# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Area

5,994,935 km ² (2,314,657 sq mi) a

Population

313,450,000 (2018) ( 9th)[1][2]

Population density

50.1/km ² (130/sq mi)

GDP (PPP)

$9.063 trillion (2019)[3]

GDP (nominal)

$3.383 trillion (2019)[3]

GDP per capita

$10,793 (2019; nominal)[3]
$28,918 (2019; PPP)[3]

HDI

0.699 ( medium )

Ethnic groups

Semitic, Turkic, Iranic, Armenian, North Caucasian, Georgians, Hellenic, Indo-Aryan, etc.

Religions

Islam, Christianity, Judaism, Baháʼí, Druzism, Yarsanism, Yazidism, Zoroastrianism, Mandaeism, Hinduism, Buddhism, etc.

Demonym

West Asian
Western Asian

Countries

Dependencies

Languages

Time zones

UTC+02:00:

UTC+03:00:

Daylight: Cyprus, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine, Syria

Standard: Bahrain, Iraq, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Yemen

UTC+03:30:

UTC+04:00:

UTC+04:30:

Internet TLD

.ae, .am, .az, .bh, .cy, .eg, .ge, .il, .iq, .ir, .jo, .kw, .lb, .om, .ps, .qa, .sa, .sy, .tr, .ye

Calling code
Zone 9 except Armenia, Cyprus (Zone 3) & Sinai (Zone 2)

Largest cities

UN M49 code

145 - West Asia
142 - Asia
001 - World

a Area and population figures include the Sinai

West Asia, also called Western Asia or Southwest Asia, is the westernmost region of Asia. As defined by most academics, UN bodies and other institutions, the subregion consists of Anatolia, the Arabian Peninsula, Iran, Mesopotamia, the Armenian highlands, the Levant, the island of Cyprus, the Sinai Peninsula and the South Caucasus.[4][5][6] The region is separated from Africa by the Isthmus of Suez in Egypt, and separated from Europe by the waterways of the Turkish Straits and the watershed of the Greater Caucasus. Central Asia lies to its northeast, while South Asia lies to its east. Twelve seas surround the region (clockwise): the Aegean Sea, the Sea of Marmara, the Black Sea, the Caspian Sea, the Persian Gulf, the Gulf of Oman, the Arabian Sea, the Gulf of Aden, the Red Sea, the Gulf of Aqaba, the Gulf of Suez, and the Mediterranean Sea. West Asia contains the majority of the similarly defined Middle East. The Middle East is a political term that has changed many times depending on political and historical context while West Asia is a geographical term with more consistency. It excludes most of Egypt and the northwestern part of Turkey, and includes the southern part of the Caucasus.

West Asia covers an area of 5,994,935 km ² (2,314,657 sq mi), with a population of about 313 million.[1][2] Of the 20 UN member countries fully or partly within the region, 13 are part of the Arab world. The most populous countries in West Asia are Iran, Turkey, Iraq, Saudi Arabia and Yemen.

In the World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions (WGSRPD), West Asia excludes the Arabian Peninsula and includes Afghanistan.[7] The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) excludes Egypt and includes Afghanistan.[8] The United Nations Environment Programme excludes Cyprus, Israel, Turkey, and Iran from West Asia.[9]

Definition

The term West Asia is used pragmatically and has no "correct" or generally accepted definition. Its typical definitions overlap substantially, but not entirely, with definitions of the terms Middle East, Eastern Mediterranean, and Near East (which is historically familiar but widely deprecated today). The National Geographic Style Manual as well as Maddison's The World Economy: Historical Statistics (2003) by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) include only Bahrain, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar, Palestine (called West Bank and Gaza in the latter), Saudi Arabia, Syria, Turkey, UAE, and Yemen as West Asian countries.[10][11] By contrast, the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) in its 2015 yearbook includes Armenia and Azerbaijan, and excludes Israel (as Other) and Turkey (as Europe).[12]

Unlike the UNIDO, the United Nations Statistics Division (UNSD) excludes Iran from West Asia and includes Turkey, Georgia, and Cyprus in the region.[13] In the United Nations geopolitical Eastern European Group, Armenia and Georgia are included in Eastern Europe, whereas Cyprus and East Thracian Turkey are in Southern Europe. These three nations are listed in the European category of the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO).

National members of West Asian sports governing bodies are limited to Bahrain, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Syria, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, and Yemen.[14][15][16] The Olympic Council of Asia's multi-sport event West Asian Games are contested by athletes representing these 13 countries. Among the region's sports organisations are the West Asia Basketball Association, West Asian Billiards and Snooker Federation, West Asian Football Federation, and the West Asian Tennis Federation.

History

"Western Asia" was in use as a geographical term in the early 19th century, before " Near East" became current as a geopolitical concept.[17] In the context of the history of classical antiquity, "Western Asia" could mean the part of Asia known in classical antiquity, as opposed to the reaches of "interior Asia", i.e. Scythia, and "Eastern Asia" the easternmost reaches of geographical knowledge in classical authors, i.e. Transoxania and India.[18][19][20] In the 20th century, "Western Asia" was used to denote a rough geographical era in the fields of archaeology and ancient history, especially as a shorthand for "the Fertile Crescent excluding Ancient Egypt" for the purposes of comparing the early civilizations of Egypt and the former.[21]

Use of the term in the context of contemporary geopolitics or world economy appears to date from at least the mid-1960s.[22]

Geography

The region is surrounded by eight major seas; the Aegean Sea, the Black Sea, the Caspian Sea, the Persian Gulf, the Arabian Sea, the Gulf of Aden, the Red Sea, and the Mediterranean Sea.

To the northwest and north, the region is delimited from Europe by the Turkish Straits and drainage divide of the Greater Caucasus, to the southwest, it is delimited from Africa by the Isthmus of Suez, while to the northeast and east, the region adjoins Central Asia and South Asia. The region is located east of Southern Europe and south of Eastern Europe.

The Dasht-e Kavir and Dasht-e Lut deserts in eastern Iran naturally delimit the region from Balochistan and South Asia.

Geology

Plate tectonics

Three major tectonic plates converge on West Asia, including the African, Eurasian, and Arabian plates. The boundaries between the tectonic plates make up the Azores-Gibraltar Ridge, extending across North Africa, the Red Sea, and into Iran.[23][better source needed ] The Arabian Plate is moving northward into the Anatolian plate (Turkey) at the East Anatolian Fault,[24] and the boundary between the Aegean and Anatolian plate in eastern Turkey is also seismically active.[23]

Water resources

Several major aquifers provide water to large portions of West Asia. In Saudi Arabia, two large aquifers of Palaeozoic and Triassic origins are located beneath the Jabal Tuwayq mountains and areas west to the Red Sea.[25][better source needed ] Cretaceous and Eocene-origin aquifers are located beneath large portions of central and eastern Saudi Arabia, including Wasia and Biyadh which contain amounts of both fresh water and saline water.[25] Flood or furrow irrigation, as well as sprinkler methods, are extensively used for irrigation, covering nearly 90,000 km ² (35,000 sq mi) across West Asia for agriculture.[26] Also, the Tigris and Euphrates rivers contribute very well.

Climate

A Lebanese Cedar Forest in winter

Köppen climate classification map of West Asia

West Asia is primarily arid and semi-arid, and can be subject to drought, but it also contains vast expanses of forest and fertile valleys. The region consists of grasslands, rangelands, deserts, and mountains. Water shortages are a problem in many parts of West Asia, with rapidly growing populations increasing demands for water, while salinization and pollution threaten water supplies.[27] Major rivers, including the Tigris and Euphrates, provide sources for irrigation water to support agriculture.

There are two wind phenomena in West Asia: the sharqi and the shamal. The sharqi (or sharki) is a wind that comes from the south and southeast. It is seasonal, lasting from April to early June, and comes again between late September and November. The winds are dry and dusty, with occasional gusts up to 80 kilometres per hour (50 miles per hour) and often kick up violent sand and dust storms that can carry sand a few thousand meters high, and can close down airports for short periods of time. These winds can last for a full day at the beginning and end of the season, and for several days during the middle of the season. The shamal is a summer northwesterly wind blowing over Iraq and the Persian Gulf states (including Saudi Arabia and Kuwait), often strong during the day, but decreasing at night. This weather effect occurs anywhere from once to several times a year.[28]

Topography

West Asia contains large areas of mountainous terrain. The Anatolian Plateau is sandwiched between the Pontus Mountains and Taurus Mountains in Turkey. Mount Ararat in Turkey rises to 5,137 m (16,854 ft). The Zagros Mountains are located in Iran, in areas along its border with Iraq. The Central Plateau of Iran is divided into two drainage basins. The northern basin is Dasht-e Kavir (Great Salt Desert), and Dasht-e-Lut is the southern basin.

In Yemen, elevations exceed 3,700 m (12,100 ft) in many areas, and highland areas extend north along the Red Sea coast and north into Lebanon. A fault zone also exists along the Red Sea, with continental rifting creating trough-like topography with areas located well below sea level.[29] The Dead Sea, located on the border between the West Bank, Israel, and Jordan, is situated at 418 m (1,371 ft) below sea level, making it the lowest point on the surface of the Earth.[30]

Rub' al Khali, one of the world's largest sand deserts, spans the southern third of the Arabian Peninsula in Saudi Arabia, parts of Oman, the United Arab Emirates and Yemen. Jebel al Akhdar is a small range of mountains located in northeastern Oman, bordering the Gulf of Oman.

Demographics

The population of West Asia was estimated at 272 million as of 2008, projected to reach 370 million by 2030 by Maddison (2007; the estimate excludes the Caucasus and Cyprus). This corresponds to an annual growth rate of 1.4% (or a doubling time of 50 years), well above the world average of 0.9% (doubling time 75 years). The population of West Asia is estimated at 4% of world population, up from about 39 million at the beginning of the 20th century, or about 2% of world population at the time.[31]

The most populous countries in the region are Turkey and Iran, each with around 79 million people, followed by Iraq and Saudi Arabia with around 33 million people each, and Yemen with around 29 million people.

Numerically, West Asia is predominantly Arab, Persian, Turkish, and the dominating languages are correspondingly Arabic, Persian and Turkish, each with of the order of 70 million speakers, followed by smaller communities of Kurdish, Azerbaijani, Hebrew, Armenian and Neo-Aramaic. The dominance of Arabic and Turkish is the result of the medieval Arab and Turkic invasions beginning with the Islamic conquests of the 7th century AD, which displaced the formerly dominant Aramaic in the region of Syria, and Greek in Anatolia, although Hebrew became the dominant language in Israel in the second half of the 20th century, and Neo-Aramaic (spoken by modern Arameans, Assyrians, and Chaldeans) and Greek both remain present in their respective territories as minority languages.

Significant native minorities include, in alphabetical order: Arameans, Assyrians, Chaldeans,[33] Druze,[34] Jews, Lurs, Mandeans, Maronites, Shabaks and Yezidis.

Religion

Four major religious groups (i.e. the two largest religions in the world: Christianity and Islam, plus Judaism and Druze faith) originated in West Asia.[36][37][38] Islam is the largest religion in West Asia, but other faiths that originated there, such as Judaism and Christianity,[39] are also well represented.

In Armenia and Georgia, Oriental Orthodoxy and Eastern Orthodoxy respectively are the predominant religions,[40] and there are still different ancient communities of Eastern Christians in Azerbaijan.[40] There are still large ancient communities of Eastern Christians (such as Assyrians, Middle Eastern Christians and Arab Christians) in Lebanon,[40] Iraq,[40] Iran,[41] Turkey,[42][40] Syria,[40] Jordan,[40] Israel and Palestine numbering more than 3 million in West Asia.[40] There are also large populations of expatriate workers which include sizeable Christian communities living in the Arabian Peninsula numbering more than 3 million.[43] Christian communities have played a vital role in West Asia.[44]

Judaism is the predominant religion in Israel, and there are small ancient Jewish communities in West Asia such as in Turkey (14,300),[45] Azerbaijan (9,100),[46] and Iran (8,756).[47]

The Druze Faith or Druzism originated in West Asia. It is a monotheistic religion based on the teachings of figures like Hamza ibn-'Ali ibn-Ahmad and Al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah and Greek philosophers such as Plato and Aristotle. The number of Druze people worldwide is around one million, with about 45% to 50% living in Syria, 35% to 40% living in Lebanon, and less than 10% living in Israel; recently there has been a growing Druze diaspora.[48]

There are also important minority religions like the Baháʼí Faith, Yarsanism, Yazidism,[49] Zoroastrianism, Mandaeism, and Shabakism.

Economy

The economy of West Asia is diverse and the region experiences high economic growth. Turkey has the largest economy in the region, followed by Saudi Arabia and Iran. Petroleum is the major industry in the regional economy, as more than half of the world's oil reserves and around 40 percent of the world's natural gas reserves are located in the region.

Statistical data

Country, with flag

Area
(km²)

Population[50][51]
(2021)

Density
(per km²)

Capital

Nominal GDP[52]
(2012)

Per capita[53]
(2012)

Currency

Government

Official languages

Turkey[note 1]

783,562

84,775,404

94.1

Ankara

$788.042 billion

$10,523

Turkish lira

Presidential republic

Turkish

527,970

32,981,641

44.7

Sana'a ( Houthi-led government)
Aden ( Seat of government)

$35.05 billion

$1,354

Yemeni rial

Provisional presidential republic

Arabic

20,770

8,900,059

365.3

Jerusalem ¹

$353.65 billion

$39,106

Israeli new shekel

Parliamentary republic

Hebrew

Palestine [note 2]

6,220

5,133,392

667

Ramallah ²

$6.6 billion

$1,600

Egyptian pound, Jordanian dinar, Israeli new shekel

Semi-presidential republic

Arabic

Akrotiri and Dhekelia ³

254

15,700

N/A

Episkopi

N/A

N/A

Euro

Stratocratic dependency under a constitutional monarchy

English

Egypt[note 3]

60,000

109,262,178

82

Cairo

$262.26 billion

$3,179

Egyptian pound

Presidential republic

Arabic

Notes:
¹ Ramallah is the actual location of the government, whereas the proclaimed capital of Palestine is Jerusalem, which is disputed.[note 4]
² Jerusalem is the proclaimed capital of Israel and the actual location of the Knesset, Israeli Supreme Court, etc. Due to its disputed status, most embassies are in Tel Aviv.[note 4]
³ British Overseas Territory

Sports

Map

See also

References

Notes

1. The figures for Turkey includes ^ East Thrace, which is not a part of Anatolia.

2. ^ UN observer state.

3. The area and population figures for Egypt only include the ^ Sinai Peninsula.

4. Jerusalem is Israel's de jure capital under Israeli law, as well as its de facto capital by the location of the presidential residence, government offices, supreme court and parliament (Knesset). Jerusalem is the State of Palestine's de jure capital under its "2003 Amended Basic Law". 17 February 2008, but not its de facto capital as its government branches are based in Ramallah. The UN and most sovereign states do not recognize Jerusalem as either state's de jure capital under the position that Jerusalem's status is pending future negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority. In practice, therefore, most maintain their embassies in Tel Aviv and its suburbs, or else in suburbs such as Mevaseret Zion outside Jerusalem proper. See CIA Factbook, "Map of Israel" (PDF) and Status of Jerusalem for more information.

Citations

1. "World Population prospects - Population division". United Nations. Archived from the original on 5 February 2019.

2. "Overall total population" (xlsx). United Nations.

3. ^ "World Economic Outlook Database". imf.org. IMF. Outlook Database, October 2020

4. ^ "Land Use Dynamics and Institutional Changes in West Asia" (PDF).

5. ^ "World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2016-01-25.

6. ^ Brummitt, R. K. (2001). World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions (PDF) (2nd ed.). International Working Group on Taxonomic Databases For Plant Sciences (TDWG). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2016-01-25.

7. ^ Maddison, Angus (2004). The World Economy: Historical Statistics. Development Centre Studies. Paris, France: Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) (published 2003). ISBN 978-92-64-10412-9. LCCN 2004371607. OCLC 53465560.

8. ^ United Nations Industrial Development Organization Vienna (UNIDO) (2005). International Yearbook of Industrial Statistics 2015. Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar Publishing. p. 14. ISBN 9781784715502.

9. ^ "Standard Country or Area Codes for Statistical Use". Millenniumindicators.un.org. The UNSD notes that the "assignment of countries or areas to specific groupings is merely for statistical convenience and does not imply any assumption regarding political or other affiliation of countries or territories."

10. ^ "The West Asian Games". Topend Sports.

11. e.g. James Rennell, ^ A treatise on the comparative geography of western Asia, 1831.

12. James Rennell, ^ The Geographical System of Herodotus Examined and Explained, 1800, p. 210.

13. Hugh Murray, ^ Historical Account of Discoveries and Travels in Asia (1820).

14. Samuel Whelpley, ^ A compend of history, from the earliest times, 1808, p. 9 Archived 2022-11-20 at the Wayback Machine.

15. e.g. Petrus Van Der Meer, ^ The Chronology of Ancient Western Asia and Egypt, 1955. Karl W. Butzer, Physical Conditions in Eastern Europe, Western Asia and Egypt Before the Period of Agricultural and Urban Settlement, 1965.

16. ^ The Tobacco Industry of Western Asia, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Foreign Agricultural Service, 1964.

17. Beaumont (1988), p. 22

18. ^ Muehlberger, Bill. "The Arabian Plate". NASA, Johnson Space Center. Archived from the original on 2007-07-06.

19. Beaumont (1988), p. 86

20. ^ "Land & Water". Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.

21. ^ Bahl, Taru; M H Syed, eds. (2003). Encyclopaedia of the Muslim World. New Delhi: Anmol Publications. p. 20. ISBN 978-81-261-1419-1.

22. ^ Sweeney, Jerry J.; Walter, William R. (December 1, 1998). "Region #4 - Red Sea Continental Rift Zone" (PDF). Preliminary Definition of Geophysical Regions for the Middle East and North Africa. Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. p. 8. Archived from the original (PDF) on November 27, 2007.

23. ^ "ASTER Image Gallery: The Dead Sea". NASA. Archived from the original on 2006-08-30.

24. Data for "15 West Asian countries", from Maddison (2003, 2007).Angus Maddison, 2003, ^ The World Economy: Historical Statistics, Vol. 2, OECD, Paris, ISBN 92-64-10412-7. Statistical Appendix (2007, ggdc.net) "The historical data were originally developed in three books: Monitoring the World Economy 1820-1992, OECD, Paris 1995; The World Economy: A Millennial Perspective, OECD Development Centre, Paris 2001; The World Economy: Historical Statistics, OECD Development Centre, Paris 2003. All these contain detailed source notes." Estimates for 2008 by country (in millions): Turkey (71.9), Iran (70.2), Iraq (28.2), Saudi Arabia (28.1), Yemen (23.0), Syria (19.7), Israel (6.5), Jordan (6.2), Palestine (4.1), Lebanon (4.0), Oman (3.3), United Arab Emirates (2.7), Kuwait (2.6), Qatar (0.9), Bahrain (0.7).

25. ^ Takacs, Sarolta (2015). The Modern World: Civilizations of Africa, Civilizations of Europe, Civilizations of the Americas, Civilizations of the Middle East and Southwest Asia, Civilizations of Asia and the Pacific. Routledge. p. 552. ISBN 9781317455721.

26. ^ "Global Christianity - A Report on the Size and Distribution of the World's Christian Population" (PDF). Pew Research Center.

27. ^ "Christianity in Turkey".

28. ^ Curtis, Michael (2017). Jews, Antisemitism, and the Middle East. Routledge. p. 173. ISBN 9781351510721.

29. ^ "How many Jews live in Turkey?". Institute for Jewish Policy Research. 10 May 2022.

30. ^ "Jewish woman brutally murdered in Iran over property dispute". The Times of Israel. 28 November 2012. Archived from the original on 19 August 2014. A government census published earlier this year indicated there were a mere 8,756 Jews left in Iran See

31. ^ Fuccaro, Nelida (1999). The Other Kurds: Yazidis in Colonial Iraq. London & New York: I. B. Tauris. p. 9. ISBN 1860641709.

32. ^ "World Population Prospects 2022: Demographic indicators by region, subregion and country, annually for 1950-2100" (XSLX) ("Total Population, as of 1 July (thousands)"). United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division.

Sources

Further reading

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Area 5,994,935 km 2 (2,314,657 sq mi) a Population 313,450,000 (2018) ( 9th)[1] [2] Population density 50.1/km 2 (130/sq mi) GDP (PPP) $9.063 trillion (2019)[3] GDP (nominal) $3.383 trillion (2019)[3] GDP per capita $10,793 (2019; nominal)[3] $28,918 (2019; PPP)[3] HDI 0.699 ( medium ) Ethnic groups Semitic, Turkic, Iranic, Armenian, North Caucasian, Georgians, Hellenic, Indo-Aryan, etc.

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SW Asia (Middle East) Political & Physical Features

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State of Food and Agriculture in Southwest Asia

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State of Food and Agriculture in Southwest Asia

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Southwest Asia

When we think of Asia, we may think of bamboo forests, forbidden cities, and irrigated fields of rice. These things are found in Asia. But they're not found in all of Asia. On the opposite end of the continent from these stereotypes is a whole separate region called Southwest Asia. Many of us know it by a different name: the Middle East. But how much do we really know about this region? Let's take a tour and find out.

Physical Geography

Let's start by looking at the physical geography of Southwest Asia, or the region as it appears in terms of natural features. Southwest Asia stretches from the Arabian Sea in the south up to the Black Sea in the North. It is bounded by the Mediterranean Sea on the west side, and connects to Central Asia through rolling mountains on the east. So, off the bat we can see that the region has access to lots of water, and that most of it is salt water.

Landforms

Southwest Asia gets a negative image as a place of endless deserts, but there really is a lot more to the region than that. It is dominated not just by deserts but by two major peninsulas, surrounded by water. The Anatolian Peninsula, basically what we call the modern nation of Turkey, is situated right in between the Black Sea and the Mediterranean Sea. The Arabian Peninsula is further south, separating the Red Sea, Persian Gulf, and Arabian Sea.

The land of Southwest Asia tends to be hot, and very dry. Southwest Asia has an arid climate, meaning that fresh water is often scarce. In fact, most of the region gets less than 18 inches of precipitation in a year. For that reason, the wadi, or dried riverbed, is a common site in the dry season. You may also expect to see massive sand storms called haboobs.

Water

So, is there water anywhere in Southwest Asia? Yes there is. Besides the numerous salt-water seas we've mentioned, there are parts of this area that actually get reliable rainfall and have adequate springs for fresh water. Most of these are either along the coast of the Mediterranean, which have a pleasant climate like that of Southern Italy or Greece, or the region between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers.

Running parallel across Turkey, Iraq, and Syria, the Tigris and Euphrates are the dominant rivers of the region. The land between them is one of the most fertile river valleys on earth, and in fact most archaeologists believe that is was here that agriculture was first developed by humanity. The rich soil of this region, along with the lush coastlines along the Mediterranean form something of a half-moon shaped territory of great soil and healthy agriculture. For those reasons, historians have termed this the Fertile Crescent.

Human Geography

Of course, not everything in Southwest Asia is composed of purely natural features. Humans have had a major impact on the region as well. We call the study of the relationship between humans and the physical landscape human geography.

Borders

One of the most obvious things we see in terms of human geography is that people like to draw borders, creating nations and states. Countries are not natural features, but are entirely human made. The countries that make up Southwest Asia include Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, Cyprus, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Iraq, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, Oman, Qatar, Afghanistan, Yemen, and Saudi Arabia.

Peoples

While Southwest Asia is home to numerous cultures, there are a few things that unite many of them. First is ethnicity. There are two dominant ethno-linguistic families that dominate Southwest Asia. The various Turkish peoples include the ethnic and linguistic groups of the northern region, located mostly around (you guessed it) Turkey. They are ethnically connected to peoples of Eastern Europe and Central Asia. The rest of Southwest Asia is largely populated by various Semitic speaking groups. The most widely spoken Semitic languages include Hebrew and Arabic.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
When we think of Asia, we may think of bamboo forests, forbidden cities, and irrigated fields of rice. These things are found in Asia. But they're not found in all of Asia. On the opposite end of the continent from these stereotypes is a whole separate region called Southwest Asia.

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01 | Southwest Asia | Geographic Foundations

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Uploaded by jamesbowiegeography on 2014-07-06.