The Middle East is a geopolitical region encompassing the Arabian Peninsula, the Levant, Turkey, Egypt, Iran, and Iraq. The term came into widespread usage as a replacement of the term Near East beginning in the early 20th century. The term "Middle East" has led to some confusion over its changing definitions, and being seen as too Eurocentric. The region includes the vast majority of the territories included in the closely associated definition of West Asia, but without the South Caucasus, and additionally includes all of Egypt and all of Turkey.
The Near East is a transcontinental region around the East Mediterranean encompassing parts of West Asia, the Balkans and North Africa, including the historical Fertile Crescent, the Levant, Anatolia, East Thrace and Egypt. The term was originally applied to the Ottoman Empire, 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, known as the “3 East’s”; it was a separate term from the Middle East during earlier times and official British usage. Today, the terms Near East and Middle East are used interchangeably to refer to the same region.
West Asia, also called Western Asia or Southwest Asia, is the westernmost region of Asia. As defined by most academics, UN bodies and other institutions, the subregion consists of Asian Turkey, the countries of the Arabian Peninsula, Iraq, the Armenian Highlands, the Levant, Cyprus, the Sinai Peninsula, the southern part of the Caucasus Region (Transcaucasia), and usually, Iran. The region is separated from Africa by the Isthmus of Suez in Egypt, and separated from Europe by the waterways of the Turkish Straits and the watershed of the Greater Caucasus. Central Asia lies to its northeast, while South Asia lies to its east. Twelve seas surround the region (clockwise): the Aegean Sea, the Sea of Marmara, the Black Sea, the Caspian Sea, the Persian Gulf, the Gulf of Oman, the Arabian Sea, the Gulf of Aden, the Red Sea, the Gulf of Aqaba, the Gulf of Suez, and the Mediterranean Sea. The area contains the vast majority of the similarly defined Middle East, but excluding most of Egypt and the northwestern part of Turkey, and including the southern part of the Caucasus.
The Middle East, also known as the Near East, is home to one of the Cradles of Civilization and has seen many of the world's oldest cultures and civilizations. The region's history started from the earliest human settlements and continues through several major pre- and post-Islamic Empires to today's nation-states of the Middle East.
Gagea is a large genus of spring flowers in the lily family. It is found primarily in Eurasia with a few species extending into North Africa and one species in North America.
The Middle East and North Africa is a geographic region whose countries are often referred to by the acronym MENA.
Cimmeria was an ancient continent, or, rather, a string of microcontinents or terranes, that rifted from Gondwana in the Southern Hemisphere and was accreted to Eurasia in the Northern Hemisphere. It consisted of parts of present-day Turkey, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Tibet, China, Myanmar, Thailand, and Malaysia. Cimmeria rifted from the Gondwanan shores of the Paleo-Tethys Ocean during the Early Permian and as the Neo-Tethys Ocean opened behind it, during the Permian, the Paleo-Tethys closed in front of it. Because the different chunks of Cimmeria drifted northward at different rates, a Meso-Tethys Ocean formed between the different fragments during the Cisuralian. Cimmeria rifted off Gondwana from east to west, from Australia to the eastern Mediterranean. It stretched across several latitudes and spanned a wide range of climatic zones.
Hadenini is a tribe of cutworm or dart moths in the family Noctuidae. There are more than 140 genera and 1,000 described species in Hadenini, found worldwide.
Victrix is a genus of moths in the family Noctuidae described by Otto Staudinger in 1879. It may be synonymous with the genus Moureia.
Ammoconia is a genus of moths of the family Noctuidae.
Haemerosia is a genus of moths of the family Noctuidae. The genus was erected by Jean Baptiste Boisduval in 1840.
Thysanoplusia daubei is a moth of the family Noctuidae. It is found in North and East Africa, Southern Europe, Arabia, Turkey, Southern Iran to the Himalayas, India, Indochina, China, Japan and Taiwan.
Metalopha liturata is a moth of the family Noctuidae. The species was first described by Hugo Theodor Christoph in 1887. It is widespread but local in the Near East and Middle East from the Levant area to the western Himalayas.
Population genetics research has been conducted on the ancestry of the modern Turkish people in Turkey. Such studies are relevant for the demographic history of the population as well as health reasons, such as population specific diseases. Some studies have sought to determine the relative contributions of the Turkic peoples of Central Asia, from where the Seljuk Turks began migrating to Anatolia after the Battle of Manzikert in 1071, which led to the establishment of the Anatolian Seljuk Sultanate in the late 11th century, and prior populations in the area who were culturally assimilated during the Seljuk and the Ottoman periods.
Ammoconia caecimacula is a moth belonging to the family Noctuidae. It is found in most of Europe, excluding regions such as southern Spain, Great Britain, Ireland and northern Fennoscandia. Additionally, it can be found in Anatolia, western Turkestan and across the Palaearctic to Siberia. In the east the species is represented by subspecies transcaucasica and sibirica.
Auchmis detersa is a moth of the family Noctuidae first described by Eugenius Johann Christoph Esper in 1791. It is found from north-western Africa through southern and central Europe to Anatolia, Iran, Afghanistan and through Siberia to Lake Baikal.
Anagnorisma is a genus of moths of the family Noctuidae.
Luperina dumerilii, or Dumeril's rustic, is a moth of the family Noctuidae. The species was first described by Philogène Auguste Joseph Duponchel in 1826. It is found in the Mediterranean region and warmer areas of central and south-eastern Europe. Strays have been recorded from southern England. It is also present in Turkey and Jordan.
Middle Eastern cuisine or West Asian cuisine includes a number of cuisines from the Middle East. Common ingredients include olives and olive oil, pitas, honey, sesame seeds, dates, sumac, chickpeas, mint, rice and parsley, and popular dishes include kebabs, dolmas, falafel, baklava, yogurt, doner kebab, shawarma and mulukhiyah.
