• Ten things you didn't know about Wikipedia •
Southwest Asia
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
This article does not cite any references or sources.
Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. (help, get involved!)
Unverifiable material may be challenged and removed.
This article has been tagged since January 2007.
Southwest Asia in most contexts. Possible extensions.
Southwest Asia in most contexts. Possible extensions.
Southwest Asia or Southwestern Asia (largely overlapping with the Middle East) is the southwestern portion of Asia. The term Western Asia is sometimes used in writings about the archeology and the late prehistory of the region, and in the United States subregion geoschem. Unlike the Middle East, which is a vaguely-defined region generally meant to include the African country of Egypt, Western Asia is a purely geographical term that includes the southwestern extreme of Asia.
Southwest Asia is partly coterminous with the traditional European names the Middle East and the Near East, both of which describe the regions' geographical position in relation to Europe rather than their location within Asia. The term Western Asia has become the preferred term of use for the Middle East by international organizations (most notably the United Nations) and also in African and Asian countries, such as India, because of the perceived Eurocentrism of the historical term Middle East. In terms of cultural and political geography, the Middle East sometimes includes North African countries, particularly Egypt. For similar reasons, Afghanistan, Central Asia, and western Pakistan are also variously affiliated with the region.
The definition of cultural-geographical regions in use by the United Nations.
The definition of cultural-geographical regions in use by the United Nations.
The United Nations includes Turkey and the South Caucasus States (Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia) in its Western Asian subregion, as they are almost entirely located there. However, these countries also lie in regions that straddle both Asia and Europe, and have sociopolitical ties to the latter. Turkey, Georgia and Azerbaijan are partially located in Europe whereas Armenia is located wholly in Asia. The Asian part of the Arab world (including Arabia proper) is called the Mashreq in Arabic.
See continent and transcontinental country for further definitions
[edit] Territories
Southwest Asia is in most contexts meant to encompass:
* Flag of Armenia Armenia
* Flag of Bahrain Bahrain
* Flag of Cyprus Cyprus
* Flag of Iran Iran
* Flag of Iraq Iraq
* Flag of Israel Israel
* Flag of Jordan Jordan
* Flag of Kuwait Kuwait
* Flag of Lebanon Lebanon
* Flag of Oman Oman
* Palestinian flag Palestinian Territories (Gaza Strip and West Bank)
* Flag of Qatar Qatar
* Flag of Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia
* Flag of Syria Syria
* Flag of the United Arab Emirates United Arab Emirates
* Flag of Yemen Yemen
* The Asian portions of
o Flag of Azerbaijan Azerbaijan
o Flag of Georgia (country) Georgia
o Flag of Turkey Turkey (Asia Minor or Anatolia)
In addition, its limits are sometimes widened to include:
* The European portions of
o Flag of Azerbaijan Azerbaijan
o Flag of Georgia (country) Georgia
Anatolia, Arabia, Transcaucasia, Levant, and Mesopotamia are subregions of Southwest Asia.
[edit] Use in ethnic statistics
The Canadian government uses "West Asian" in its statistics; however people from the Arab countries are counted in a separate "Arab" category. [1] [2]
[edit] Other subregions of Asia
* East Asia
* Southeast Asia
* South Asia (Indian subcontinent)
* Central Asia
* North Asia (Siberia)
* Northern Eurasia (extends into Europe)
* Central Eurasia (extends into Europe)
[hide]
v • d • e
Regions of the world
Africa
Central · Eastern · Northern · Southern · Western
Americas
Anglo · Caribbean · Central · Latin · Middle · North · Northern · South
Asia
Central · Eastern · Northern · Southern · Southeastern · Southwestern / Western
Europe
Central · Eastern · Northern · Southern · Western
Oceania
Australasia · Melanesia · Micronesia · Polynesia
Other
Asia Pacific · Caucasus · Far East · Indian subcontinent · Middle East
Polar
Arctic · Antarctic
Oceans
World · Arctic · Atlantic · Indian · Pacific · Southern
See also Continents of the world
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southwest_Asia"
Categories: Articles lacking sources from January 2007 | All articles lacking sources | Regions of Asia | Middle East | Southwest Asia
Views
* Article
* Discussion
* Edit this page
* History
Personal tools
* Sign in / create account
Navigation
* Main page
* Contents
* Featured content
* Current events
* Random article
interaction
* About Wikipedia
* Community portal
* Recent changes
* Contact Wikipedia
* Donate to Wikipedia
* Help
Search
Toolbox
* What links here
* Related changes
* Upload file
* Special pages
* Printable version
* Permanent link
* Cite this article
In other languages
* العربية
* Bân-lâm-gú
* Bosanski
* Български
* Deutsch
* Esperanto
* Français
* 한국어
* Hrvatski
* Bahasa Indonesia
* Íslenska
* Italiano
* ქართული
* Kiswahili
* Bahasa Melayu
* Nederlands
* 日本語
* Română
* Русский
* Simple English
* Slovenčina
* Српски / Srpski
* Srpskohrvatski / Српскохрватски
* Suomi
* Svenska
* Tagalog
* ไทย
* Українська
* Tiếng Việt
* 中文
Powered by MediaWiki
Wikimedia Foundation
* This page was last modified 23:18, 16 August 2007.
* All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License. (See Copyrights for details.)
Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a US-registered 501(c)(3) tax-deductible nonprofit charity.
* Privacy policy
* About Wikipedia
* Disclaimers
Your continued donations keep Wikipedia running!
