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Mashriq

From Tilcayo Cats, the lean encyclopaedia by Tilcayo Knowledge Systems
This article is about a transcontinental region. For other uses, see Mashriq (disambiguation).
"Mashreq" redirects here. For the bank, see Mashreq (bank).
Mashriq
المشرق
Countries and territories
Major regional organizationsArab League, GCC, GAFTA, COMESA, Community of Sahel–Saharan States, Union for the Mediterranean
DemonymMashriqi
Population275,102,630 (2018)[1]
Languages
ReligionIslam, Christianity, Mandaeism, Judaism, Druze, Samaritanism, Yezidism and Alawisim

The Mashriq (/məˈʃriːk/; Arabic: ْاَلْمَشْرِق, romanized: al-Mashriq, lit. 'the east'), also known as the Arab Mashriq (Arabic: اَلْمَشْرِقُ الْعَرَبِيُّ, romanized: al-Mashriq al-ʿArabi, lit. 'the Arab east'), sometimes spelled Mashreq or Mashrek, is the eastern part of the Arab world (as opposed to the western Maghreb region), located in West Asia and eastern North Africa (Nubia).[2] It is the Arabic equivalent for the term Middle East.[3] Poetically the "Place of Sunrise", the name is derived from the verb sharaqa (َشَرَق, "to shine, illuminate, radiate" and "to rise"), from the sh-r-q root (ش-ر-ق), referring to the east, where the sun rises[4][5] — in this regard analogous to the Latinate term "Levant".

The region includes the Arab-majority states of Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the Sudan, Syria, the United Arab Emirates, and Yemen.[3][6][7][8]

Geography

As the word Mashriq refers to Arab countries located between the Mediterranean Sea and Iran, it is the companion term to Maghreb (Arabic: المغرب), the western half of the Arab world comprising Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia, and Libya. Libya may also be regarded as straddling the two regions. Cyrenaica in eastern Libya is considered part of the Mashriq, whereas Tripolitania in western Libya is considered part of the Maghreb. Therefore Sirtica or the Gulf of Sidra is considered the dividing point between the Maghreb and Mashreq within the Arab world.[7][8]

These geographical terms date from the early Islamic expansion. The Mashriq corresponds to the Bilad al-Sham and Mesopotamian regions combined.[9] As of 2014, the Mashriq is home to 1.7% of the global population.[10][11][12][13][14][15]

Cooperation

All of the countries located in the Arab Mashreq area are members of the Arab League, the Greater Arab Free Trade Area, and the United Nations. The region cooperates in several projects including the Arab Mashreq International Road Network and the Arab Mashreq International Railway. Several nations are also members of the GCC and others have tried to achieve political unity in the past, such as the United Arab Republic in the 1950s and 1960s, which originally included both Egypt and Syria.

See also

References

  1. ↑ "The World Factbook — Central Intelligence Agency". www.cia.gov. Archived from the original on June 13, 2007. Retrieved 2018-08-06.
  2. ↑ "Economic interrogation in the mashriq" (PDF). world bank, siteresources. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2015-10-10.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Everett-Heath, John (2018). The Concise Dictionary of World Place-Names (4th ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-186632-6. OCLC 1053905476.
  4. ↑ Alvarez, Lourdes María (2009). Abu Al-Ḥasan Al-Shushtarī. Paulist Press. p. 157. ISBN 978-0-8091-0582-3.
  5. ↑ Peek, Philip M.; Yankah, Kwesi (2003-12-12). African Folklore: An Encyclopedia. Routledge. p. 442. ISBN 978-1-135-94873-3.
  6. ↑ "Mashriq | geographical region, Middle East". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 2021-08-16.
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 "Libya - Geography". www.country-data.com. Retrieved 2023-06-12.
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 Le Gall, Michel; Perkins, Kenneth (2010). The Maghrib in Question: Essays in History and Historiography. University of Texas Press. p. 8. ISBN 978-0-292-78838-1.
  9. ↑ Clancy-Smith, Julia (2013-11-05). North Africa, Islam and the Mediterranean World. Routledge. p. 98. ISBN 978-1-135-31213-8.
  10. ↑ Official estimate of the Population of Egypt Archived May 25, 2013, at the Wayback Machine
  11. ↑ UN estimate for Lebanon
  12. ↑ "Official Jordanian population clock". Archived from the original on January 17, 2012.
  13. ↑ "National Main Statistical Indicators". State of Palestine – Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics. Archived from the original on 2016-12-03. Retrieved 2016-05-02.
  14. ↑ UN estimate for Syria
  15. ↑ "Iraq". The World Bank. Retrieved 2023-12-21.
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