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What is the "Middle East?"
The "Middle East" is an unsatisfying term to define this region of the world. This label makes use of traditional Western-centric relative geography. The region is neither in the middle nor east of any objective point. Given the common use of the term it is used here. The bounds for the purpose of this map take into account geography and cultural factors such as religion, language, and ethnicity. None of these factors alone is suitable to bind the region but in combination they can provide some logical though imperfect borders. Here the Middle East is defined as the Arab majority countries of North Africa, the Levant, and Gulf regions plus a number of countries without Arab majorities. Israel is added due to geographic proximity, while Turkey, Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan are added for cultural and religious reasons.