Middle East Explained - The Religions, Languages, and Ethnic Groups

The Middle East is at the center of everything, and is home to many ethnic groups which don't always get along.

The middle east is usually associated with muslims and arabs, but muslim arabs are only a part of the middle east. The middle east is also home to Turks, Persians, Kurds, Jews, Assyrians and many others.

Most of the countries of the middle east are muslim, but Israel is jewish, and Lebanon has a large christian minority. But islam is dividing into two main groups, the sunnis and the shias.

Shia muslims mostly live in Iran, southern Iraq, Afghanistan, Lebanon, Syria, Bahrain, and Northern Yemen, while Sunni muslims are the most common muslims worldwide.

Iran and Saudi Arabia take advantage of the sunni-shia devide to claim spheres of influence in the middle east, and many conflicts split down sunni-shias lines, such as the Yemeni Civil War and the Iraqi Civil War and the Syrian Civil War

Not all muslims are arab though. Turkey and Iran are definitely not Arab and speak Turkish and Persian respectively. Most arabic speakers are arab, though many non-arabs who live near arabs speak arabic for convenience such as the Coptic Christians of Egypt and Maronite Christians of Lebanon, and the Alawites of Syria.

The President of Syria is a Shia Alawite even though the majority Syria is Sunni Arab, this contributes to tensions in the ongoing Syrian Civil War.

One sunni group fighting in the Syrian Civil War called Daesh or ISIS or ISIL decided to invade neighbouring Iraq and started the Iraqi Civil War and fought against the Shia Arabs, and the Kurds in iraqi Kurdistan.

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[jhnxtln]

People act like Middle East is a swear word.

[masyaf]

Western Christians forget that Jesus was born in Middle East...

[SaifHindawy]

Guys the narrator was quite apologetic, he clearly expressed that this a complex topic and that most of these countries deserve their own videos. Of course, there are lots of generalizations and some assumptions to fit this all in a 10 minute video. Also, so what that he can't pronounce Arabic properly? At least he is trying and he is clearly showing interest in learning about the region and its culture. Thanks for a great video.

Spread peace and acceptance, not ignorance <3

[theburaktortop]

Turks have diffrent language and relativly diffrent cultur so that's why they are not arabs. It is not because "they say so"

[cameronstreeter]

Good video... but am I the only one cringing the way he says 'Arabic'?

[Luna-rylv]

80% of these comments: Debating where Turkey belongs
20%: His pronunciation of Arabic

[Eye.Of.Sauron]

*South Cyprus is European but Turkey is Middle East. Nice map.*

[harryskiwi]

TURKEY İS NOT ARABİC COUNTRY
we hate such a misunderstanding we migrated here from central asia

[asamet]

I’m from Saudi Arabia, and I speak English, Spanish and “EU-Ray-Pic”

[apersonwholovesanimeuwu]

This is the first time anyone has actually mentioned Palestine. I respect you for including it.

[idclol]

Ahh, Middle East, place where Americans can show their true selfs.

[shoking]

middle east in a nutshell: europe just adds random lines and calls them borders and when america heard oil they invaded iraq

[SCRedstone]

<insert comment complaining about the pronunciation of 'arabic'>

[rahulmax]

Super crisp, informative video... the map helps a lot.

[seanarnaout]

For being part Middle Eastern on both my mom and dad side, I will say that the Middle East is a very beautiful place to visit and see. I have been to Syria 🇸🇾, Lebanon 🇱🇧, Turkey 🇹🇷, Saudi Arabia 🇸🇦, and the UAE 🇦🇪. And I have personally always my visit to these countries visiting family and friends over the years. The media gives the Middle East a bad reputation.

[aidenlosh]

Too bad Real Life Lore, Alternate History Hub, and Wendover Productions didn't let you into the Russia Club.

[mekhailkazairanmagic]

Well I'm Armenian and I was born in the Middle East you forgot to mention all the Christian Armenians that are scattered all over the Middle East I speak Arabic Russian and Armenian along with English the Arabic language is a very beautiful language

[mtkustas]

0:04 THANKS! We are not Arab, We are Turk :)

[Dial]

Finally someone mentions Assyrians we are always forgotten

[karrarali]

Long live Middle Eastern people
all of you, Egypt to Iran, and from Turkey to Yemen .
I'm Mesopotamian from Iraq 😍🌼🌺