Editing Middle East (section)

===Usage and criticism===
[[File:Middle East.ogv|thumb|1957 American film about the Middle East]]

The description ''Middle'' has also led to some confusion over changing definitions. Before the [[World War I|First World War]], "Near East" was used in English to refer to the [[Balkans]] and the [[Ottoman Empire]], while "Middle East" referred to the [[Caucasus]], [[Persia]], and Arabian lands,<ref name=wapo2016>{{cite news| url = https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2016/05/19/the-modern-middle-east-is-actually-only-100-years-old/| title = How the Middle East was invented | newspaper = [[The Washington Post]]}}</ref> and sometimes [[Afghanistan]], [[India]] and others.<ref name=UNC>{{Cite web|url=https://mideast.unc.edu/where/|title=Where Is the Middle East? &#124; Center for Middle East and Islamic Studies}}</ref> In contrast, "[[Far East]]" referred to the countries of [[East Asia]] (e.g. [[China]], [[Japan]], and [[Korea]]).<ref>Clyde, Paul Hibbert, and Burton F. Beers. ''The Far East: A History of Western Impacts and Eastern Responses, 1830-1975'' (1975). [https://archive.org/details/lccn_0133029687 online]</ref><ref>Norman, Henry. ''The Peoples and Politics of the Far East: Travels and studies in the British, French, Spanish and Portuguese colonies, Siberia, China, Japan, Korea, Siam and Malaya'' (1904) [https://archive.org/details/peoplesandpolit05normgoog online]</ref>

With the collapse of the Ottoman Empire in 1918, "Near East" largely fell out of common use in English, while "Middle East" came to be applied to the emerging independent countries of the [[Islamic world]]. However, the usage "Near East" was retained by a variety of academic disciplines, including [[archaeology]] and [[ancient history]]. In their usage, the term describes an area identical to the term ''Middle East'', which is not used by these disciplines (see [[ancient Near East]]).{{citation needed|date=January 2022}}

The first official use of the term "Middle East" by the [[Federal government of the United States|United States government]] was in the 1957 [[Eisenhower Doctrine]], which pertained to the [[Suez Crisis]]. Secretary of State [[John Foster Dulles]] defined the Middle East as "the area lying between and including [[Libya]] on the west and [[Pakistan]] on the east, [[Syria]] and [[Iraq]] on the North and the Arabian peninsula to the south, plus the [[Sudan]] and [[Ethiopia]]."<ref name="davison"/> In 1958, the [[United States Department of State|State Department]] explained that the terms "Near East" and "Middle East" were interchangeable, and defined the region as including only [[Egypt]], Syria, [[Israel]], [[Lebanon]], [[Jordan]], Iraq, [[Saudi Arabia]], [[Kuwait]], [[Bahrain]], and [[Qatar]].<ref>{{cite news |title= 'Near East' is Mideast, Washington Explains |url= http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F70E10FC3D59127A93C6A81783D85F4C8585F9&scp=1&sq='Near%20East'%20is%20Mideast,%20Washington%20Explains&st=cse |newspaper= The New York Times |date= 14 August 1958 |access-date= 25 January 2009 |url-status=live |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20091015044505/http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F70E10FC3D59127A93C6A81783D85F4C8585F9&scp=1&sq=%27Near%20East%27%20is%20Mideast%2C%20Washington%20Explains&st=cse |archive-date= 15 October 2009 }}{{subscription required}}</ref>

Since the late 20th century, scholars and journalists from the region, such as journalist Louay Khraish and historian [[Hassan Hanafi]] have criticized the use of "Middle East" as a [[Eurocentrism|Eurocentric]] and [[Colonialism|colonialist]] term.<ref name="dont">{{cite web |last=Khraish |first=Louay |date=16 July 2021 |title=Don't Call Me Middle Eastern |publisher=Raseef 22|url=https://raseef22.net/article/1083546-dont-call-me-middle-eastern}}</ref><ref name="hanafi">{{cite web |last=Hanafi |first=Hassan |location=Oslo |year=1998 |title=The Middle East, in whose world? (Primary Reflections) |url=http://www.smi.uib.no/pao/hanafi.html |publisher=Nordic Society for Middle Eastern Studies (The fourth Nordic conference on Middle Eastern Studies: The Middle East in globalizing world Oslo, 13–16 August 1998) |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061008121436/http://www.smi.uib.no/pao/hanafi.html |archive-date=8 October 2006 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last=Shohat |first=Ella |title=Redrawing American Cartographies of Asia |url=http://commposite.uqam.ca/videaz/docs/elshen.html |publisher=City University of New York |access-date=12 January 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070312062752/http://commposite.uqam.ca/videaz/docs/elshen.html |archive-date=12 March 2007 }}</ref>

The [[Associated Press]] Stylebook of 2004 says that Near East formerly referred to the farther west countries while Middle East referred to the eastern ones, but that now they are synonymous. It instructs:

<blockquote>Use ''Middle East'' unless ''Near East'' is used by a source in a story. ''Mideast'' is also acceptable, but ''Middle East'' is preferred.<ref>Goldstein, Norm. ''The Associated Press Stylebook and Briefing on Media Law''. New York: Basic Books, 2004. {{ISBN|0-465-00488-1}} p. 156</ref></blockquote>