Seems like you're undecided on whether to include the Palestinian Territories or not. You list them separately, but it fills in automatically when you enter Israel. Maybe a note in the instructions could clarify?
Bir Tawil is an unclaimed piece of land between Sudan and Egypt, because if one claimed it then they would lose a part of the land (which I forgot what it was called) and a bunch of history stuff I pretty much forgot.
I can't speak to the Egypt/Sudan "blip," but the entire US/Canada border is irregular until that Minnesotan "Northwest Angle." The 49th parallel begins to form the boundary between Canada and the United States from Manitoba until the coast of mainland B.C.
That blip is not the Bir Tawil or Hala'ib triangle, those are more to the east. That blip is a lake along the Nile River that belongs to Sudan for some reason.
Actually quite an interesting area of land. I'll find a video about it later but basically neither Sudan nor Egypt technically claim the land. I'm not sure exactly of the reason but from what I remember is that Sudan believe that the border is everything below a longitude parrelel belongs to them. And Egypt follow some old colonial border that everything above this border is them. That bit of land is above the parallel and below the Egyptian border so nobody has claimed it.
Wow, that's the reverse of the problem that usually happens, where multiple countries WANT to claim a disputed piece of land. I'm thinking this place must be a real hole-in-the-wall, if Egypt and the Sudan are both like, "No no no, you can have it!" // "Oh, heavens no; YOU take it. We insist." // "No really – it belongs to you. We could not dream of keeping this little slice of paradise from you." // ad infinitum…
Er turns out I got a bit mixed up in terms of which part was actually in dispute. Actually a different area with all the territorial disputes. But yeah look up Bir Tamil and the Hala'ib Triangle if you want to know more
The video that Gamer1162 references the history of the area, but doesn't speak to the 'blip' directly. The same amendment to the condominium treaty that makes Bir Tamil unclaimed and Hala'ib claimed by both Sudan and Egypt puts the Wadi Halfa under Sudanese control, as it was easier to manage the flooding on Lake Nubia from the Sudanese side.
They did. A child (in U.S., I think) wanted to be a princess. So her dad went there, "claimed" it, and declared her Princess and ruler. Trump has proposed to her (after Melania divorces him) if she'll make him King - having a higher IQ, she declined.
Actually both territories are part of the same territorial dispute. There are to different treaties that define that border, and each country stands by one of them. Both claim the Hala'ib Triangle (which is rich in resourses) is theirs, which means they cannot claim Bir Tawil as well because none of the two treaties gives both territories to one of the two countries.
I believe that it was vice versa: Sudan believed in an old colonial border while Egypt believed it was a line of longitude. The blip is a dispute over the Hala’ib triangle. Bir Tawil hasn’t been claimed because neither country wants to claim the lesser piece of land.
there was an agreement that either Egypt of Sudan controlled Bir Tawil or the Hala'ib Triangle. Both wanted the triangle, and they both claim it since it is rich in natural recources. They if one of them were to claim Bir Tawil, according to the agreement, they would have to give up control of the triangle, which none of them want, so the land goes unclaimed.
On YouTube user ibx2cat has very detailed border videos. He talks about 200 words a minute, but is still very intelligible. I guess that way he can cram a 20-minute lesson into 5 minutes.
I've seen that video some months ago and found the story to be very interesting.
He is definitely one of the people where the function to watch clips slower or faster comes in handy. At 1.25x speed he sounds nearly normal, 1.5x seem a bit too slow.
He still talks without pause but its a little bit more endurable that way... :D
It's a part of the European Union even though it's a little way away from the nearest other member which is Greece. The reason Americans class it as the Middle East is because it's close to the other countries in the region.
If Turkey is in the Middle East, then so is Cyprus. What is NOT in the Middle East is Egypt. (unless you're going to consider the entire eastern part of Africa, the Middle East). This is a geography test; let's leave politics out of it.
@divantilya: Egypt is considered as Middle East by any international organization that refers to the Middle East, as well as in in Middle Eastern studies departments and courses at universities. Politically, historically, culturally, linguistically, it has so much in common with what's the other side of Sinai that it would be folly to not include it.
fitheach mexico is closely related to central america but it is a part of north america?? For thousands of years Egypt has been a major part of Africa...
@hatekn3 Central America DOES include Mexico, however, Central America is a subdivision of North America, much like the Balkans are a subdivision of Europe. Egypt is a major part of Africa, but the fact that it is a transcontinental country can make the fact disputed.
Putting Cyprus in Asia is acceptable, but putting it in the Middle East? The Middle East is a political subdivision, much like Western Europe. Putting Russia in Western Europe is much the same as putting Cyprus in the Middle East, as neither are very culturally similar to the places they "classify" in. Furthermore, if Cyprus is considered Middle Eastern, then so should Azerbaijan at the very least, if not Afghanistan and the Maldives as well. If I am going to be honest, Georgia and Armenia are as much Middle Eastern, if not more, than Cyprus, which contains much, much less political ties (minus the disputed northern side) to the Middle East than to Europe or even Asia as a whole. In Addition, Cyprus is mainly Christian, while the rest of the Middle East has a Muslim Supermajority (with the exceptions of Turkey and Israel).
Even though Wikipedia does include Cyprus as a Middle Eastern country, that does not necessarily mean that Cyprus has to be Middle Eastern; Wikipedia has some questionable classifications when it comes to Eastern Europe. Also just because of the controversy with Cyprus on this website, it would be a good idea to not include it, or at least leave a caveat.
Yeah, I agree that Cyprus shouldn't be considered part of the Middle East. Continents are geographical, and so given Cyprus's proximity to the Asian mainland, it makes sense to call it Asian. However, "Middle East" is more of a cultural term, and culturally, Cyprus is not at all similar to countries like Iraq or Saudi Arabia. You could make an argument that it's part of the "Turkosphere" or whatever, but it's still more Greek than Turkish (and even then, I'm not sure I even consider Turkey to be fully Middle Eastern). I'd be happy to say Cyprus is "West Asian," but I personally don't consider it Middle Eastern.
Turkey is in an awkward position. The western end of Turkey is very European while the eastern end is very Middle Eastern. The Kurdish homeland is in Turkey, Iran, Syria, and Iraq. I would argue that this region would make Turkey part of the Middle East. I would also argue that Thrace would make Turkey European.
I guess Northern Cyprus is part of the Middle East, because it is claimed by Middle Eastern Turkey, but the actual country itself is practically a part of Europe. It is part of the EU, uses the euro, and speaks mostly Greek, an European language.
Cyprus is partially occupied by a country that may or may not be Middle Eastern, but that's like saying that if Turkey invaded Honduras that would make Honduras a Middle Eastern country. I'm pretty sure that, at this point, Quizmaster has understood that his position is untenable, and is just keeping it up out of stubborness, or to annoy people.
Jetpunk seems to be very adamant that the Palestinian territories and separate from the state of Israel, and yet that land is filled in when you type in Israel.
And the reverse happens - wen you type in Palestine, it also gives you Israel! I doubt the Israelis would class themselves as a territory of Palestine. Since Israel has specifically not claimed Palestine as its own territory, then "Territories" makes no sense in the Palestine answer, because to be a territory, you have to be a territory of somewhere, and the only possible place it would have been classed as a territory (unwillingly, since it's declared itself to be a country anyway, with majority world recognition) would have been of Israel.
I still don't know exactly where Bahrain is, either. All I know is it's an island, it's loaded with money, and it's somewhere near Saudi Arabia. Must be tiny.
More a British/Western Europe term and differentiates that part of Asia from the Far East (China etc). And as opposed to the eternal debate over continental borders, the "Middle East" is more cultural and political than geographic
Yes, and I'm never quite sure, if this is the Middle East, what the Near East is. I thought the ME is basically the Iran/Iraq/Arabia area, and the Turkey are is the NE. But what do I know...
Since American politicians decided they should be. But, it is very telling that in attempting to shove Egypt-as-part-of-the-Middle-East down our throats because of language, historical, ethnic and what-not similarities, they fail to acknowledge those same similarities in Libya, Tunisia, Algeria, Ethiopia and Eritrea.
Yeah, yeah. PART of Egypt is in Asia, from the cannal to the east it's all part of Asia, as well as Yemen, an island that is south from continental Yemen is part of Africa. Part of Turkey is in Europe, from the Istanbull to the west.
You forgot the UK, but for the most part, well done. I really enjoy doing these kind of geography quizzes. Maybe you didn't forget the UK and you just wanted not to answer dozens of people on the comments saying that the UK is not there. I would also do that. XD
I got Cyprus and I got Egypt, even though they are not really in the Middle East. Wanna know why? Because I have used jetpunk before. Here's what the internet says: "The Middle East is a loosely defined geographic region; the countries listed are generally considered part of the Middle East. These Middle East countries are part of the Asian continent, with the exception of Egypt, which is part of Africa, and the northwestern part of Turkey, which is part of the European landmass.
"The Middle East" is a term traditionally applied by western Europeans to the countries of SW Asia and NE Africa lying W of Afghanistan, Pakistan, and India. Thus defined it includes Cyprus, the Asian part of Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, Israel, the West Bank and Gaza, Jordan, Iraq, Iran, the countries of the Arabian peninsula (Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Oman, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait), and Egypt and Libya. The area was viewed as midway between Europe and East Asia
(traditionally called the Far East ). The term is sometimes used in a cultural sense to mean the group of lands in that part of the world predominantly Islamic in culture, thus including the remaining states of N Africa as well as Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Hi relessness. I really like this quiz! I hope you don't mind, but inspired by this, I have made these quizzes with the same 'fallen into the sea' idea.
I like to think in culinary terms rather than geopolitical as it brings to mind thoughts of delicious dishes including some of my favourite ingredients like chick peas, yoghurt, mint, some of my favourite vegetables, nuts, seeds, flavoursome but not spicy spices... :)
this was easy because ive been to Israel (Yisrael) 3 times even though im 10 years old, and i am Jewish so i know a lot about the arab attacks but honestly, i think that the prayer "Loi Yisagoi" is right. Translated, it basically means "Let us lay down our swords, lay down our weapons, and join hands t walk the path of friendship and H-shem", H-shem being one of our names for G-d.
https://m.youtube.com/channel/UCJVnko6tQ56PYB5BNNChPGg
He is definitely one of the people where the function to watch clips slower or faster comes in handy. At 1.25x speed he sounds nearly normal, 1.5x seem a bit too slow.
He still talks without pause but its a little bit more endurable that way... :D
They are in the region, but at least for Cyprus the culture is very different (but that's also the case with Israel)
2) If Egypt is the Mid East then how far do we extend? The Arab culture goes right across the top of Africa to Morocco.
"The Middle East" is a term traditionally applied by western Europeans to the countries of SW Asia and NE Africa lying W of Afghanistan, Pakistan, and India. Thus defined it includes Cyprus, the Asian part of Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, Israel, the West Bank and Gaza, Jordan, Iraq, Iran, the countries of the Arabian peninsula (Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Oman, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait), and Egypt and Libya. The area was viewed as midway between Europe and East Asia
63.4% of test takers also scored 100%
The average score is 16
Your high score is 17