67 Fun Facts About Middle East

Which country is the largest in the Middle East by area?

Saudi Arabia covers about 2.15 million square kilometres, well ahead of Iran (1.65 million) and Egypt (1.0 million), making it the largest country in the Middle East.

Which three countries are the most populous in the Middle East?

Egypt, Iran and Turkey each have well over 80 million people, Egypt topping 105 million; the next most populous, Iraq, has about 45 million.

Which American naval strategist popularised the term 'Middle East' in 1902?

Alfred Thayer Mahan used 'Middle East' in a September 1902 National Review article on the Persian Gulf, for the area between Arabia and India; the British had called the Ottoman lands the 'Near East'.

Mount Damavand, the highest peak in the Middle East, stands in which country?

Mount Damavand is a 5,610-metre dormant volcano in Iran's Alborz range north-east of Tehran, the highest peak in the Middle East, above Turkey's Mount Ararat at 5,137 metres.

Which three religions all originated in the Middle East and have their holiest sites there?

Judaism, Christianity and Islam all arose in the Middle East; Jerusalem is sacred to all three, and its Old City has been a World Heritage Site since 1981.

Which region spanning the Levant and Mesopotamia is nicknamed 'the cradle of civilization'?

The Fertile Crescent, arcing from the Nile valley through the Levant to Mesopotamia, saw the earliest settled farming and the first writing, Sumerian cuneiform, around 3200 BC.

Which archaeologist popularised the term 'Fertile Crescent' in a 1914 textbook?

James Henry Breasted spread the term 'Fertile Crescent' in his 1914 textbook Outlines of European History; he founded Chicago's Oriental Institute in 1919 and was the first American to earn a PhD in Egyptology.

The Tigris and Euphrates both rise in which mountain range?

Both rivers rise in the Taurus Mountains of eastern Turkey, then flow through Syria and Iraq before joining as the Shatt al-Arab near the Persian Gulf.

The Dead Sea's shores are the lowest land on Earth, at roughly how far below sea level?

The Dead Sea's shore sits about 440 metres below sea level, the lowest land on Earth; it has dropped roughly a metre a year since the 1960s as Jordan River water was diverted upstream.

Roughly what is the salinity of the Dead Sea?

The Dead Sea is about 34% salt, nearly ten times the ocean's 3.5%, which makes the water dense enough that swimmers simply float.

Which three territories border the Dead Sea?

Jordan lies on the Dead Sea's eastern shore, Israel on the south-west and the West Bank on the north-west; the lake is shared by those three territories alone.

On what date did Egyptian President Nasser nationalise the Suez Canal?

Nasser announced the nationalisation on 26 July 1956 in a speech in Alexandria; Britain, France and Israel invaded that October and withdrew under American and Soviet pressure.

Which container ship blocked the Suez Canal for six days in March 2021?

The 400-metre Ever Given ran aground on 23 March 2021 and was refloated six days later; about 12 percent of world trade passes through the canal, so hundreds of ships queued.

The Suez Canal has how many locks?

It is a sea-level waterway, so seawater flows freely along its 193 km.

Which narrow waterway connects the Persian Gulf to the Gulf of Oman?

The Strait of Hormuz, about 39 kilometres wide at its narrowest, links the Persian Gulf to the Gulf of Oman and carries roughly a fifth of the world's seaborne oil.

How many nations have coastlines on the Persian Gulf?

Eight nations have Persian Gulf coastlines: Bahrain, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Oman (through its Musandam peninsula), Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE.

What does 'Rub' al Khali', the name of the great desert of southern Arabia, mean?

Rub' al Khali means 'Empty Quarter'; the sand desert covers about 650,000 square kilometres across Saudi Arabia, Oman, the UAE and Yemen.

OPEC was founded in 1960 in which city?

OPEC was created at the Baghdad Conference of 10-14 September 1960, hosted by Iraq; its secretariat sat in Geneva from 1961 before moving to Vienna in 1965.

Which non-Middle Eastern country was one of OPEC's five founding members?

The organisation moved its base to Vienna after Switzerland declined to extend diplomatic privileges.

The Arab League was founded in 1945 in which city?

The Arab League was founded in Cairo on 22 March 1945 by Egypt, Iraq, Transjordan, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia and Syria, with Yemen joining that May; its headquarters left Cairo for Tunis only from 1979 to 1990.

The Gulf Cooperation Council, founded in 1981, has how many member states?

Six: Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE signed the GCC charter in Abu Dhabi in May 1981, and the council's secretariat sits in Riyadh.

The secret 1916 Anglo-French deal carving up the Ottoman Middle East is named after whom?

Mark Sykes for Britain and François Georges-Picot for France negotiated the secret agreement, concluded in January 1916 and ratified that May; it allotted zones of direct control and spheres of influence from the Mediterranean to Persia.

Mohamed Bouazizi's self-immolation in December 2010 sparked the Arab Spring in which country?

Bouazizi, a street vendor in Sidi Bouzid, Tunisia, set himself alight on 17 December 2010; President Ben Ali fled the country on 14 January 2011, the first leader toppled by the Arab Spring.

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak resigned in February 2011 after how many days of mass protests?

Protests began on 25 January 2011 and Mubarak stepped down 18 days later, on 11 February; he had ruled since Anwar Sadat's assassination in October 1981.

Which city is considered the holiest in Islam and the birthplace of Muhammad?

Mecca, in Saudi Arabia's Hejaz region, is where Muhammad was born around 570 AD; non-Muslims are barred from the city, and Muslims around the world face it in prayer.

The Kaaba, which pilgrims circle during the Hajj, stands inside which mosque?

The Kaaba stands in the courtyard of Masjid al-Haram, the Great Mosque of Mecca and the largest mosque in the world; Muslims believe Abraham and Ishmael raised its foundations.

How many times do Hajj pilgrims walk around the Kaaba during the tawaf?

They circle it counter-clockwise, dressed in the plain white ihram.

Jerusalem's Old City has been divided since the 19th century into how many quarters?

They are the Armenian, Christian, Jewish and Muslim quarters.

Israel captured East Jerusalem in which 1967 conflict?

In the Six-Day War of 5 to 10 June 1967 Israel took East Jerusalem from Jordan, along with the West Bank, Gaza, the Sinai and the Golan Heights.

On what date did Israel declare independence?

David Ben-Gurion proclaimed the state in Tel Aviv on 14 May 1948, hours before the British Mandate expired at midnight; Egypt, Transjordan, Syria, Iraq and Lebanon attacked the next day.

What is the name of Israel's parliament?

The Knesset is a single chamber of 120 members elected by nationwide proportional representation; it has sat in Jerusalem since 1949.

Petra, the rock-cut city in Jordan, was built by which nomadic Arab people?

The Nabataeans, Arab traders who controlled the incense routes, carved Petra from about the 4th century BC; Rome annexed their kingdom as Arabia Petraea in 106 AD.

Petra is nicknamed the 'Rose City' because of what?

Petra's 'Rose City' nickname comes from the pink-red colour of the sandstone its tombs are carved from, fixed in John William Burgon's 1845 line 'a rose-red city half as old as time'.

Which Swiss traveller 'rediscovered' Petra for the Western world in 1812?

Johann Ludwig Burckhardt, travelling as 'Sheikh Ibrahim', reached Petra in August 1812; the next year he became the first European to report the temples of Abu Simbel.

The Burj Khalifa is named after Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed, the former president of which country?

Sheikh Khalifa was president of the UAE from 2004 until his death in 2022; his emirate, Abu Dhabi, bailed out Dubai in the 2009 debt crisis, and 'Burj Dubai' was renamed at its January 2010 opening.

The United Arab Emirates is a federation of how many emirates?

Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Ajman, Sharjah, Ras Al Khaimah, Umm Al Quwain and Fujairah.

Before independence in 1971, the UAE emirates were collectively what British protectorate?

The Trucial States took their name from the 1853 Perpetual Maritime Truce the sheikhdoms signed with Britain; they became the UAE on independence in December 1971.

Iran was known internationally by what name until 1935?

Persia was the name used abroad until Reza Shah's government asked foreign states, from Nowruz (21 March) 1935, to use the native name Iran in official correspondence.

Who became Iran's first supreme leader after the 1979 revolution overthrew the monarchy?

Ruhollah Khomeini returned on 1 February 1979 from 14 years of exile, the last months at Neauphle-le-Château outside Paris, and became Supreme Leader under the constitution adopted that December.

Cyrus the Great founded which dynasty's realm, the largest Iranian state in history?

Cyrus the Great founded the Achaemenid Empire around 550 BC by overthrowing the Medes; under Darius I it reached from the Balkans to the Indus, and Darius began the ceremonial capital of Persepolis.

In which year was oil discovered in the Al-Ahsa region on the Arabian Gulf coast?

Dammam Well No. 7 struck oil in commercial quantities in March 1938, five years after Standard Oil of California won its Saudi concession; the kingdom went on to become the world's leading oil exporter.

Which Gulf state hosted the 2022 FIFA World Cup, the first in an Arab country?

Qatar staged the tournament from 20 November to 18 December 2022, with the final at Lusail; it was the first World Cup in an Arab country and the first played in the northern winter.

Amman, the capital of Jordan, was known by what name in antiquity?

Amman was renamed Philadelphia after Ptolemy II Philadelphus, who rebuilt it in the 3rd century BC, and was counted among the Decapolis cities under Rome.

Egypt spans two continents; which part of it lies in Asia?

The Sinai Peninsula, east of the Suez Canal, is Egypt's Asian portion; the canal is the conventional Africa-Asia boundary, and the Sinai covers about 60,000 square kilometres.

Which of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World is the only one still standing?

It is also the oldest of the seven.

The White Nile and Blue Nile meet at which capital city?

The two rivers meet at Khartoum, Sudan's capital, at the point called al-Mogran; the Blue Nile from Lake Tana in Ethiopia supplies most of the combined flow.

Which two languages are official in Iraq?

Iraq's 2005 constitution makes Arabic and Kurdish the two official languages nationwide, with Turkmen and Syriac official in the administrative units where their speakers are concentrated.

In which year did Saddam Hussein become president of Iraq?

Saddam Hussein became president on 16 July 1979 when Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr resigned, purging the Ba'ath leadership days later; he held power until the US-led invasion of 2003.

Which two Syrian cities are among the oldest continuously inhabited in the world?

Damascus and Aleppo both claim settlement stretching back more than 5,000 years; Aleppo appears in the Ebla tablets of the 3rd millennium BC and Damascus in Egyptian records of the 15th century BC.

What tree appears in green on the flag of Lebanon?

A green Lebanon cedar sits on the white band between two red stripes; the flag was adopted on 7 December 1943, weeks after independence from France.

Which ancient maritime civilisation was based in what is now Lebanon?

Phoenicia, a string of city-states such as Tyre, Sidon and Byblos, traded across the Mediterranean from about 1500 BC; its 22-letter alphabet, adopted by the Greeks around 800 BC, is the ancestor of Latin script.

Which Arab state describes itself as the oldest independent state in the Arab world?

Oman calls itself the oldest independent state in the Arab world, dating its statehood to the expulsion of the Portuguese from Muscat in 1650 and the Al Said dynasty founded in 1744.

Which sultan ruled Oman from 1970 until his death in 2020?

Qaboos bin Said deposed his father Said bin Taimur in a 1970 palace coup and reigned until January 2020, by then the Arab world's longest-serving ruler.

North and South Yemen united to form the Republic of Yemen in which year?

The Yemen Arab Republic in the north and the People's Democratic Republic of Yemen in the south merged on 22 May 1990 under Ali Abdullah Saleh, with Sanaa as capital.

Yemen's port of Mocha lent its name to what?

Mocha on the Red Sea was the chief coffee-exporting port from the 15th to the 17th century, so 'mocha' became a name for coffee and later for the chocolate-coffee drink.

Iraq invaded and annexed which neighbour in August 1990, triggering the Gulf War?

Retreating Iraqi troops set the oil wells on fire in February 1991.

Which country's dinar was the world's most valuable currency unit in 2026?

In 2026 one Kuwaiti dinar was worth about 3.25 US dollars, more than any other currency unit.

Bahrain was famous from antiquity until the 19th century for what industry?

Bahrain's pearl fishing, reckoned the finest in the Gulf, sustained the islands for millennia until Japanese cultured pearls and the 1932 oil strike killed the trade in the 1930s.

Jordan signed a peace treaty with Israel in which year?

The Wadi Araba treaty was signed on 26 October 1994 in the presence of King Hussein, Yitzhak Rabin and Bill Clinton, 15 years after Egypt's 1979 treaty, the first Arab-Israeli peace agreement.

Turkey's largest city is Istanbul, but which city is its capital?

Ankara was declared the capital on 13 October 1923, days before the Republic was proclaimed under Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, replacing the old Ottoman capital of Istanbul.

In which year did the Ottomans capture Constantinople?

Mehmed II's army took Constantinople on 29 May 1453 after a 53-day siege, ending the Byzantine Empire and making the city the Ottoman capital.

Istanbul straddles which strait, one of the busiest waterways in the world?

The Bosphorus, about 31 kilometres long and 700 metres wide at its narrowest, joins the Black Sea to the Sea of Marmara; roughly two-thirds of Istanbul's 15 million people live on its European side.

In 2022 the Turkish government asked the UN to use which name for the country in English?

The UN switched to 'Türkiye' on 1 June 2022, the day after Ankara's letter arrived, following a December 2021 decree by President Erdoğan to drop the English spelling shared with the bird.

Göbekli Tepe, in southeastern Turkey, is roughly how old?

Göbekli Tepe's carved T-shaped pillars were raised around 9500 BC, roughly 12,000 years ago, some 6,000 years before Stonehenge and 7,000 before the Giza pyramids.

Arabic is written in which direction?

Arabic runs right to left, like Hebrew and Persian; its script is an abjad of 28 letters, most of which change shape depending on their position in a word.

Which US president's doctrine marked Washington's first official use of the term 'Middle East'?

The 1957 Eisenhower Doctrine was Washington's first official use of 'Middle East'; Secretary of State John Foster Dulles defined it as everything between and including Libya in the west and Pakistan in the east.

Which British diplomat wrote the 1902 Times series 'The Middle Eastern Question'?

His 20-article series followed the reprinting of Alfred Thayer Mahan's essay that had first popularised the phrase.