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Southwest Asia or Southwestern Asia (largely overlapping with the Middle East) is the southwestern portion of Asia. The term Western Asia is sometimes used in writings about the archeology and the late prehistory of the region, and in the United Nations subregion geoscheme. Unlike the Middle East, which is broadly-defined to include several North African countries such as Egypt, Southwestern Asia is a purely geographical term that is reserved for the southwestern extremities of the Asian continent.

Southwest Asia is partly co-terminous with the traditional European names the Middle East and the Near East, both of which describe the regions' geographical position in relation to Europe rather than their location within Asia. The term Western Asia has become the preferred term of use for the Middle East by international organizations (most notably the United Nations1) and also in countries to the east of the region, such as India and Australia, because of the perceived Eurocentrism of the historical term Middle East.citation needed In terms of cultural and political geography, the Middle East often includes North African countries, particularly Egypt.

The United Nations includes Turkey, Cyprus, Armenia, Georgia, and Azerbaijan in Western Asia. However, these countries also lie in regions that straddle both Asia and Europe, and have sociopolitical ties to both.

The Asian part of the Arab world (including Arabia proper) is called the Mashreq in Arabic.

See continent and transcontinental country for further definitions

Contents

Countries in Southwest Asia

Some of the countries classified as southwest Asian are sometimes classified differently. People from Afghanistan, for example, can be considered from Central Asia, South Asia2345678910111213141516, or West Asia17.

In most contexts, Southwest Asia encompasses the UN Subregion of Western Asia:

The following countries are sometimes associated with Southwestern Asia:

Use in ethnicity statistics

The Canadian government uses "West Asian" in its statistics; however people from the Arab countries are counted in a separate "Arab" category.1819

See also

Other subregions of Asia

References

  1. ^ United Nations Cartographic Section Web Site
  2. ^ CIA world factbook, Afghanistan - Geography (Location: Southern Asia)
  3. ^ Center for South Asia Studies: University of California, Berkeley [1]
  4. ^ Center for South Asia Outreach UW-Madison [2]
  5. ^ Department of South Asia Studies: University of Pennsylvania [3]
  6. ^ South Asia: Data, Projects, and Research [4]
  7. ^ MAPS SHOWING GEOLOGY, OIL AND GAS FIELDS AND GEOLOGICAL PROVINCES OF SOUTH ASIA [5] Includes Afghanistan and Bhutan
  8. ^ Afghanistan-Tajikistan Bridge Links Central, South Asia [6] Refers to Afghanistan as South Asian and Tajikistan as Central Asian
  9. ^ University of Washington Jackson School of International Studies: The South Asia Center http://jsis.washington.edu/advise/catalog/soasia-b.html
  10. ^ Syracruse University: The South Asia Center http://www.maxwell.syr.edu/moynihan/programs/sac/
  11. ^ Center for South Asian Studies
  12. ^ http://www.brandeis.edu/registrar/catalog/one-subject.php?subject_id=6550 this sources admits in certain contexts that Tibet and Afghanistan are South Asian
  13. ^ http://www.britac.ac.uk/institutes/SSAS/about.htm Tibetan and Afghan flag shown
  14. ^ Organization - Center for South Asian Studies - Oscar
  15. ^ University of Hawaii at Manoa | South Asia Collection
  16. ^ Rutgers, SAS South Asian Studies: - Home
  17. ^ Ethnic Origin (247), Single and Multiple Ethnic Origin Responses (3) and Sex (3) for the Population of Canada, Provinces, Territories, Census Metropolitan Areas and Census Agglomerations, 2006 Census
  18. ^ Statistics Canada: Population Groups (28) and Sex (3) for the Population of Canada, Provinces, Territories, Census Metropolitan Areas and Census Agglomerations, 2006 Census
  19. ^ http://www.google.com/search?q=west+asian+site%3Astatcan.ca
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