A European Informational Website
learn more
The Near East is a term commonly used by archaeologists, geographers and historians, less commonly by journalists and commentators, to refer to the region encompassing Anatolia (the Asian portion of modern Turkey), the Levant (modern Israel, the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon), Georgia, Armenia, and Mesopotamia (Iraq and eastern Syria). The alternative term Middle East — preferred in some political and economic contexts — is not used by Near Eastern archaeologists and historians. An alternative non-Eurocentric designation in recent years has been 'Southwest Asia', although this term has yet to achieve widespread use.