Near_East

The Near East is a transcontinental region around the East Mediterranean encompassing parts of West Asia, the Balkans, and North Africa, including the historical Fertile Crescent, the Levant, Anatolia, East Thrace and Egypt. The term was invented by modern Western geographers and was originally applied to the Ottoman Empire, but today has varying definitions within different academic circles. The term Near East was used in conjunction with the Middle East (Iran to Myanmar) and the Far East (China and beyond), together known as the "three Easts"; it was a separate term from the Middle East during earlier times and official British usage. Today, the terms Near East and Middle East are sometimes used interchangeably to refer to the same region.According to National Geographic, the terms Near East and Middle East denote the same territories and are "generally accepted as comprising the countries of the Arabian Peninsula, Cyprus, Egypt, Iraq, Iran, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestinian territories, Syria, and Turkey" with Afghanistan often included.In 1997, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations defined the region similarly, but also included Afghanistan. The part of the region that is in Asia (ie., not including Egypt, the Balkans, and Thrace) is "now commonly referred to as West Asia."South Asian countries, specifically Pakistan, India, and Bangladesh, as well as the Central Asian countries, are included in the definition according to the department of Near Eastern studies at Princeton University.