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The Middle East is an area of land and group of countries in southwestern Asia and north Africa.

Today, people usually call these countries "Middle Eastern":

• Afghanistan
• Bahrain
• Cyprus
• Egypt
• Iran
• Iraq
• Israel
• Jordan
• Kuwait
• Lebanon
• Libya
• Oman
• Palestine (the West Bank and the Gaza Strip)
• Qatar
• Saudi Arabia
• Syria
• Turkey
• United Arab Emirates
• Yemen

Sometimes, people also call these countries Middle Eastern: Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia in North Africa, and the countries Afghanistan and Pakistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan in Central Asia.

Ancient civilizations began in the Middle East. These were Sumer, Babylonia and Assyria in the area called Mesopotamia, and Ancient Egypt. The three religions that believe in one God also came from the Middle East. Judaism and Christianity began in ancient Israel and Islam began in Arabia.

Today, the Middle East is very important because a lot of the oil that other countries need comes from here. There are also many arguments and fights here, such as the Arab-Israeli Wars and the Iraq War.

Source: wikipedia.org