The Middle East is the area between the Arabian and Mediterranean Seas, ranging from Egypt in the west to Iran in the East.
Two million years ago a first of several
waves of long-legged Homo Erectus used the Levantine Corridor on its way from Africa to the greener fields of Asia. Much later
modern humans followed suit.
At 10.000 BC, helped by a benine climate, people changed to a grain growing culture, giving rise
to city-states near fertile river valleys. Sumer was the region`s first urban civilization, soon followed by Ancient Egypt.The Asyrian Empire was the first regional super power, later followed by Persians, Macedonians and Romans.
Muhammad, the founder ofIslam united most of the Arabian Peninsula under Muslim rule, his successors greatly expanded the territory and religion which eventually
led to the Ottoman Empire.
After WW-I the British and French partitioned the Middle East but after WW-II independence was
restored or gained, including for the state of Israel, the root-cause the Palestinian conflict.
The invasion of Irak in 2003
has destabilized the region and after the Arab Spring armed uprisings created dead, misery and displacement for millions along the
Sunni and Shiite religeous division lines. It also shaped the horrid conditions for the rise of blood thirsty ISIS.
The
Middle East has many historic and scenic sights, but today most tourists avoid the area.
