Middle East or South West Asia?

[Developereo]

Do people in the region refer to it as "Middle East" (the colonial, Euro-centric term) or as "South West Asia" (the post-colonial, neutral term)?

The terms are not 100% interchangeable since Egypt is included in the Middle East, but would not belong in SW Asia.

Many countries, including India, Sri Lanka, Myanmar have shed the colonial terms for place names.

I accept that it's not the most pressing of issues, but is there any desire in SW Asia to do likewise?

 

[Yzd Khalifa]

They only use the ME.

 

[Chinese-Dragon]

Everyone knows it as the Middle East now.

Same as how everyone knows the South Sea as the South China Sea.

 

[Developereo]

Everyone knows it as the Middle East now.

Everyone used to know it as the "Far East" but you hear that term less and less.
People tend to use the preferred term SE Asia or East Asia.

Sri Lanka used to be known as Ceylon, and Myanmar as Burma.

 

[Android]

Many countries, including India, Sri Lanka, Myanmar have shed the colonial terms for place names.

No we haven't the term India is of European origin first used by Greeks. It should be replaced with its one of the two ancient names either Bharat or Hindustan.

 

[Developereo]

No we haven't the term India is of European origin first used by Greeks. It should be replaced with its one of the two ancient names either Bharat or Hindustan.

I was talking more about the names of cities like Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, etc.

The preference for the name India was a strategic choice which has been discussed here.

 

[Chinese-Dragon]

Everyone used to know it as the "Far East" but you hear that term less and less.
People tend to use the preferred term SE Asia or East Asia.

Sri Lanka used to be known as Ceylon, and Myanmar as Burma.

People still call Burma as Burma, though Sri Lanka is not referred to as Ceylon much.

China was once known in the West (Europe and Central Asia) as "Cathay", hence the name of HK's famous airline Cathay Pacific. Apparently, Slavic Eastern European languages as well as Turkic languages still use this old name.

But China makes more sense than Cathay, since China is derived from the Chinese word Qin, as in Emperor Qin Shi Huang. The First Emperor to unite all of China into a proper state.

It depends on how things are trending I think. East Asia makes a lot more sense than "the Far East", because... the Far East of what? The Russian far east? The Canadian far east? Etc.

 

[Syrian Lion]

There is a West Asian Football Federation... the term Middle East in not used in football... just thought I would share that with you guys if you are interested...

West Asian Football Federation - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[Developereo]

East Asia makes a lot more sense than "the Far East", because... the Far East of what? The Russian far east? The Canadian far east? Etc.

All these terms are Euro-centric, as in "Midlde East", "Far East" -- implying distance from Europe.

That's why I made the comparison.

But if people of the region are not bothered, then the name will continue to be used.

 

[Chinese-Dragon]

All these terms are Euro-centric, as in "Midlde East", "Far East" -- implying distance from Europe.

That's why I made the comparison.

But if people of the region are not bothered, then the name will continue to be used.

Good, it's good to get rid of names and lines drawn by the Western colonialists. Like the McMahon line as the most obvious example.

 

[Mosamania]

People IN the middle east tend not to define themselves as that they live in the Middle East.

The Middle East largely consists of the following:

1- The Levant: Bilad Al-Sham, is the name giving to the area which has Syria, Lebanon, Palestine, Jordan and North West Saudi Arabia.
2- Arabia: Jazirat Al-Arab is the name giving to refer to Arabia which literally means "Island of the Arabs" it is used for all GCC countries + Yemen. Arabia is further sub-divided into Hijaz, Najd, Hasa (Eastern Region) and Yemen.
3- Iraq: Iraq is its own constituent and is referred to as Iraq.
4- Egypt: Masr is the correct term for it and is referred to as Masr.
5- Iran: Well Iran is Iran but it is not considered much to be part of the above 4 as people who live in the above 4 consider themselves to be part of the same group of people due to lingual and cultural ties which Iran lacks, so Iran despite its close geographical proximity is considered to be a far away entity and not part of the larger group.

Middle East is an incorrect attempt at piling up all these areas into one lump, which is a mistake. So regarding your question about if the people in the Middle East refer to themselves as Middle Eastern, then that is not true. And most Middle Easterners (If you want to call it that) don't consider themselves much to be part of Asia aside from football tournaments there is not much at all int he way of an Asian connection in a continental level.

 

[Android]

People still call Burma as Burma, though Sri Lanka is not referred to as Ceylon much.

China was once known in the West (Europe and Central Asia) as "Cathay", hence the name of HK's famous airline Cathay Pacific. Apparently, Slavic Eastern European languages as well as Turkic languages still use this old name.

But China makes more sense than Cathay, since China is derived from the Chinese word Qin, as in Emperor Qin Shi Huang. The First Emperor to unite all of China into a proper state.

It depends on how things are trending I think. East Asia makes a lot more sense than "the Far East", because... the Far East of what? The Russian far east? The Canadian far east? Etc.

In India China was historically and in many Indian language is still called Cheen and Chinese are called Cheeni although Chinese members here get a little offended when we use those terms anyways @Developereo; are the same terms also used to refer to China/Chinese in Pakistan since our language are very much similar

 

[Chinese-Dragon]

In India China was historically and in many Indian language is still called Cheen and Chinese are called Cheeni although Chinese members here get a little offended when we use those terms anyways @Developereo; are the same terms also used to refer to China/Chinese in Pakistan since our language are very much similar

It's a transliteration of Qin/Chin, as in the Qin Emperor. Who was the first to unite China.

They just took the sound "Chin" and added an "i" or an "a" at the end.

 

[Developereo]

People IN the middle east tend not to define themselves as that they live in the Middle East.

The Middle East largely consists of the following:

1- The Levant: Bilad Al-Sham, is the name giving to the area which has Syria, Lebanon, Palestine, Jordan and North West Saudi Arabia.
2- Arabia: Jazirat Al-Arab is the name giving to refer to Arabia which literally means "Island of the Arabs" it is used for all GCC countries + Yemen. Arabia is further sub-divided into Hijaz, Najd, Hasa (Eastern Region) and Yemen.
3- Iraq: Iraq is its own constituent and is referred to as Iraq.
4- Egypt: Masr is the correct term for it and is referred to as Masr.
5- Iran: Well Iran is Iran but it is not considered much to be part of the above 4 as people who live in the above 4 consider themselves to be part of the same group of people due to lingual and cultural ties which Iran lacks, so Iran despite its close geographical proximity is considered to be a far away entity and not part of the larger group.

Middle East is an incorrect attempt at piling up all these areas into one lump, which is a mistake. So regarding your question about if the people in the Middle East refer to themselves as Middle Eastern, then that is not true. And most Middle Easterners (If you want to call it that) don't consider themselves much to be part of Asia aside from football tournaments there is not much at all int he way of an Asian connection in a continental level.

My question was more about whether the people refer to the region as the Middle East, and it appears that they do.

BY the way, Levant is also a Euro-centric term, meaning the land of the rising Sun. That description only makes sense if you are looking at it from Europe.

The name for a region is not really tied to language or culture. SE Asia is quite diverse, linguistically and culturally. So are the CARs. However, if we see the Arab countries as forming a bloc, then an appropriate name would make sense.

Your final point, that people in the region do not identify with Asia, is perhaps the salient point, and the reason why the term SW Asia hasn't caught on in the region. Asia is far too big and diverse to have any meaningful commonality.

@Developereo; are the same terms also used to refer to China/Chinese in Pakistan since our language are very much similar

Yes, the terms for China/Chinese are as you describe in Urdu, so it would be appropriate to use that term in Urdu. However, it doesn't mean that the term can be used when talking in English, since words can have different meanings/connotations in different languages.

 

[Wright]

Much of the Arab world is located in Africa. Perhaps thats a reason they dont consider themselves Asian.

If you really feel so inclusive, Europe itself is actually a subcontinent of Asia in reality.
I personally like using the term Mediterranean to describe that area.


About the term Asia: This is what I found while trying to find its origin.

Asia derives from the Ancient Greek “Ἀσία”, which was used as early as 440 B.C. by Herodotus in his Histories. However, it is likely that the name was in use long before then, though not referring to a whole continent, but rather originally just the name for the land on the east bank of the Aegean Sea, and then later the Anatolia (part of modern Turkey).
Read more at The Origin of the Names of the Continents