A reflection is necessary before approaching a journey as rich and complex as the one in the Middle East, full of suggestions and references to modern history, but set in a scenario in which the most ancient past of civilization and the world we know today is deeply rooted.
What does “Middle East” mean
It is often misleading to identify a geographical area with very varied characteristics with a unique name. This is the case of the Middle East, a definition invented during the nineteenth-century colonial period by the British Colonial Secretary to refer to a large area already under the Ottoman Empire, which extended from Morocco to Turkey, including Greece.
The Middle East as we know it today is the result of the agreements following the First World War between the European colonial powers (especially France, Great Britain and Russia) who agreed on how to divide the ashes of the Ottoman Empire and on how to shape the borders of the individual States that made up the mosaic of the so-called Near East: countries not always corresponding to the nationalities of the populations, but which today range from Turkey to Yemen, from Egypt to Iran, passing through Oman and Jordan.
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Middle East: A journey to understand the present
The geographical location of the Middle East, nestled between Europe, Africa and Asia, as well as the richness and variety of its territories, have for centuries made it a fundamental passageway, a sort of vital artery in communication and trade between three continents.
The welcoming and cordial vocation of peoples such as the Jordanian and the Iranian was born at the dawn of time when the caravan routes plowed through the deserts and plateaus to give life to flourishing commercial exchanges.
The caravanserai that arose in the cities of the desert gave refuge and protection to the merchants who, among the first true travelers in history, brought spices, precious stones, perfumes, fabrics from one part of the world to another.
The long commercial journeys that united the West and the East of the planet since the time of Herodotus, not only contributed to the exchange of precious goods but also favored, through its infinite stages and ramifications, the spread of great ideas and new religions.
Mathematics, geometry, astronomy, Buddhism – for example – traveled and spread along with silk and rare gems. Today, traveling in the Middle Eastern context means rediscovering the cultural roots of the great Roman, Chinese, Indian, Egyptian and Persian civilizations which
found here a formidable hub of interchange and which from here laid the foundations of the modern world.
The Middle East and the history of the world
The incessant passage of traders, explorers, adventurers, armies and often entire peoples from Middle Eastern lands has favored over the centuries a process of continuous cultural evolution and mixing of ideas.
Every civilization transited or settled between the Bosphorus and the Nile, between the Tigris and the Euphrates, has left a cultural, architectural, linguistic and ethnic trace capable of forming the basis of current national identities.
Visiting contemporary Iran, for example, means opening a history book and scrolling through countless chapters that tell us the stories of infinite dynasties, from the Achaemenid to the Safavid one., passing through the Macedonians, the Parthians, the Sassanids, the Arabs and the Mongols.
The traveler will discover that the mysterious Middle East, with all its current and ancient contradictions, is actually a fundamental piece for the understanding of modern cultures: the three main monotheistic religions were born here (Christianity, Judaism and Islam).
Here some of the most numerous and significant ethnic groups in the world were born or met and often clashed, such as the Arabs, Persians, Turks, Kurds, Jews, Armenians with their cultural specificities; here there are some very ancient cities such as Damascus.
Here are some of the richest and most precious archaeological sites in the world such as the amazing Petra, in the Jordanian mountains, declared in 2007 one of the “seven wonders of the world” and the magnificent Persepolis, with its “Gate of Nations” wanted by King Xerxes I to symbolize the meeting and harmony of all the peoples of his kingdom.
The best time to travel to the Middle East
Generally speaking, the climate of Iran is continental: harsh in winter, hot and dry in summer. Altitude can cause variations, but aridity is the element that most characterizes this country.
The temperature has an average of 20
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