Everyone calls it ‘Middle East’, whether it’s in a book or on television. But no one noticed why this term ‘East or West’ middle. There is a history behind this that is important to know when this particular phrase gets spoken at a very high level. This term was occupied during the British Empire. As reports suggest, this phrase was first used in 1902 by an American naval strategist, Alfred Thayer Mahan. At that time. He described the lands between India and the Persian Gulf as the ‘Middle East”. What happened is, Europe centred the map, measuring identity by distance from London. The “Middle” East sat strategically between the Near East (Balkans) and the Far East (China and Japan) in this Eurocentric worldview.
Man behind the name ‘Middle East’: Alfred Thayer Mahan
Just after the day in 1902, when Alfred Thayer Mahan popularised the ‘Middle East’ phrase, it became a global headline. He did this because he wanted to describe the lands between India and the Suez Canal that the British Navy had to control to protect its empire. At present, many scholars and popular political leaders argue about the phrase ‘Middle East’.
Why does India officially use the term ‘West Asia’
According to the Middle East Institute (MEI), Former Indian Prime Minister Jawahar Lal Nehru was the first one who suggested naming it ‘West Asia’, which indicates that this term belongs to the geographical and doesn’t rely on London as the centre of the map.
By using ‘West Asia,’ India places the region accurately within the Asian continent. This policy was established to foster Asian solidarity and view the region through a post-colonial eye rather than a British strategy.
How the phrase ‘Middle East’ changed during World War II
As per the Britannica and the MEI, this term’s definition expanded significantly in 1939. The British established the ‘Middle East’ phrase in Cairo, which was responsible for a vast area stretching from North Africa to Iraq. Because this military command was so successful and its reports were published worldwide, the term “Middle East” began to be used by the general public to describe the entire region, eventually replacing the older “Near East” entirely in American and British English.
What is the shift from ‘Middle East’ to ‘MENA’
As India favoured the term ‘West Asia’, the people globally started adopting the acronym ‘MENA’, which means Middle East and North Africa. According to Britannica and the World Bank, this shift acknowledges that the region’s cultural and economic knot extends across the Sinai Peninsula into Africa.
By using ‘MENA,’ organisations attempt to move past the colonial ‘Middle’ label while still recognising the interconnected nature of the modern Arab world. However, like Alfred Thayer Mahan’s given phrase, even ‘MENA’ is criticised for being a ‘Western-centric’ grouping that prioritises trade and security over local indigenous identities.
Ultimately, the phrase ‘Middle East’ is a colonial map that is still in transition. While the label remains a global standard, the rise of ‘West Asia’ and ‘MENA’ signals a shift toward geographic sovereignty.
