Western Asia

Western Asia, West Asia, or Southwest Asia, is the westernmost subregion of the larger geographical region of

Asia

, as defined by some academics,

UN

bodies and other institutions. It is almost entirely a part of the

Middle East

, and includes Anatolia, the Arabian Peninsula,

Iran

,

Mesopotamia

, the

Levant

, the island of Cyprus, the

Sinai Peninsula

, and partly the Caucasus Region (Transcaucasia). The region is considered to be 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. Eight seas surround the region (clockwise): the

Aegean Sea

, the

Black Sea

, the

Caspian Sea

, the Persian Gulf, the Arabian Sea, the

Gulf of Aden

, the

Red Sea

, and the Mediterranean Sea.

Western Asia covers an area of , with a population of around 313 million. Out of the 21 countries located fully or partly within the region, 13 are a part of the

Arab world

. The most populous countries in Western Asia are

Iran

,

Turkey

,

Iraq

,

Saudi Arabia

and

Yemen

.

Definition

The term ''West Asia'' is used pragmatically and has no "correct" or generally agreed-upon definition. Its typical definitions overlap substantially, but not entirely, with definitions of the terms

Middle East

,

Eastern Mediterranean

, and Near East (which is historically familiar but is widely deprecated today). The ''National Geographic Style Manual'' as well as Maddison's '' The World Economy: Historical Statistics'' (2003) by the

Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development

(OECD) only includes Bahrain, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar, Palestine (called West Bank and Gaza in the latter), Saudi Arabia, Syria, Turkey, UAE, and Yemen as West Asian countries. In contrast to this definition, the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) in its 2015 yearbook also includes Armenia and Azerbaijan, and excludes Israel (as Other) and Turkey (as Europe).

Unlike the UNIDO, the United Nations Statistics Division (UNSD) excludes Iran from Western Asia and includes Turkey, Georgia, and Cyprus in the region. In the United Nations geopolitical Eastern European Group, Armenia and Georgia are included in Eastern Europe, whereas Cyprus and East Thracian Turkey are in Southern Europe. These three nations are listed in the European category of the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO).

National members of Western Asian sports governing bodies are limited to Bahrain, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Syria, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, and Yemen. The Olympic Council of Asia's multi-sport event West Asian Games are contested by athletes representing these thirteen countries. Among the region's sports organisations are the West Asia Basketball Association, West Asian Billiards and Snooker Federation, West Asian Football Federation, and the West Asian Tennis Federation.

History

"Western Asia" was in use as a geographical term in the early 19th century, before "Near East" became current as a geopolitical concept. In the context of the history of classical antiquity, "Western Asia" could mean the part of Asia known in classical antiquity, as opposed to the reaches of "interior Asia", i.e. Scythia, and "Eastern Asia" the easternmost reaches of geographical knowledge in classical authors, i.e. Transoxania and

India

. In the 20th century, "Western Asia" was used to denote a rough geographical era in the fields of archaeology and

ancient history

, especially as a shorthand for "the

Fertile Crescent

excluding

Ancient Egypt

" for the purposes of comparing the early civilizations of Egypt and the former.

Use of the term in the context of contemporary geopolitics or world economy appears to date from at least the mid-1960s.

Geography

The region is surrounded by eight major seas; the

Aegean Sea

, the

Black Sea

, the

Caspian Sea

, the Persian Gulf, the Arabian Sea, the

Gulf of Aden

, the

Red Sea

, and the Mediterranean Sea.

To the northwest and north, the region is delimited from

Europe

by the Turkish Straits and drainage divide of the Greater Caucasus, to the southwest, it is delimited from

Africa

by the Isthmus of Suez, while to the northeast and east, the region adjoins

Central Asia

and

South Asia

. The region is located east of

Southern Europe

and south of

Eastern Europe

.

The

Dasht-e Kavir

and Dasht-e Lut deserts in eastern

Iran

naturally delimit the region from

Balochistan

and South Asia.

Geology

Plate tectonics

Three major tectonic plates converge on Western Asia, including the African, Eurasian, and Arabian plates. The boundaries between the tectonic plates make up the Azores-Gibraltar Ridge, extending across

North Africa

, the

Red Sea

, and into Iran.Beaumont (1988), p. 22 The Arabian Plate is moving northward into the

Anatolian plate

(Turkey) at the East Anatolian Fault, and the boundary between the Aegean and Anatolian plate in eastern

Turkey

is also

seismic

ally active.

Water resources

Several major

aquifer

s provide

water

to large portions of Western Asia. In Saudi Arabia, two large aquifers of Palaeozoic and

Triassic

origins are located beneath the Jabal Tuwayq mountains and areas west to the Red Sea.Beaumont (1988), p. 86

Cretaceous

and Eocene-origin aquifers are located beneath large portions of central and eastern Saudi Arabia, including Wasia and Biyadh which contain amounts of both

fresh water

and saline water. Flood or furrow irrigation, as well as sprinkler methods, are extensively used for

irrigation

, covering nearly across Western Asia for agriculture. Also, the

Tigris

and Euphrates rivers contribute very well.

Climate

Western Asia is primarily arid and semi-arid, and can be subject to

drought

, but it also contains vast expanses of forest and fertile valleys. The region consists of

grassland

s, rangelands,

desert

s, and

mountains

. Water shortages are a problem in many parts of West Asia, with rapidly growing

population

s increasing demands for water, while

salinization

and

pollution

threaten water supplies. Major rivers, including the

Tigris

and

Euphrates

, provide sources for

irrigation

water to support

agriculture

.

There are two wind phenomena in Western Asia: the ''sharqi'' and the '' shamal''. The ''sharqi'' (or ''sharki'') is a

wind

that comes from the south and southeast. It is seasonal, lasting from April to early June, and comes again between late September and November. The winds are dry and dusty, with occasional gusts up to 80 kilometres per hour (50 miles per hour) and often kick up violent sand and dust storms that can carry sand a few thousand meters high, and can close down airports for short periods of time. These winds can last for a full day at the beginning and end of the season, and for several days during the middle of the season. The ''shamal'' is a summer northwesterly wind blowing over Iraq and the Persian Gulf states (including Saudi Arabia and Kuwait), often strong during the day, but decreasing at night. This weather effect occurs anywhere from once to several times a year.

Topography

Western Asia contains large areas of mountainous terrain. The Anatolian Plateau is sandwiched between the Pontus Mountains and Taurus Mountains in

Turkey

.

Mount Ararat

in Turkey rises to 5,137 meters. The Zagros Mountains are located in Iran, in areas along its border with Iraq. The Central Plateau of Iran is divided into two

drainage basin

s. The northern basin is

Dasht-e Kavir

(Great Salt Desert), and Dasht-e-Lut is the southern basin.

In

Yemen

, elevations exceed 3,700 meters in many areas, and highland areas extend north along the

Red Sea

coast and north into

Lebanon

. A fault-zone also exists along the Red Sea, with continental rifting creating trough-like topography with areas located well-below

sea level

. The

Dead Sea

, located on the border between the West Bank,

Israel

, and

Jordan

, is situated at 418 m (1371 ft) below sea level, making it the lowest point on the surface of the

Earth

.

Rub' al Khali, one of the world's largest sand deserts, spans the southern third of the Arabian Peninsula in Saudi Arabia, parts of Oman, the

United Arab Emirates

and Yemen. Jebel al Akhdar is a small range of mountains located in northeastern Oman, bordering the Gulf of Oman.

Demographics

The population of Western Asia was estimated at 272 million as of 2008, projected to reach 370 million by 2030 by Maddison (2007; the estimate excludes the Caucasus and Cyprus).
This corresponds to an annual growth rate of 1.4% (or a doubling time of 50 years), well above the world average of 0.9% (doubling time 75 years).
The population of Western Asia is estimated at about 4% of

world population

, up from about 39 million at the beginning of the 20th century, or about 2% of world population at the time.Data for "15 West Asian countries", from Maddison (2003, 2007).Angus Maddison, 2003, ''The World Economy: Historical Statistics'', Vol. 2, OECD, Paris, . ''Statistical Appendix'' (2007, ggdc.net) "The historical data were originally developed in three books: Monitoring the World Economy 1820–1992, OECD, Paris 1995; The World Economy: A Millennial Perspective, OECD Development Centre, Paris 2001; The World Economy: Historical Statistics, OECD Development Centre, Paris 2003. All these contain detailed source notes."
Estimates for 2008 by country (in millions):
Turkey (71.9),
Iran (70.2),
Iraq (28.2),
Saudi Arabia (28.1),
Yemen (23.0),
Syria (19.7),
Israel (6.5),
Jordan (6.2),
Palestine (4.1),
Lebanon (4.0),
Oman (3.3),
United Arab Emirates (2.7),
Kuwait (2.6),
Qatar (0.9),
Bahrain (0.7).

The most populous countries in the region are

Turkey

and

Iran

, each with around 79 million people, followed by

Iraq

and

Saudi Arabia

with around 33 million people each, and

Yemen

with around 29 million people.

Numerically, Western Asia is predominantly

Arab

, Persian, Turkish, and the dominating languages are correspondingly

Arabic

, Persian and

Turkish

, each with of the order of 70 million speakers, followed by smaller communities of

Kurdish

, Azerbaijani, Hebrew, Armenian and Neo-Aramaic. The dominance of Arabic and Turkish is the result of the medieval Arab and Turkic invasions beginning with the Islamic conquests of the 7th century AD, which displaced the formerly dominant Aramaic in the region of Syria, and Greek in Anatolia, although Hebrew became the dominant language in

Israel

in the second half of the 20th century, and Neo-Aramaic (spoken by modern Arameans, Assyrians, and Chaldeans) and Greek both remain present in their respective territories as minority languages.

Significant native minorities include, in alphabetical order: Arameans, Assyrians, Chaldeans, Druze, Jews, Lurs, Mandeans, Maronites, Shabaks and Yezidis.

Religion

Economy

The economy of Western Asia is diverse and the region experiences high economic growth. Turkey has the largest economy in the region, followed by

Saudi Arabia

and Iran. Petroleum is the major Petroleum industry, industry in the regional economy, as more than half of the world's oil reserves and around 40 percent of the world's natural gas List of countries by natural gas proven reserves, reserves are located in the region.

Statistical data

Notes:

¹ The figures for Turkey includes East Thrace, which is not a part of Anatolia.

² The area and population figures for Egypt only include the

Sinai Peninsula

.

³ Ramallah is the actual location of the government, whereas the proclaimed capital of Palestine is Jerusalem, which is Positions on Jerusalem, disputed.

⁴ Jerusalem is the Jerusalem Law, proclaimed capital of Israel and the actual location of the Knesset, Israeli Supreme Court, etc. Due to its Positions on Jerusalem, disputed status, most embassies are in Tel Aviv.

⁵ List of states with limited recognition, Unrecognised state

⁶ UN observer state

⁷ British Overseas Territory

Sports

*The West Asian Tennis Federation regulates the championships and leagues in the region.
*The West Asian Billiards & Snooker Federation regulates the championships related to billiards and snooker, amongst which an annual tournament.
*The West Asian Games have been held in 1997, 2002 and 2005.
*The West Asian Football Federation was founded in 2001 and is one of the regional federations of the Asian Football Federation. They organize the WAFF Championship.
*The West Asia Basketball Association organizes the WABA Championship since 1999.

Map of Western Asia

See also

*

Middle East

* Cinema of West Asia
* List of World Heritage Sites in Western Asia
* West Asian Games
* WABA Champions Cup, West Asian Basketball League
* West Asia Basketball Association
* West Asian Billiards & Snooker Federation
* West Asian Tennis Federation
* West Asian Football Federation

Notes

References

{{Authority control

Western Asia,
Regions of Asia
Geography of Western Asia,