Middle East

===Usage and criticism===
[[File:Middle East.ogv|thumb|1957 American film about the Middle East]]

The description ''Middle'' has also led to some confusion over changing definitions. Before the [[World War I|First World War]], "Near East" was used in English to refer to the [[Balkans]] and the [[Ottoman Empire]], while "Middle East" referred to the [[Caucasus]], [[Persia]], and Arabian lands,<ref name=wapo2016>{{cite news| url = https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2016/05/19/the-modern-middle-east-is-actually-only-100-years-old/| title = How the Middle East was invented | newspaper = [[The Washington Post]]}}</ref> and sometimes [[Afghanistan]], [[India]] and others.<ref name=UNC>{{Cite web|url=https://mideast.unc.edu/where/|title=Where Is the Middle East? &#124; Center for Middle East and Islamic Studies}}</ref> In contrast, "[[Far East]]" referred to the countries of [[East Asia]] (e.g. [[China]], [[Japan]] and [[Korea]]).<ref>Clyde, Paul Hibbert, and Burton F. Beers. ''The Far East: A History of Western Impacts and Eastern Responses, 1830-1975'' (1975). [https://archive.org/details/lccn_0133029687 online]</ref><ref>Norman, Henry. ''The Peoples and Politics of the Far East: Travels and studies in the British, French, Spanish and Portuguese colonies, Siberia, China, Japan, Korea, Siam and Malaya'' (1904) [https://archive.org/details/peoplesandpolit05normgoog online]</ref>

With the collapse of the Ottoman Empire in 1918, "Near East" largely fell out of common use in English, while "Middle East" came to be applied to the re-emerging countries of the [[Islamic world]]. However, the usage "Near East" was retained by a variety of academic disciplines, including [[archaeology]] and [[ancient history]], where it describes an area identical to the term ''Middle East'', which is not used by these disciplines (see [[Ancient Near East]]).{{citation needed|date=January 2022}}

The first official use of the term "Middle East" by the [[Federal government of the United States|United States government]] was in the 1957 [[Eisenhower Doctrine]], which pertained to the [[Suez Crisis]]. Secretary of State [[John Foster Dulles]] defined the Middle East as "the area lying between and including [[Libya]] on the west and [[Pakistan]] on the east, [[Syria]] and [[Iraq]] on the North and the Arabian peninsula to the south, plus the [[Sudan]] and [[Ethiopia]]."<ref name="davison"/> In 1958, the [[United States Department of State|State Department]] explained that the terms "Near East" and "Middle East" were interchangeable, and defined the region as including only [[Egypt]], [[Syria]], [[Israel]], [[Lebanon]], [[Jordan]], [[Iraq]], [[Saudi Arabia]], [[Kuwait]], [[Bahrain]], and [[Qatar]].<ref>{{cite news |title= 'Near East' is Mideast, Washington Explains |url= http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F70E10FC3D59127A93C6A81783D85F4C8585F9&scp=1&sq='Near%20East'%20is%20Mideast,%20Washington%20Explains&st=cse |newspaper= The New York Times |date= 14 August 1958 |access-date= 25 January 2009 |url-status=live |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20091015044505/http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F70E10FC3D59127A93C6A81783D85F4C8585F9&scp=1&sq=%27Near%20East%27%20is%20Mideast%2C%20Washington%20Explains&st=cse |archive-date= 15 October 2009 }}{{subscription required}}</ref>

The term ''Middle East'' has also been criticised by journalist Louay Khraish and historian [[Hassan Hanafi]] for being a [[Eurocentrism|Eurocentric]] and [[Colonialism|colonialist]] term.<ref name="dont">{{cite web |last=Khraish |first=Louay |date=16 July 2021 |title=Don't Call Me Middle Eastern |publisher=Raseef 22|url=https://raseef22.net/article/1083546-dont-call-me-middle-eastern}}</ref><ref name="hanafi">{{cite web |last=Hanafi |first=Hassan |location=Oslo |year=1998 |title=The Middle East, in whose world? (Primary Reflections) |url=http://www.smi.uib.no/pao/hanafi.html |publisher=Nordic Society for Middle Eastern Studies (The fourth Nordic conference on Middle Eastern Studies: The Middle East in globalizing world Oslo, 13–16 August 1998) |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061008121436/http://www.smi.uib.no/pao/hanafi.html |archive-date=8 October 2006 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last=Shohat |first=Ella |title=Redrawing American Cartographies of Asia |url=http://commposite.uqam.ca/videaz/docs/elshen.html |publisher=City University of New York |access-date=12 January 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070312062752/http://commposite.uqam.ca/videaz/docs/elshen.html |archive-date=12 March 2007 }}</ref>

The [[Associated Press]] Stylebook says that Near East formerly referred to the farther west countries while Middle East referred to the eastern ones, but that now they are synonymous. It instructs:
<blockquote>Use ''Middle East'' unless ''Near East'' is used by a source in a story. ''Mideast'' is also acceptable, but ''Middle East'' is preferred.<ref>Goldstein, Norm. ''The Associated Press Stylebook and Briefing on Media Law''. New York: Basic Books, 2004. {{ISBN|0-465-00488-1}} p. 156</ref></blockquote>