{{Short description|Eastern part of the Arab world}} {{Redirect|Mashreq|the bank|Mashreq (bank)}} {{About|a geographical region}} {{pp-pc}} {{Infobox | bodyclass = geography | above = Mashriq<br/>{{no bold|{{lang|ar|المشرق}}}} | image = 250px | label1 = Countries and territories | data1 = {{plainlist| * {{flagicon|Bahrain}} Bahrain * {{flagicon|Egypt}} Egypt * {{flagicon|Iraq}} Iraq * {{flagicon|Jordan}} Jordan * {{flagicon|Kuwait}} Kuwait * {{flagicon|Lebanon}} Lebanon * {{flagicon|Oman}} Oman * {{flagicon|Palestine}} Palestine * {{flagicon|Qatar}} Qatar * {{flagicon|Saudi Arabia}} Saudi Arabia * {{flagicon|Sudan}} Sudan * {{flagicon|Syrian Opposition}} Syria * {{flagicon|United Arab Emirates}} UAE * {{flagicon|Yemen}} Yemen }} | label2 = Major regional organizations | data2 = Arab League, GCC, GAFTA, COMESA, Community of Sahel–Saharan States, Union for the Mediterranean | label3 = Demonym | data3 = Mashriqi | label4 = Population | data4 = 275,102,630 (2018)<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/rankorder/2119rank.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070613004507/https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/rankorder/2119rank.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=June 13, 2007 |title=The World Factbook — Central Intelligence Agency |website=www.cia.gov |language=en |access-date=2018-08-06}}</ref> | label5 = Languages | data5 = {{plainlist| *Arabic *Aramaic *Beja *Fur *Modern South Arabian (incl. Mehri) *Kurdish *Nubian *Armenian *Turkmen *Hebrew }} | label6 = Religion | data6 = Islam, Christianity, Mandaeism, Judaism, Druze, Samaritanism, Yezidism and Alawisim | label7 = Time Zones | data7 = }}
The '''Mashriq''' ({{IPAc-en|m|ə|ˈ|ʃ|r|iː|k}}; {{langx|ar|ْاَلْمَشْرِق|al-Mashriq|lit=the east}}), also known as the '''Arab Mashriq''' ({{langx|ar|اَلْمَشْرِقُ الْعَرَبِيُّ|translit=al-Mashriq al-ʿArabi|lit=the Arab east}}), sometimes spelled '''Mashreq''' or '''Mashrek''', is the eastern part of the Arab world, as opposed to the Maghreb (western region), located in West Asia and eastern North Africa.<ref>{{cite web |work=world bank, siteresources |title=Economic interrogation in the mashriq |url=http://siteresources.worldbank.org/INTMENA/Resources/MashreqStudypub.pdf|archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20151010091634/http://siteresources.worldbank.org/INTMENA/Resources/MashreqStudypub.pdf|archive-date=2015-10-10}}</ref> It is the Arabic equivalent for the term Middle East.<ref name="oxford cdwpn">{{Cite book |last=Everett-Heath|first=John |url=https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780191866326.001.0001/acref-9780191866326-e-10125?rskey=Kbo4yV&result=2 |title=The Concise Dictionary of World Place-Names |date=2018 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-186632-6 |edition=4th |location=Oxford |oclc=1053905476}}</ref> Poetically the "Place of Sunrise", the name is derived from the verb ''sharaqa'' ({{lang|ar|َشَرَق}}, "to shine, illuminate, radiate" and "to rise"), from the sh-r-q root ({{lang|ar|ش-ر-ق}}), referring to the east, where the sun rises.<ref name="Shushtarī2009">{{cite book |last=Alvarez|first=Lourdes María |title=Abu Al-Ḥasan Al-Shushtarī |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=atDKUFnFAKMC&pg=PA157 |year=2009 |publisher=Paulist Press |isbn=978-0-8091-0582-3 |page=157}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Peek|first1=Philip M. |last2=Yankah|first2=Kwesi |title=African Folklore: An Encyclopedia |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SmmUAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA442 |date=2003-12-12 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-135-94873-3 |page=442}}</ref>
The region includes the Arab-majority states of Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Syria, the United Arab Emirates, and Yemen.<ref name="oxford cdwpn"/><ref name="britannica">{{Cite web |title=Mashriq {{!}} geographical region, Middle East |url=https://www.britannica.com/place/Mashriq |access-date=2021-08-16 |website=Encyclopedia Britannica |language=en}}</ref><ref name= cd>{{Cite web |title=Libya - Geography |website=www.country-data.com |url=http://www.country-data.com/cgi-bin/query/r-8151.html |access-date=2023-06-12}}</ref><ref name= Gall>{{cite book |last1= Le Gall |first1= Michel |last2= Perkins |first2= Kenneth |title= The Maghrib in Question: Essays in History and Historiography |year= 2010 |publisher= University of Texas Press |page=8 |isbn=978-0-292-78838-1|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mGzKAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA8}}</ref>
==Geography== thumb|left|Map depicting the area most conservatively known as the ''Mashriq''<ref>{{cite web |title=About ANPGR |url=http://www.aoad.org/gb/AboutSystem.aspx |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150923172529/http://www.aoad.org/gb/AboutSystem.aspx |url-status=dead |archive-date=September 23, 2015 |publisher=Arab Network of Plant Genetic Resources |website=www.aoad.org}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Mashreq |url=http://www.aarinena.org/aarinena/Mash/Mash.html |publisher=Association of Agricultural Research Institutions in the Near East & North Africa |website=www.aarinena.org |access-date=2016-05-02 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170224152533/http://www.aarinena.org/aarinena/Mash/Mash.html |archive-date=2017-02-24 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.judran.net/?p%3D2219 |title="السلفية في المشرق العربي" من كتاب "الحركات الإسلامية في الوطن العربي" | مدونة جدران |trans-title= |website=www.judran.net |access-date=August 19, 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304224932/http://www.judran.net/?p=2219 |archive-date=March 4, 2016 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=لماذا يستثنى الأردن من التقسيم؟ الوضع الداخلي هو العنصر الحاسم*فهد الخيطان |language=ar |trans-title=Why is Jordan exempted from the division? The internal situation is a critical component * Fahd strings |publisher=Rasseen |date=2014-07-13 |url=http://rasseen.com/art.php?id=5260d5f578c14dba84fc73a9092d0a7c55ef0d95 |website=rasseen.com}}</ref>
As the word ''Mashriq'' refers to Arab countries located between the Mediterranean Sea and Iran, it is the companion term to ''Maghreb'' ({{langx|ar|المغرب}}), the western half of the Arab world comprising Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia, and Libya. Libya may also be regarded as straddling the two regions. Cyrenaica in eastern Libya is considered part of the Mashriq, whereas Tripolitania in western Libya is considered part of the Maghreb. Therefore Sirtica or the Gulf of Sidra is considered the dividing point between the Maghreb and Mashreq within the Arab world.<ref name= cd/><ref name= Gall/>
These geographical terms date from the early Islamic expansion. The Mashriq corresponds to the Bilad al-Sham and Mesopotamian regions combined.<ref>{{cite book|last=Clancy-Smith|first=Julia|title=North Africa, Islam and the Mediterranean World|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=seH9AQAAQBAJ&pg=PA98|date=2013-11-05|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-135-31213-8|page=98}}</ref> {{As of|2014}}, the Mashriq is home to 1.7% of the global population.<ref>[http://www.capmas.gov.eg/pdf/EgyptInFigure/EgyptinFigures/Tables/English/pop/population/index.html Official estimate of the Population of Egypt] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130525221856/http://www.capmas.gov.eg/pdf/EgyptInFigure/EgyptinFigures/Tables/English/pop/population/index.html |date=May 25, 2013 }}</ref><ref>UN estimate for Lebanon</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.dos.gov.jo/dos_home_e/main/index.htm|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120117225318/http://www.dos.gov.jo/dos_home_e/main/index.htm|url-status=dead|title=Official Jordanian population clock|archivedate=January 17, 2012}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=National Main Statistical Indicators |url=http://www.pcbs.gov.ps/DesktopDefault.aspx?lang=en |publisher=State of Palestine – Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics |access-date=2016-05-02 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161203043434/http://www.pcbs.gov.ps/DesktopDefault.aspx?lang=en |archive-date=2016-12-03 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>UN estimate for Syria</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://data.worldbank.org/country/iraq |publisher=The World Bank |title=Iraq |access-date=2023-12-21}}</ref>
==Cooperation== thumb|right|Map of the Arab Mashreq International Road Network All of the countries located in the Arab Mashreq area are members of the Arab League, the Greater Arab Free Trade Area, and the United Nations. The region cooperates in several projects including the Arab Mashreq International Road Network and the Arab Mashreq International Railway. Several nations are also members of the GCC and others have tried to achieve political unity in the past, such as the United Arab Republic in the 1950s and 1960s, which originally included both Egypt and Syria.
==See also== * Arabia Felix * Arabian Peninsula * Cradle of civilization * Fertile Crescent * Levant * Maghreb, "Place of Sunset", which contrasts with Mashriq, "Place of Sunrise" * Mashriqi Arabic * Mashriqi Jews * Nile * Shaam (Greater Syria)
==References== {{reflist}}
{{Middle East}} {{Regions of the world}}
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Category:Mashriq Category:Levant Category:Regions of Asia Category:Geography of the Middle East Category:Geography of West Asia Category:Geography of North Africa Category:Historical regions of Asia