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Joined: Oct 2000
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Carpal Tunnel
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OP
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 5,400 |
long, long ago, when i was a child there was a place called the near east. it included the countries on the continent of asia, that were close to/had ports on the mediterranian.
Europe is a rather small continent, and its is connected to asia--the Ural mountains in the north are the 'dividing line', and further south, most of turkey is in asia, the straights of the dardenells (a passage from the black sea to mediterranian sea)and other bodies of water seperate europe from asia--i forget exactly which river.
i was taught the asian countries, (turkey, syria, lebenon, and israel to name a few), that touched the mediterranian sea, were the near east.
the mid east was made up of country that did not have mediteranian sea ports-- the mid east extended to india--which was labeled 'the indian sub continent' --(all of the land mass below the himalayan mountains--continents didn't care about what political enties existed). China, japan and countries with Pacific ocean sea ports were part of the far east.
now days, there is no 'near east'. "unrest" in israel is 'unrest' in the 'mid east'.
did 'near east' fall out of favor? is it part of some subtle political correctness that i missed? (i have caught on, its not PC to call asians 'orientals'--they should be referred to by country or ethic origins.)
to further confuse things, there are sub areas that have gotten more political clout/press, so now there is 'south east asia'--which includes several countries..
South east asia can be a political code word for 'vietnam', or for some of the 'asian tigers' (singapore and other areas, depending on context.)
am i the only one to have been sleeping when the near east disappeared?
are there other geographic area that have disappeared that i haven't realized? (i know countries and cities go through name changes, and political unrest (and outright war) moves borders round, all the time, between countries, but i am talking about big changes (i think 'losing' the near east is a big change!)
The US and Mexico have such good relation, that when the Rio Grand--(the nomimal 'border' between US/Mexico)moves (-it is a river with many meanders and is constantly changing its course) diplomats just sit down, and quietly haggle over who gets what, and the news rarely is important to anyone out side of a few counties in texas.
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Joined: Jan 2004
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veteran
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veteran
Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 1,475 |
I'm more familiar with the term Ancient Near East, and that includes ancient Sumer / Babylon, now modern Iraq. The A-H dictionary gives: "Turkey, Lebanon, Israel, Iraq, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and the other countries of the Arabian Peninsula. Egypt and Sudan in northeast Africa are sometimes considered part of the region." I think it's more a toponym of the mind ... I mean to me the Far East is west of me. Also, how did Europe break off from Asia? Isn't this just Eurasia? I can see North and South America because of the narrowness of the Panama isthmus, but the old, so-called Iron Curtain is a pretty wide connector. In Greek, the Anatolian peninsula was simply called the East (place where the Sun rises).
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Joined: Mar 2001
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Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 2,379 |
>>toponym of the mind<<
To say, eurocentric?
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Joined: Jul 2003
Posts: 3,230
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jul 2003
Posts: 3,230 |
>Eurasia.
Yes, I'm on board with this - how a jumped up little peninisula sticking off the butt-end of Asia gets to call itself a continent escapes me. I did read somewhere that, at least before the Suez canal was formed, Euafrasia was also a valid alternative.
As for Central America, I once saw a documentary that looked into its origins as an island that drifted into place between the two separate continents of Nth and Sth America. If this is true, then the Americas certainly have a valid claim to being continents, unlike Europe.
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Joined: Dec 2000
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803 |
I believe there's separate continental plates forming Europe and Asia, not that that's the reason for the separate names, but.
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Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 1,475
veteran
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veteran
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Where's the border then between the two smooshed up plates? Roughly? Maybe that's why they/we won't let Russia into NATO or Turkey into the EU ... 
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Joined: Dec 2000
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803 |
'At's a good question, nuncle. My comment has nothing to back it up but a poorly written, faded note in my JDM®.
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Joined: Mar 2001
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Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Mar 2001
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>>where's the border<<
To hazard a guess, those self-same urals. That would place Russia (tho' not Siberia) well within the NATO's 'toponymic' territory.
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Joined: Mar 2001
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Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Mar 2001
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>>before the Suez Canal<<
I didn't realize it was that deep ;-)
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Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Jun 2002
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Believe me, Dave, it ain't.
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