The Middle East has a long and ancient history and has long been a major player in world affairs. Many large and well known religions, for example Christianity, Islam and Judaism originated in The Middle East. Since records began, the Middle East has been recognised as a major center of world politics and cultural affairs.

It is very difficult, in fact impossible to condense the rich, varied and sometimes controversial history of this area. The world’s earliest civilisations originated from this area. In the 7th century AD, the Arab conquest of the region unified the Middle Eastern area as a region. This also served to create the Islamic identity which we can still see in part today.

The climate here is very hot and arid with very little rain and with a large part of the area being desert. There are main rivers, which tend to provide irrigation for farmland and agriculture in some areas. Along the coastal areas, there is a high level of humidity.

At the coastal Mediterranean areas, they experience hot and long summers along with mild and wet winters. There is a tendency to humidity here but this is generally balanced by the breeze.

In the north you can expect rain in spring and in the winter and also extremes of temperature. Generally in the remainder of the Middle East the rains fall between March and November. March through to May can be a time of flooding.

Economic summary: GDP/PPP (2005 est.): $552.8 billion; per capita $8,100. Real growth rate: 4.8%. Inflation: 16%.
Unemployment: 11.2% (2004 est.).
Arable land: 9%. Agriculture: wheat, rice, other grains, sugar beets, fruits, nuts, cotton; dairy products, wool; caviar.
Labor force: 23.68 million; note: shortage of skilled labor; agriculture 30%, industry 25%, services 45% (2001 est.).
Industries: petroleum, petrochemicals, textiles, cement and other construction materials, food processing (particularly sugar refining and vegetable oil production), metal fabrication, armaments.
Natural rehearts: petroleum, natural gas, coal, chromium, copper, iron ore, lead, manganese, zinc, sulfur.
Exports: $55.42 billion f.o.b. (2005 est.): petroleum 80%, chemical and petrochemical products, fruits and

The population of this area is extremely diverse as so many individual countries make up the Middle East as a whole. The Middle East area originated many religions and therefore is very diverse when it comes to religious beliefs. The dominant faith in the area is Islam with other religions including Judaism and Christianity being popular also.. There are also many important minority religions such as but not limited to Bahá'í, Zoroastrianism, and Shabakism.