‘Fertile Crescent’, ‘Orient’, ‘Middle East’: The Changing Mental Maps of Southwest Asia

Abstract

This article looks at three types of mental maps projected on Southwest Asia during the twentieth century and examines how they were assimilated, reframed or refused by political actors in the region itself. (1) The concept of the ‘Fertile Crescent’ was connected to the archaeological exploration of ancient memorial landscapes that testified to the region's ancient superiority and, hence, could be integrated into local efforts of territorial nation-building. (2) By contrast, the invention of the ‘Middle East’ was not rooted in historical considerations but corresponded to the strategic needs of Western geopolitics. Backed by military power, institutions, and economic incentives, the concept became, however, a reality imposed upon and sometimes accepted by the region's political actors. (3) Ideas of the ‘Orient’ have a much longer history: corresponding to Southwest Asia's long-term role in shaping the ancient, medieval and modern Mediterranean world, the ‘East’ is a palimpsest of conflicting connotations, comprising reminders of its ancient fertility and centrality (ex oriente lux) as well as of its decline, romantic/imperialist stereotypes about the correspondence between Islam and the Desert as well as visions of a revived Levant as part of an enlarged Mediterranean region.