-Oosten
- Low German: Nahoost
- Luxembourgish: Noen Osten
- Macedonian: Близок Исток
- Malagasy: Atsinanana Afovoany
- Malagasy: Azia Andrefana
- Malay: Timur Tengah
- Malay: تيمور تڠه
- Malayalam: മദ്ധ്യപൂർവേഷ്യ
- Malayalam: മധ്യപൂർവദേശം
- Maori: Waenganui Rawhiti
- Marathi: मध्यपूर्व
- Mazanderani: خاورمیونه
- Min Dong Chinese: Dṳ̆ng-dĕ̤ng
- Min Nan Chinese: Tiong-tang
- Minangkabau: Timur Tangah
- Mirandese: Medio Ouriente
- Mirandese: Médio Ouriente
- Mongolian: Ойрх Дорнод
- Mongolian: Ойрхи Дорнод
- N'Ko: ߊߙߊߓߎ߫ ߕߌ߲ߡߎߣߎ߲
- Narom: Êst du Mitan
- Nepali: मध्य पूर्व
- Newari: मध्य पूर्व
- Northern Sami: Gaska-nuorti
- Norwegian: Midtøsten
- Norwegian Bokmål: Asia Minor
- Norwegian Bokmål: Den Nære Orienten
- Norwegian Bokmål: For-Asia
- Norwegian Bokmål: Levanten
- Norwegian Bokmål: Lille-Asia
- Norwegian Bokmål: Lilleasia
- Norwegian Bokmål: Midt-Østen
- Norwegian Bokmål: Midtøsten
- Norwegian Bokmål: Vest-Asia
- Norwegian Bokmål: vestasia
- Norwegian Nynorsk: Midtausten
- Occitan (post 1500): Orient Mejan
- Official Aramaic (700-300 BCE): ܡܕܢܚܐ ܡܨܥܝܬܐ
- Oriya: ମଧ୍ୟ ପୂର୍ବ
- Ossetian: Астæуккаг Хурыскæсæн
- Pampanga: Kalibudtang Aslagan
- Panjabi: ਮੱਧ-ਪੂਰਵ
- Panjabi: ਮੱਧ ਪੂਰਬ
- Papiamento: Medio Oriente
- Persian: خاورمیانه
- Piemontese: Vzin Orient
- Pitcairn-Norfolk: West Asya
- Polish: Azja Przednia
- Polish: Bliski Wschód
- Polish: Środkowy Wschód
- Portuguese: Médio Oriente
- Portuguese: Oriente Médio
- Pushto: منځنی ختيځ
- Romanian: Orientul Mijlociu
- Russia Buriat: Дунда Дурна
- Russian: Ближний Восток
- Russian: Средний Восток
- Rusyn: Середнїй Выход
- Samogitian: Vėdorėnė̄jė Rītā
- Sardinian: Oriente Mèdiu
- Saterfriesisch: Nai Aaste
- Scots: Middle East
- Scottish Gaelic: An Ear Mheadhanach
- Serbian: Средњи исток
- Serbo-Croatian: Agmuḍ anammas
- Serbo-Croatian: Nahe Oste
- Serbo-Croatian: Srednji Istok
- Serbo-Croatian: Srednji istok
- Shan: ပွတ်းၵၢင်တၢင်းဢွၵ်ႇ
- Shona: Middle East
- Sicilian: Mediu Urienti
- Sinhala: මැද පෙරදිග
- Slovak: Stredný východ
- Slovenian: Srednji vzhod
- Somali: Bariga Dhexe
- South Azerbaijani: اورتاشرق
- Southern Sotho: Botjhabela Bohare
- Spanish: Cercano Oriente
- Spanish: Oriente Medio
- Spanish: Oriente proximo
- Spanish: Proximo Oriente
- Spanish: Próximo Oriente
- Sundanese: Wétan Tengah
- Swahili: Mashariki ya Kati
- Swedish: Mellanöstern
- Swiss German: Naher Osten
- Swiss German: Nooche Oste
- Tachelhit: Agmuḍ anammas
- Tagalog: Gitnang Silangan
- Tamil: மத்திய கிழக்கு
- Tamil: மத்திய கிழக்கு நாடுகள்
- Tatar: Урта Көнчыгыш
- Telugu: మధ్య ప్రాచ్యం
- Telugu: మధ్యప్రాచ్యం
- Thai: ตะวันออกกลาง
- Tosk Albanian: Naher Osten
- Tsonga: Vuxa-dyambu bya le xikarhi
- Turkish: Orta Doğu
- Turkmen: Orta Gündogar
- Udmurt: Матысь Шунды ӝужан пал
- Uighur: ئوتتۇرا شەرق
- Ukrainian: Середній Схід
- Urdu: مشرق وسطی
- Urdu: مشرق وسطیٰ
- Uzbek: Oʻrta Sharq
- Venetian: Mèdio Oriente
- Venetian: Oriente Mezan
- Vietnamese: Trung Đông
- Vlaams: Middn-Ôostn
- Võro: Lähkü-Hummogumaa
- Walloon: Moyén Levant
- Waray (Philippines): Butnga Sinirangan
- Welsh: Y Dwyrain Canol
- Western Armenian: Միջին Արեւելք
- Western Frisian: Midden-Easten
- Western Panjabi: مشرق وسطا
- Western Panjabi: مشرق وسطی
- Wolof: Penku gu Diggu
- Wu Chinese: 中東
- Yakut: Ближнэй Восток
- Yiddish: מיטל מזרח
- Yue Chinese: 中東
- Zeeuws: Midden-Oôsten
- Zhuang: Cunghdungh (Dieg)
- Zhuang: Cunghdungh
- Medie Oriende
- Mîtrin Levant
- Waenganui Rāwhiti
- Близький Схід
- Среден Исток
Popular Destinations in Asia
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About Mapcarta. Thanks to Mapbox for providing amazing maps. Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license, excluding photos, directions and the map. Description text is based on the Wikivoyage page Middle East. Photo: Wikimedia, CC0.