Q1.
Can you find out which countries constitute West Asia in present times?
Answer
Start from what the chapter itself gives you, because that is the part you can answer from the book. It says Mesopotamia 'in modern times… includes mainly Iraq and Kuwait, with some parts of Turkey and southwestern Iran' — so those four are certain. Fig. 4.21 adds the geography around them: the Mediterranean Sea to the west, the Black Sea and Caspian Sea to the north, the Red Sea and Arabian Desert to the south, and the Persian Gulf to the east.
The countries usually counted as West Asia today. Working outward from that frame, the region is generally taken to include:
| Sub-region | Countries | Link to the chapter |
|---|---|---|
| The Mesopotamian core | Iraq, Kuwait | Named in the chapter as the land of the Euphrates and Tigris |
| The eastern and northern edge | Iran, Turkey | The chapter includes 'some parts' of both; the Zagros mountains lie in Iran and the Taurus in Turkey, and it is their foothills that form the fertile crescent |
| The Levant (eastern Mediterranean coast) | Syria, Lebanon, Israel, Palestine, Jordan | Fig. 4.4 marks the LEVANT as one of the routes of early Homo dispersal out of Africa |
| The Arabian peninsula | Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Oman, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain | The chapter identifies Dilmun as today's Bahrain and Magan as the Oman peninsula |
| The Caucasus edge (sometimes included) | Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia | Fig. 4.21 labels the Caucasus Mts. along the northern margin of the map |
| Island in the eastern Mediterranean | Cyprus | Lies within the Mediterranean shown on Fig. 4.21 |
Why the list has fuzzy edges, and why that is not a mistake. 'West Asia' is a regional name, not a legal one, so different atlases and organisations draw the boundary in slightly different places — the Caucasus states, Egypt's Sinai and Afghanistan are the usual borderline cases. The core is never in doubt: the lands around the Tigris, the Euphrates, the eastern Mediterranean and the Persian Gulf. When you present your list, say which map you used. Naming your source is part of a good geographical answer.
Tip: trace Fig. 4.21 into your notebook, mark the Tigris and Euphrates, shade the Fertile Crescent from the Mediterranean round to the Persian Gulf, and then write today's country names on top of the ancient ones — Ur, Uruk, Eridu, Lagash, Nippur, Babylon and Akkad all in modern Iraq. Seeing the two maps at once is the point of the exercise.