The Middle East is the birthplace of ancient civilizations, which can be traced to more than 7000 B.C. It is the birthplace of the three great monotheistic religions, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, on which the spirituality and the ethics of many people and countries are based. It occupies a strategic area in the world across Southwest Asia into North Africa. The countries of the Middle East are diverse in their climate, major languages (Arabic, Farsi, Hebrew, and Turkish), population density, and lifestyles. Many of the countries in the Middle East have resources of great importance to the world. Most important of these are Oil and Natural Gas. Trade, Financial Services and Higher Education have also become areas of growth in the region. Recently, there have been fundamental changes in the political structure of several countries accompanied by democratic reforms and concomitant tensions that characterize the entire region as one in flux and exciting to explore from all perspectives.
