History of the Middle East

This article is a general overview of the history of the Middle East .

Further information: Timeline of Middle Eastern history Map of the Middle East. This article is a general overview of the history of the Middle East .

Aspect of history Contemporary political map of the Middle East A map showing territories commonly considered part of the Near East Home to the Cradle of Civilization , the Middle East —interchangeable with the Near East —has seen many of the world's oldest cultures and civilizations. This history started from the earliest human settlements, continuing through several major pre- and post-Islamic Empires through to the nation-states of the Middle East today. ↓ Future v t e Sumerians were the first people to develop complex systems as to be called "Civilization", starting as far back as the 5th millennium BC. Egyptian civilization coalesced around 3150 BC with the political unification of Upper and Lower Egypt under the first pharaoh . Mesopotamia was home to several powerful empires that came to rule almost the entire Middle East—particularly the Assyrian Empires of 1365–1076 BC and the Neo-Assyrian Empire of 911–609 BC. From the early 7th century BC and onwards, the Iranian Medes followed by the Achaemenid Empire and other subsequent Iranian states and empires dominated the region. In the 1st century BC, the expanding Roman Republic absorbed the whole Eastern Mediterranean , which included much of the Near East . The Eastern Roman Empire, today commonly known as the Byzantine Empire , ruling from the Balkans to the Euphrates , became increasingly defined by and dogmatic about Christianity , gradually creating religious rifts between the doctrines dictated by the establishment in Constantinople and believers in many parts of the Middle East. From the 3rd century up to the course of the 7th century AD, the entire Middle East was dominated by the Byzantines and the Sasanian Empire . From the 7th century, a new power was rising in the Middle East, that of Islam . The dominance of the Arabs came to a sudden end in the mid-11th century with the arrival of the Seljuq dynasty . In the early 13th century, a new wave of invaders, the armies of the Mongol Empire , mainly Turkic , swept through the region. By the early 15th century, a new power had arisen in western Anatolia, the Ottoman emirs, linguistically Turkic and religiously Islamic, who in 1453 captured the Christian Byzantine capital of Constantinople and made themselves sultans . Large parts of the Middle East became a warground between the Ottomans and the Iranian Safavid dynasty for centuries, starting in the early 16th century. By 1700, the Ottomans had been driven out of the Kingdom of Hungary and the balance of power along the frontier had shifted decisively in favor of the Western world . The British Empire also established effective control of the Persian Gulf , and the French colonial empire extended its influence into Lebanon and Syria . In 1912, the Kingdom of Italy seized Libya and the Dodecanese islands , just off the coast of the Ottoman heartland of Anatolia . In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Middle Eastern rulers tried to modernize their states to compete more effectively with the European powers. A turning point in the history of the Middle East came when oil was discovered, first in Persia in 1908 and later in Saudi Arabia (in 1938) and the other Persian Gulf states , and also in Libya and Algeria . A Western dependence on Middle Eastern oil and the decline of British influence led to a growing American interest in the region. During the 1920s, 1930s, and 1940s, Syria and Egypt made moves towards independence. The British, the French, and the Soviet Union departed from many parts of the Middle East during and after World War II (1939–1945). The Arab–Israeli conflict in Palestine culminated in the 1947 United Nations plan to partition Palestine . Later in the midst of Cold War tensions, the Arabic-speaking countries of Western Asia and Northern Africa saw the rise of pan-Arabism . The departure of the European powers from direct control of the region, the establishment of Israel , and the increasing importance of the petroleum industry , marked the creation of the modern Middle East. In most Middle Eastern countries, the growth of market economies was inhibited by political restrictions, corruption and cronyism , overspending on arms and prestige projects, and over-dependence on oil revenues. The wealthiest economies in the region per capita are the small oil-rich countries of Persian Gulf : Qatar , Kuwait , Bahrain , and the United Arab Emirates . A combination of factors—among them the 1967 Six-Day War , the 1970s energy crisis beginning with the 1973 OPEC oil embargo in response to U.S. support of Israel in the Yom Kippur War , the concurrent Saudi-led popularization of Salafism / Wahhabism , and the 1978-79 Iranian Revolution —promoted the increasing rise of Islamism and the ongoing Islamic revival ( Tajdid ). The Fall of the Soviet Union in 1991 brought a global security refocus from the Cold War to a War on Terror . Starting in the early 2010s, a revolutionary wave popularly known as the Arab Spring brought major protests, uprisings, and revolutions to several Middle Eastern and Maghreb countries. Clashes in western Iraq on 30 December 2013 were preliminary to the Sunni pan-Islamist ISIL uprising. The term Near East can be used interchangeably with Middle East , but in a different context, especially when discussing ancient history , it may have a limited meaning, namely the northern, historically Aramaic -speaking Semitic people area and adjacent Anatolian territories, marked in the two maps below. The limited modern archaeological and historical context of the Near East Middle East and Near East The historical Semitic region , defined by the pre-Islamic distribution of Semitic languages and coinciding very roughly with the Arabian plate . Not so much lingually but rather culturally, politically and historically, the most significant division here has been between the north and the south, to some degree isolated from each other by the sparsely populated Arabian Desert . The north comprises Mesopotamia and the Levant , which, together with the lower Nile (i.e., Egypt), constitute the Fertile Crescent .

Contemporary political map of the Middle East A map showing territories commonly considered part of the Near East 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. ↓ Future v t e The Sumerians became the first people to develop complex systems that were to be called "civilization" as far back as the 5th millennium BC. Egyptian civilization coalesced around 3150 BC with the political unification of Upper and Lower Egypt under the first pharaoh . Mesopotamia was home to several powerful empires that came to rule almost all of Middle East, particularly the Assyrian Empires of 1365–1076 BC and the Neo-Assyrian Empire of 911–609 BC. From the early 7th century BC and onward, the Iranian Medes , followed by the Achaemenid Empire and other subsequent Iranian states and empires, dominated the region. In the 1st century BC, the expanding Roman Republic absorbed the whole Eastern Mediterranean , which included much of the Near East . The Eastern Roman Empire , now commonly known as the Byzantine Empire, ruled from the Balkans to the Euphrates , became increasingly defined by and dogmatic about Christianity and gradually creating religious rifts between the doctrines dictated by the establishment in Constantinople and believers in many parts of the Middle East. From the 3rd century to the course of the 7th century AD, the entire Middle East was dominated by the Byzantines and the Sasanian Empire . From the 7th century, a new power was rising in the Middle East, that of Islam . The dominance of the Arabs came to a sudden end in the mid-11th century with the arrival of the Seljuq dynasty . In the early 13th century, a new wave of invaders, the armies of the Mongol Empire , mainly Turkic , swept through the region. By the early 15th century, a new power had arisen in western Anatolia, the Ottoman emirs, who were linguistically Turkic and religiously Islamic and in 1453 captured the Christian Byzantine capital of Constantinople and made themselves sultans . Large parts of the Middle East became a warground between the Ottomans and the Iranian Safavid dynasty for centuries, starting in the early 16th century. By 1700, the Ottomans had been driven out of the Kingdom of Hungary and the balance of power along the frontier had shifted decisively in favor of the Western world . The British Empire also established effective control of the Persian Gulf , and the French colonial empire extended its influence into Lebanon and Syria . In 1912, the Kingdom of Italy seized Libya and the Dodecanese islands , just off the coast of the Ottoman heartland of Anatolia . In the late 19th and the early 20th centuries, Middle Eastern rulers tried to modernize their states to compete more effectively with the European powers. A turning point in the region's history came when oil was discovered, first in Persia in 1908 and later in Saudi Arabia (in 1938) and the other Persian Gulf states , and also in Libya and Algeria . A Western dependence on Middle Eastern oil and the decline of British influence led to a growing American interest in the region. During the 1920s, 1930s and 1940s, Syria and Egypt made moves towards independence. The British, the French, and the Soviets departed from many parts of the Middle East during and after World War II (1939–1945). The Arab–Israeli conflict in Palestine culminated in the 1947 United Nations plan to partition Palestine . Later in the midst of Cold War tensions, the Arabic-speaking countries of Western Asia and Northern Africa saw the rise of pan-Arabism . The departure of the European powers from direct control of the region, the establishment of Israel , and the increasing importance of the petroleum industry , marked the creation of the modern Middle East. In most Middle Eastern countries, the growth of market economies was inhibited by political restrictions, corruption, cronyism , overspending on arms and prestige projects and overdependence on oil revenues. The wealthiest economies in the region per capita are the small oil-rich countries of Persian Gulf : Qatar , Kuwait , Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates . A combination of factors—such as the 1967 Six-Day War , the 1970s energy crisis beginning with the 1973 OPEC oil embargo in response to US support of Israel in the Yom Kippur War , the concurrent Saudi-led popularization of Salafism / Wahhabism , and the 1978-79 Iranian Revolution —promoted the increasing rise of Islamism and the ongoing Islamic revival ( Tajdid ). The Fall of the Soviet Union in 1991 brought a global security refocus from the Cold War to a War on Terror . Starting in the early 2010s, a revolutionary wave that is popularly known as the Arab Spring brought major protests, uprisings, and revolutions to several Middle Eastern and Maghreb countries. Clashes in western Iraq on 30 December 2013 were preliminary to the Sunni pan-Islamist ISIL uprising. The term Near East can be used interchangeably with Middle East , but in a different context, especially in discussing ancient history , it may have a limited meaning, namely the northern historically- Aramaic -speaking Semitic people area and adjacent Anatolian territories, marked in the two maps below. The limited modern archaeological and historical context of the Near East Middle East and Near East The historical Semitic region , defined by the pre-Islamic distribution of Semitic languages and coinciding very roughly with the Arabian plate . Not so much lingually but rather culturally, politically and historically, the most significant division here has been between the north and the south, which is to some degree isolated from each other by the sparsely-populated Arabian Desert . The north comprises Mesopotamia and the Levant , which, together with the lower Nile (i.e., Egypt), constitute the Fertile Crescent .

A map showing territories commonly considered part of the Middle East The Middle East , or the Near East , was one of the cradles of civilization : after the Neolithic Revolution and the adoption of agriculture , many of the world's oldest cultures and civilizations were created there. Since ancient times, the Middle East has had several lingua franca : Akkadian , Hebrew , Aramaic , Greek , and Arabic . The Sumerians , around the 5th millennium BC, were among the first to develop a civilization. By 3150 BC, Egyptian civilization unified under its first pharaoh . Mesopotamia hosted powerful empires, notably Assyria which lasted for 1,500 years. In the 1st century BC, the Roman Republic conquered most of the region, and its successor, the Roman Empire , that ruled from the 6th to 15th centuries AD referred to as the Byzantine Empire , grew significantly more. Roman pagan religions were replaced by Christianity in the 4th century AD. From the 3rd to 7th centuries, Rome ruled alongside the Sasanian Empire . From the 7th century, Islam spread rapidly, expanding Arab identity in the region. The Seljuk dynasty displaced Arab dominance in the 11th century, followed by the Mongol Empire in the 13th century. ↓ Future v t e In the 15th century, the Ottoman Empire invaded most of Anatolia , and dissolved the Byzantine Empire by capturing Constantinople in 1453 . The Ottomans and the Safavid dynasty were rivals from the early 16th century. By 1700, the Ottomans were pushed out of Hungary . The British Empire gained control over the Persian Gulf in the 19th century, while French colonial empire extended into Lebanon and Syria . Regional rulers sought modernization to match European powers. A key moment came with the discovery of oil , first in Persia (1908), then in Saudi Arabia (1938), and other Gulf states , leading to increased Western interest in the region. In the 1920s to 1940s, Syria and Egypt pursued independence, in 1948 Israel became an independent Jewish state. The British, French, and Soviets withdrew from much of the region during and after World War II . In 1947 the United Nations plan to partition Palestine was voted in favor for a Jewish homeland. Amid Cold War tensions, pan-Arabism emerged in the region. The end of European colonial control, the establishment of Israel , and the rise of the petroleum industry shaped the modern Middle East. Despite economic growth, many countries faced challenges like political restrictions, corruption, cronyism and overreliance on oil. The wealthiest per capita are the small, oil-rich Gulf states, namely Qatar , Kuwait , Bahrain , and the United Arab Emirates . Several key events shaped the modern Middle East, such as the 1967 Six-Day War , the 1973 OPEC oil embargo in response to US support for Israel in the Yom Kippur War , and the rise of Salafism / Wahhabism in Saudi Arabia that led to rise of Islamism . Additionally, the Iranian Revolution contributed to a significant Islamic revival . The dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 ended the Cold War, and regional conflict was soon made part of the War on Terror . In the early 2010s, the Arab Spring triggered major protests and revolutions in the region. Clashes in western Iraq in 2013 set the stage for the Islamic State (IS)'s expansion. Near Eastern Archaeology: A Reader (Illustrated ed.). "World Factbook – Jordan" . 17 January 2023. "World Factbook – Kuwait" . 11 January 2023.