Middle East the birthplace of three major religions and civilization it comprises many countries inhabited by various ethnic groups the region is widely known for its Rich Islamic culture was reserves of crude oil Arab monarchs ongoing constitutional reforms and conflicts due to various reasons in this video we will learn about its geography resources and strategic importance of the region that can globally impact several major economies in the world please support Hima on patreon and help us to grow and produce more content on our channel to support please visit the link below in description the Middle East is a large and diverse transcontinental region spread across Northeastern Africa and west of Asia Middle East is not a continent it's a term used to describe geographical region this term was originally used by the British India office in mid 19th century later it came as a replacement of the term near East in the beginning of 20th century the middle east region consists of several small and major countries like Iran Iraq Syria turkey Cyprus Lebanon Israel palistine Jordan Saudi Arabia Kuwait bahin Qatar the UAE Omen yman and Egypt among all Saudi Arabia is the biggest country by size and bahin is the smallest these all countries are Muslim majority except Israel which is an only Jewish State on present world map Pakistan Afghanistan North African countries and other Central Asian countries are also sometimes included in the greater middle east region the greater Middle East term was first used during Second Bush Administration in first decade of 21st century almost every country in the Middle East has got access to the Sea Mediterranean Sea lies to the West bordered by turkey Cyprus Syria Lebanon Israel Gaza Strip of Palestine and Egypt Red Sea lies to the Southwest bordered by Egypt Saudi Arabia and Yemen Arabian Sea is to the southeast bordered Alone by Omen there are several other water bodies that separate and connect land area Persian Gulf alone connects many countries especially Arab states the UAE is at the juncture of Gulf of omen and Persian Gulf Gulf of Adan lies to the south of Yemen while saai peninsula of Egypt is at the juncture of Gulf of Swiss and Gulf of agaba countries like Jordan and Iraq looks like landlock but they are not they have little access to the Sea through small strip of land Swiss Canal between Mainland and siai peninsula of Egypt and state of homos are one of the most important shipping routs in the world most of areas of Middle East are covered by hot desert therefore the climate is generally hot and Aid although Winters are mild with little rain therefore majority of its population rely on several major rivers providing ation to support in limited areas like Nile Delta in Egypt River Jordan the tiges and euphrate waterers sheds of Mesopotamia there are very few lakes and river in Arabian Peninsula for Water Resources they are mostly dependent on River beds known as wadis which are dry except rainy season Middle East is home to various large ethnic groups like Arabs Turks Persian kurs and aeres other indigenous minority ethnic groups include Jews Assyrians Arians Balo and many more industrialization attracted many other ethnic groups in the region among this migrant population are Indians Pakistani Chinese Filipinos Indonesians and subsaharan Africa population of Middle East mainly follows three major religions that are Judaism Christianity and Islam all these three religions were originated from Middle East among these all Judaism was firstc which is still being practiced by the Jewish people of Israel Christianity came as second and make up 10 to 15% of population in the Middle East while Islam dominates the region thus world's major Muslim population is mainly concentrated here economy of Middle East is mainly based on crude oil it produces in the region most of country's that border Persian Gulf have vast reserves of crude oil these countries are bahin Kuwait Omen Saudi Arabia Qatar United Arab emirat Iran Iraq and Yemen all these countries except Iran Iraq and Yemen are part of GCC which stands for Gulf cooperation Council GCC is a regional intergovernmental political and economic Union it has its headquarter in Saudi Arabia all current members of GCC are Arab State monarchs Qatar Kuwait and bahin are Constitution monarchies Saudi Arabia and Omen are absolute monarchies and the UAE is a federal monaki before GCC was formed in 1981 the term khiz was used to refer this Arab speaking inhabitants of Eastern Arabia khiz means descendant of Coast dwelling Fish Eaters in 2011 Saudi Arabia proposed to transform GCC into Gulf Union like European Union but this Union is yet to become a reality Gul Union move was meant to counterbalance non-arab and Che Iran's influence in the region this was not the first time when one Middle Eastern State tried to build influence into another history of Middle East is full of such war and conflicts the Middle East has not been easy place the region has been long time under grip of Islamic extremism political turnover faltering oil prices and sarian issues since Arab Spring most of countries are unstable and every country in the region has alliance with some other foreign State thus too many Global powers are actively involved to maintain balance of power in the region these Global Powers also have their own economic interest in the region because any kind of turmoil in the Middle East especially in the oil producing countries could lead to gas and oil crisis which would eventually leave its effect to an entire world and this was seen during Gulf War countries in Middle East are the biggest producers and exporters of oil in OPAC OPAC stands for organization of petroleum exporting countries it is an intergo governmental organization of 13 countries founded in Bagdad by the first five members Iran Iraq Kuwait Saudi Arabia and Venezuela with its headquarter based in Vienna since 1965 the Persian Gulf countries in the Middle East produces 28% of world's total oil supply Saudi Arabia is the second largest oil producers in the world Iraq is fourth Iran is at number six the UAE stands at number 8 Kuwait is at number N9 and Omen stands at number 17 the middle east region is crucial to the world economy because of large volumes of oil and gas flow through it state of homos in the Middle East located between Omen and Iran is the most important oil Transit channel in the world it is a narrow passage at the entrance to the Persian Gulf host a daily carva of tankers that transport roughly a third of world's oil shipment more than 85% of crude oil that moves through it is sent to Asia closer of state would prompt a spike in prices that would affect world's economy OPAC countries like Iran the UAE Kuwait and Kar entirely rely on state of homos for oil shipment Saudi oil reserves are second largest in the world and Saudi Arabia is the world leading oil exporter and second largest producer Saudi mainly export its crude oil through state of homos it also has an alternative pipeline route known as petrol line or eastwest pipeline this 1,170 km pipeline is a crucial infrastructure project for transportation of Saudi oil from east of the country to the West at the Port of yanu near Red Sea for export to Europe and North Africa through Swiss Canal Swiss canal and some pipeline is the most important route for transportation of oil and natural gas shipment to Europe and North Africa in 2013 these two routs accounted for about 8% of the world's Seaborn oil trade [Music]