Places (Arab, North Africa & Anatolia) (1)

* Arab World:

- The Arab world (العالم العربي‎) refers to Arabic-speaking countries stretching from the Atlantic Ocean in the west to the Arabian Sea in the east, and from the Mediterranean Sea in the north to the Horn of Africa and the Indian Ocean in the southeast.

- It consists of 21 countries and territories with a combined population of 360 million people straddling (từ 2 vùng tách biệt là) North Africa and Western Asia.

- The Arab League, a regional organization of countries intended to encompass the Arab world, defines an Arab as: An Arab is a person whose language is Arabic, who lives in an Arabic-speaking country, and who is in sympathy with the aspirations of the Arabic-speaking peoples.
Egyptians for example, may or may not identify themselves as Arabs.

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* Arabian Peninsula:
- The Arabian Peninsula (شبه الجزيرة العربية) is a land mass in Southwest Asia. Also known as Arabia or the Arabian subcontinent, it is the world's largest peninsula. 7 countries in the Arabian Peninsula are Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and Yemen.

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* Sinai Peninsula (Egypt):

- The Sinai Peninsula or Sinai (سيناء‎; סיני) is a triangular peninsula in Egypt about 60,000 km² in area. It is situated between the Mediterranean Sea to the north, and the Red Sea to the south, and it is the only part of Egyptian territory located in Asia as opposed to Africa. The bulk of the peninsula is divided into two Egyptian governorates (~provinces) (with three more splitting the Suez Canal area).

- The region has historically been the center of conflict between various political factions, based largely on its location. In addition to periods of direct rule by Egyptian governments, it was like the rest of Egypt also occupied and controlled by the Ottoman Empire, and the United Kingdom which occupied Egypt from 1882 onwards. Israel occupied Sinai in the Suez Crisis of 1956, and again during the Six Day War of 1967. In the October War of 1973, it was the site of fierce fighting between Egyptian and Israeli forces. In 1982, after the Israel-Egypt Peace Treaty of 1979, Israel withdrew from the entirety of Sinai. Today, Sinai has become a tourist destination due to its natural setting, rich coral reefs, and biblical history. Mount Sinai is one of the most religiously significant regions in Abrahamic faiths.
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* Middle East:
- The Middle East is a region that encompasses Western Asia and North Africa. It is often used as a synonym for Near East, in opposition to Far East. Countries of the Middle East include Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Gaza Strip, Iran, Iraq, Iraqi Kurdistan, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Tunisia, Turkey, United Arab Emirates and Yemen. (oh my god, I am not sure about this list.)
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* Central Asia:
- Central Asia is from the Caspian Sea in the west, China in the east, Afghanistan in the south, and Russia in the north. The countries in the Central Asia are Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, (Armenia, Georgia, Azerbaijan).

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* Straits of Tiran:
- The Straits of Tiran are the narrow sea passages, about 13 kilometres wide, between the Sinai and Arabian peninsulas which separate the Gulf of Aqaba from the Red Sea.
- Access to Jordan's only seaport of Aqaba and to Israel's only Indian Ocean seaport of Eilat is contingent upon passage through the Gulf of Aqaba, giving the Straits of Tiran strategic importance. Egypt's blockade of the Straits to Israeli ships and ships bound for Israel in 1956 and again in 1967 was a catalyst to the Suez Crisis in 1956 and the Six-Day War in 1967.
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* Persian Gulf (see: Persian Gulf War):

Babylon

- The Persian Gulf, in Southwest Asia, is an extension of the Indian Ocean located between Iran (formerly called Persia) and the Arabian Peninsula.
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* Babylon:
- Babylon is the Greek variant of Akkadian Babilu, an ancient city in Mesopotamia. One of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, was there.
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* Mesopotamia ((land) between the rivers):
- Mesopotamia is a toponym for the area of the Tigris–Euphrates river system, largely corresponding to modern-day Iraq, northeastern Syria, southeastern Turkey and southwestern Iran. Widely considered to be the cradle of civilization, Bronze Age Mesopotamia included Sumer and the Akkadian, Babylonian and Assyrian empires. In the Iron Age, it was controlled by the Neo-Assyrian and Neo-Babylonian empires. The indigenous (bản xứ, bản địa) Sumerians and Akkadians (including Assyrians and Babylonians) dominated Mesopotamia from the beginning of written history (c. 3100 BC) to the fall of Babylon in 539 BC, when it was conquered by the Achaemenid Empire. It fell to Alexander the Great in 332 BC and after his death it became part of the Greek Seleucid Empire.
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* Anatolia:
- Anatolia (Tiểu Á) (Anatolía" có nghĩa "Mặt trời mọc") là một bán đảo châu Á nằm giáp với châu Âu, với Biển Đen ở phía Bắc, Địa Trung Hải ở phía Nam, và Biển Aegean (một nhánh của Địa Trung Hải) ở phía Tây, và vùng đất châu Á rộng lớn ở phía Đông. Tại đây có thành phố Constantinople, thủ đô của Đế quốc Byzantine, nay là Istanbul, 1 thành phố của Thổ Nhĩ Kì.
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* Kaaba, Makkah, Mecca, Saudi Arabia:
- The Kaaba (الكعبة‎, English: The Cube) is a cube-shaped building in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, and is the most sacred site in Islam. The Qur'an states that the Kaaba was constructed by Abraham and his son Ishmael, after Ishmael had settled in Arabia. The building has a mosque built around it, the Masjid al-Haram. All Muslims around the world face the Kaaba during prayers, no matter where they are. One of the Five Pillars of Islam requires every Muslim to perform the Hajj pilgrimage at least once in his or her lifetime if they are able to do so. Multiple parts of the Hajj require pilgrims to walk 7 times around the Kaaba in a anticlockwise direction. This circumambulation, the Tawaf, is also performed by pilgrims during the Umrah (lesser pilgrimage). However, the most dramatic times are during the Hajj, when about 6 million (officially) pilgrims simultaneously gather to circle the building on the same day.