History of the Middle East

The Middle East, or the Near East, was one of the cradles of civilization: after the Neolithic Revolution and the adoption of agriculture, many of the world's oldest cultures and civilizations were created there. Since ancient times, the Middle East has had several lingua franca: Akkadian, Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek, and Arabic.^[1][2][3] The Sumerians, around the 5th millennium BC, were among the first to develop a civilization. By 3150 BC, Egyptian civilization unified under its first pharaoh.^[4] Mesopotamia hosted powerful empires, notably Assyria which lasted for 1,500 years. For centuries after the 7th century BC, the region was dominated by Persian powers like the Achaemenid Empire.

In the 1st century BC, the Roman Republic conquered most of the region, and its successor, the Roman Empire (its rule from the 6th to 15th centuries AD referred to as the Byzantine Empire), grew significantly more. Roman pagan religions were replaced by Christianity in the 4th century AD. From the 3rd to 7th centuries, Rome ruled alongside the Sasanian Empire. From the 7th century, Islam spread rapidly, creating a new Arab identity in the region. The Seljuk dynasty displaced Arab dominance in the 11th century, followed by the Mongol Empire in the 13th century.

In the 15th century, the Ottoman Empire invaded most of Anatolia, and dissolved the Byzantine Empire by capturing Constantinople in 1453. The Ottomans and the Safavid dynasty were rivals from the early 16th century. By 1700, the Ottomans were pushed out of Hungary. The British Empire gained control over the Persian Gulf in the 19th century, while French colonial empire extended into Lebanon and Syria. Regional rulers sought modernization to match European powers. A key moment came with the discovery of oil, first in Persia (1908), then in Saudi Arabia (1938), and other Gulf states, leading to increased Western interest in the region. In the 1920s to 1940s, Syria and Egypt pursued independence.

The British, French, and Soviets withdrew from much of the region during and after World War II. The Arab–Israeli conflict in Palestine culminated in the 1947 United Nations plan to partition Palestine. Amid Cold War tensions, pan-Arabism emerged in the region. The end of European colonial control, the establishment of Israel, and the rise of the petroleum industry shaped the modern Middle East. Despite economic growth, many countries faced challenges like political restrictions, corruption, cronyism and overreliance on oil. The wealthiest per capita are the small, oil-rich Persian Gulf states: Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain, and the UAE.

Several key events shaped the modern Middle East: the 1967 Six-Day War,^[5] the 1973 OPEC oil embargo in response to US support for Israel in the Yom Kippur War,^[5][6] and the rise of Salafism/Wahhabism in Saudi Arabia that led to rise of Islamism.^[7] Additionally, the Iranian Revolution contributed to a significant Islamic revival.^[8] The dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 ended the Cold War, and regional conflict was soon made part of the War on Terror. In the early 2010s, the Arab Spring triggered major protests and revolutions in the region. Clashes in western Iraq in 2013 set the stage for the Islamic State (IS)'s expansion.