The Peace on The Horizon - 75 Years after The World War 2 in the Middle East(3)

 

(Japanese Version)

(Arabic Version)

 

(contents)

 

Prologue (3)

 

003. Middle East connecting Europe and Asia (1/3)

 Eurasia is the largest continent on the globe. As its English name indicates Eurasia is a word synthesizing Europe and Asia. Where is the border between Europe and Asia? In common sense the border between them is the Bosporus Strait in Turkey. The west side of the Bosporus is Istanbul, and Uskudar on the other side of the strait is the entrance to Asia. The Bosporus Bridge, now called July 15 Martyrs’ Bridge is exactly a bridge connecting Europe and Asia. And the area of Anatolia Plateau from Uskudar to Turkey's capital Ankara is called "Asia Minor".

 

Spain, Portugal, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom used the name of Asia in the Age of Discovery in the 15th century. These European countries competed each other to monopolize the trade. They battled not only in India but also in Indonesia and various location. They strengthened the colonial rule each other. The geographical concept of Asia was established during this period. It was a one-sided decision by the Europeans.

 

Asians, however, did not share the one Asia. None of Japanese thinks Arabs as the same Asians. On the contrary people in the Middle East seem Japanese as the same Asians. The Middle Eastern people consider the Far East as the same Asia due to the imprinting by Europeans. The grouping of the countries for various sports competitions shows the evidence. Asian League of the World Cup Football covers the countries from the Far East to the Middle East countries. In other words, the definition of Asia means the areas except Europe in Eurasian Continent.

 

(To be continued ----)

 

Areha Kazuya

(From an ordinary citizen in the cloud)