The term "Middle East" may have originated in the 1850s in the British India Office.However, it became more widely known when American naval strategist Alfred Thayer Mahan used the term in 1902 to 'designate the area between Arabia and India'.
Pakistan is west of India, so it fits that definition.
and
Until World War II, it was customary to refer to areas centered around Turkey and the eastern shore of the Mediterranean as the "Near East", while the "Far East" centered on China, and the Middle East then meant the area from Mesopotamia to Burma, namely the area between the Near East and the Far East.
Middle East is a relatively modern (and Eurocentric), and its definitions are fluid historically. The original use of including Pakistan as "Middle Eastern" country was not wrong.
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timeasmymeasure
Re: LOL
Date: 2011-05-14 11:47 pm (UTC)Pakistan is west of India, so it fits that definition.
and
Until World War II, it was customary to refer to areas centered around Turkey and the eastern shore of the Mediterranean as the "Near East", while the "Far East" centered on China, and the Middle East then meant the area from Mesopotamia to Burma, namely the area between the Near East and the Far East.
Middle East is a relatively modern (and Eurocentric), and its definitions are fluid historically. The original use of including Pakistan as "Middle Eastern" country was not wrong.