Southwest Asia
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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 Nations subregion geoscheme. Unlike the Middle East, which is broadly-defined to include several North African countries such as Egypt, Southwestern Asia is a purely geographical term that is reserved for the southwestern extremities of the Asian continent.
Southwest Asia is partly co-terminous 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[1]) and also in countries to the east of the region, such as India and Australia, because of the perceived Eurocentrism of the historical term Middle East.[citation needed] In terms of cultural and political geography, the Middle East often includes North African countries, particularly Egypt.
The United Nations includes Turkey, Cyprus, Armenia, Georgia, and Azerbaijan in Western Asia. However, these countries also lie in regions that straddle both Asia and Europe, and have sociopolitical ties to both.
The Asian part of the Arab world (including Arabia proper) is called the Mashreq in Arabic.
- See continent and transcontinental country for further definitions
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[edit] Countries in Southwest Asia
Some of the countries classified as southwest Asian are sometimes classified differently. People from Afghanistan, for example, can be considered from Central Asia, South Asia[2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16], or West Asia[17].
In most contexts, Southwest Asia encompasses the UN Subregion of Western Asia:
Armenia
Azerbaijan (Partially in Europe)
Bahrain
Cyprus
Egypt (Mostly in Africa)
Georgia (Partially in Europe)
Iraq
Israel
Jordan
Kuwait
Lebanon
Oman
Palestinian Territories (Gaza Strip and West Bank)
Qatar
Saudi Arabia
Syria
Turkey (Partially in Europe)
United Arab Emirates
Yemen
The following countries are sometimes associated with Southwestern Asia:
[edit] Use in ethnicity statistics
The Canadian government uses "West Asian" in its statistics; however people from the Arab countries are counted in a separate "Arab" category.[18][19]
[edit] See also
[edit] Other subregions of Asia
[edit] References
- ^ United Nations Cartographic Section Web Site
- ^ CIA world factbook, Afghanistan - Geography (Location: Southern Asia)
- ^ Center for South Asia Studies: University of California, Berkeley [1]
- ^ Center for South Asia Outreach UW-Madison [2]
- ^ Department of South Asia Studies: University of Pennsylvania [3]
- ^ South Asia: Data, Projects, and Research [4]
- ^ MAPS SHOWING GEOLOGY, OIL AND GAS FIELDS AND GEOLOGICAL PROVINCES OF SOUTH ASIA [5] Includes Afghanistan and Bhutan
- ^ Afghanistan-Tajikistan Bridge Links Central, South Asia [6] Refers to Afghanistan as South Asian and Tajikistan as Central Asian
- ^ University of Washington Jackson School of International Studies: The South Asia Center http://jsis.washington.edu/advise/catalog/soasia-b.html
- ^ Syracruse University: The South Asia Center http://www.maxwell.syr.edu/moynihan/programs/sac/
- ^ Center for South Asian Studies
- ^ http://www.brandeis.edu/registrar/catalog/one-subject.php?subject_id=6550 this sources admits in certain contexts that Tibet and Afghanistan are South Asian
- ^ http://www.britac.ac.uk/institutes/SSAS/about.htm Tibetan and Afghan flag shown
- ^ Organization - Center for South Asian Studies - Oscar
- ^ University of Hawaii at Manoa | South Asia Collection
- ^ Rutgers, SAS South Asian Studies: - Home
- ^ Ethnic Origin (247), Single and Multiple Ethnic Origin Responses (3) and Sex (3) for the Population of Canada, Provinces, Territories, Census Metropolitan Areas and Census Agglomerations, 2006 Census
- ^ Statistics Canada: Population Groups (28) and Sex (3) for the Population of Canada, Provinces, Territories, Census Metropolitan Areas and Census Agglomerations, 2006 Census
- ^ http://www.google.com/search?q=west+asian+site%3Astatcan.ca
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