117 Fun Facts About Middle East

Which country is the largest in the Middle East by area?

Saudi Arabia covers about 2.15 million square kilometres, well ahead of Iran (1.65 million) and Egypt (1.0 million), making it the largest country in the Middle East.

Which three countries are the most populous in the Middle East?

Egypt, Iran and Turkey each have well over 80 million people, Egypt topping 105 million; the next most populous, Iraq, has about 45 million.

Which American naval strategist popularised the term 'Middle East' in 1902?

Alfred Thayer Mahan used 'Middle East' in a September 1902 National Review article on the Persian Gulf, for the area between Arabia and India; the British had called the Ottoman lands the 'Near East'.

Mount Damavand, the highest peak in the Middle East, stands in which country?

Mount Damavand is a 5,610-metre dormant volcano in Iran's Alborz range north-east of Tehran, the highest peak in the Middle East, above Turkey's Mount Ararat at 5,137 metres.

Which three religions all originated in the Middle East and have their holiest sites there?

Judaism, Christianity and Islam all arose in the Middle East; Jerusalem is sacred to all three, and its Old City has been a World Heritage Site since 1981.

Which region spanning the Levant and Mesopotamia is nicknamed 'the cradle of civilization'?

The Fertile Crescent, arcing from the Nile valley through the Levant to Mesopotamia, saw the earliest settled farming and the first writing, Sumerian cuneiform, around 3200 BC.

Which archaeologist popularised the term 'Fertile Crescent' in a 1914 textbook?

James Henry Breasted spread the term 'Fertile Crescent' in his 1914 textbook Outlines of European History; he founded Chicago's Oriental Institute in 1919 and was the first American to earn a PhD in Egyptology.

The Tigris and Euphrates both rise in which mountain range?

Both rivers rise in the Taurus Mountains of eastern Turkey, then flow through Syria and Iraq before joining as the Shatt al-Arab near the Persian Gulf.

The Dead Sea's shores are the lowest land on Earth, at roughly how far below sea level?

The Dead Sea's shore sits about 440 metres below sea level, the lowest land on Earth; it has dropped roughly a metre a year since the 1960s as Jordan River water was diverted upstream.

Roughly what is the salinity of the Dead Sea?

The Dead Sea is about 34% salt, nearly ten times the ocean's 3.5%, which makes the water dense enough that swimmers simply float.

Which three territories border the Dead Sea?

Jordan lies on the Dead Sea's eastern shore, Israel on the south-west and the West Bank on the north-west; the lake is shared by those three territories alone.

On what date did Egyptian President Nasser nationalise the Suez Canal?

Nasser announced the nationalisation on 26 July 1956 in a speech in Alexandria; Britain, France and Israel invaded that October and withdrew under American and Soviet pressure.

Which container ship blocked the Suez Canal for six days in March 2021?

The 400-metre Ever Given ran aground on 23 March 2021 and was refloated six days later; about 12 percent of world trade passes through the canal, so hundreds of ships queued.

The Suez Canal has how many locks?

It is a sea-level waterway, so seawater flows freely along its 193 km.

Which narrow waterway connects the Persian Gulf to the Gulf of Oman?

The Strait of Hormuz, about 39 kilometres wide at its narrowest, links the Persian Gulf to the Gulf of Oman and carries roughly a fifth of the world's seaborne oil.

How many nations have coastlines on the Persian Gulf?

Eight nations have Persian Gulf coastlines: Bahrain, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Oman (through its Musandam peninsula), Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE.

What does 'Rub' al Khali', the name of the great desert of southern Arabia, mean?

Rub' al Khali means 'Empty Quarter'; the sand desert covers about 650,000 square kilometres across Saudi Arabia, Oman, the UAE and Yemen.

OPEC was founded in 1960 in which city?

OPEC was created at the Baghdad Conference of 10-14 September 1960, hosted by Iraq; its secretariat sat in Geneva from 1961 before moving to Vienna in 1965.

Which non-Middle Eastern country was one of OPEC's five founding members?

The organisation moved its base to Vienna after Switzerland declined to extend diplomatic privileges.

The Arab League was founded in 1945 in which city?

The Arab League was founded in Cairo on 22 March 1945 by Egypt, Iraq, Transjordan, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia and Syria, with Yemen joining that May; its headquarters left Cairo for Tunis only from 1979 to 1990.

The Gulf Cooperation Council, founded in 1981, has how many member states?

Six: Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE signed the GCC charter in Abu Dhabi in May 1981, and the council's secretariat sits in Riyadh.

The secret 1916 Anglo-French deal carving up the Ottoman Middle East is named after whom?

Mark Sykes for Britain and François Georges-Picot for France negotiated the secret agreement, concluded in January 1916 and ratified that May; it allotted zones of direct control and spheres of influence from the Mediterranean to Persia.

Mohamed Bouazizi's self-immolation in December 2010 sparked the Arab Spring in which country?

Bouazizi, a street vendor in Sidi Bouzid, Tunisia, set himself alight on 17 December 2010; President Ben Ali fled the country on 14 January 2011, the first leader toppled by the Arab Spring.

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak resigned in February 2011 after how many days of mass protests?

Protests began on 25 January 2011 and Mubarak stepped down 18 days later, on 11 February; he had ruled since Anwar Sadat's assassination in October 1981.

Which city is considered the holiest in Islam and the birthplace of Muhammad?

Mecca, in Saudi Arabia's Hejaz region, is where Muhammad was born around 570 AD; non-Muslims are barred from the city, and Muslims around the world face it in prayer.

The Kaaba, which pilgrims circle during the Hajj, stands inside which mosque?

The Kaaba stands in the courtyard of Masjid al-Haram, the Great Mosque of Mecca and the largest mosque in the world; Muslims believe Abraham and Ishmael raised its foundations.

How many times do Hajj pilgrims walk around the Kaaba during the tawaf?

They circle it counter-clockwise, dressed in the plain white ihram.

Jerusalem's Old City has been divided since the 19th century into how many quarters?

They are the Armenian, Christian, Jewish and Muslim quarters.

Israel captured East Jerusalem in which 1967 conflict?

In the Six-Day War of 5 to 10 June 1967 Israel took East Jerusalem from Jordan, along with the West Bank, Gaza, the Sinai and the Golan Heights.

On what date did Israel declare independence?

David Ben-Gurion proclaimed the state in Tel Aviv on 14 May 1948, hours before the British Mandate expired at midnight; Egypt, Transjordan, Syria, Iraq and Lebanon attacked the next day.

What is the name of Israel's parliament?

The Knesset is a single chamber of 120 members elected by nationwide proportional representation; it has sat in Jerusalem since 1949.

Petra, the rock-cut city in Jordan, was built by which nomadic Arab people?

The Nabataeans, Arab traders who controlled the incense routes, carved Petra from about the 4th century BC; Rome annexed their kingdom as Arabia Petraea in 106 AD.

Petra is nicknamed the 'Rose City' because of what?

Petra's 'Rose City' nickname comes from the pink-red colour of the sandstone its tombs are carved from, fixed in John William Burgon's 1845 line 'a rose-red city half as old as time'.

Which Swiss traveller 'rediscovered' Petra for the Western world in 1812?

Johann Ludwig Burckhardt, travelling as 'Sheikh Ibrahim', reached Petra in August 1812; the next year he became the first European to report the temples of Abu Simbel.

The Burj Khalifa is named after Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed, the former president of which country?

Sheikh Khalifa was president of the UAE from 2004 until his death in 2022; his emirate, Abu Dhabi, bailed out Dubai in the 2009 debt crisis, and 'Burj Dubai' was renamed at its January 2010 opening.

The United Arab Emirates is a federation of how many emirates?

Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Ajman, Sharjah, Ras Al Khaimah, Umm Al Quwain and Fujairah.

Before independence in 1971, the UAE emirates were collectively what British protectorate?

The Trucial States took their name from the 1853 Perpetual Maritime Truce the sheikhdoms signed with Britain; they became the UAE on independence in December 1971.

Iran was known internationally by what name until 1935?

Persia was the name used abroad until Reza Shah's government asked foreign states, from Nowruz (21 March) 1935, to use the native name Iran in official correspondence.

Who became Iran's first supreme leader after the 1979 revolution overthrew the monarchy?

Ruhollah Khomeini returned on 1 February 1979 from 14 years of exile, the last months at Neauphle-le-Château outside Paris, and became Supreme Leader under the constitution adopted that December.

Cyrus the Great founded which dynasty's realm, the largest Iranian state in history?

Cyrus the Great founded the Achaemenid Empire around 550 BC by overthrowing the Medes; under Darius I it reached from the Balkans to the Indus, and Darius began the ceremonial capital of Persepolis.

In which year was oil discovered in the Al-Ahsa region on the Arabian Gulf coast?

Dammam Well No. 7 struck oil in commercial quantities in March 1938, five years after Standard Oil of California won its Saudi concession; the kingdom went on to become the world's leading oil exporter.

Which Gulf state hosted the 2022 FIFA World Cup, the first in an Arab country?

Qatar staged the tournament from 20 November to 18 December 2022, with the final at Lusail; it was the first World Cup in an Arab country and the first played in the northern winter.

Amman, the capital of Jordan, was known by what name in antiquity?

Amman was renamed Philadelphia after Ptolemy II Philadelphus, who rebuilt it in the 3rd century BC, and was counted among the Decapolis cities under Rome.

Egypt spans two continents; which part of it lies in Asia?

The Sinai Peninsula, east of the Suez Canal, is Egypt's Asian portion; the canal is the conventional Africa-Asia boundary, and the Sinai covers about 60,000 square kilometres.

Which of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World is the only one still standing?

It is also the oldest of the seven.

The White Nile and Blue Nile meet at which capital city?

The two rivers meet at Khartoum, Sudan's capital, at the point called al-Mogran; the Blue Nile from Lake Tana in Ethiopia supplies most of the combined flow.

Which two languages are official in Iraq?

Iraq's 2005 constitution makes Arabic and Kurdish the two official languages nationwide, with Turkmen and Syriac official in the administrative units where their speakers are concentrated.

In which year did Saddam Hussein become president of Iraq?

Saddam Hussein became president on 16 July 1979 when Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr resigned, purging the Ba'ath leadership days later; he held power until the US-led invasion of 2003.

Which two Syrian cities are among the oldest continuously inhabited in the world?

Damascus and Aleppo both claim settlement stretching back more than 5,000 years; Aleppo appears in the Ebla tablets of the 3rd millennium BC and Damascus in Egyptian records of the 15th century BC.

What tree appears in green on the flag of Lebanon?

A green Lebanon cedar sits on the white band between two red stripes; the flag was adopted on 7 December 1943, weeks after independence from France.

Which ancient maritime civilisation was based in what is now Lebanon?

Phoenicia, a string of city-states such as Tyre, Sidon and Byblos, traded across the Mediterranean from about 1500 BC; its 22-letter alphabet, adopted by the Greeks around 800 BC, is the ancestor of Latin script.

Which Arab state describes itself as the oldest independent state in the Arab world?

Oman calls itself the oldest independent state in the Arab world, dating its statehood to the expulsion of the Portuguese from Muscat in 1650 and the Al Said dynasty founded in 1744.

Which sultan ruled Oman from 1970 until his death in 2020?

Qaboos bin Said deposed his father Said bin Taimur in a 1970 palace coup and reigned until January 2020, by then the Arab world's longest-serving ruler.

North and South Yemen united to form the Republic of Yemen in which year?

The Yemen Arab Republic in the north and the People's Democratic Republic of Yemen in the south merged on 22 May 1990 under Ali Abdullah Saleh, with Sanaa as capital.

Yemen's port of Mocha lent its name to what?

Mocha on the Red Sea was the chief coffee-exporting port from the 15th to the 17th century, so 'mocha' became a name for coffee and later for the chocolate-coffee drink.

Iraq invaded and annexed which neighbour in August 1990, triggering the Gulf War?

Retreating Iraqi troops set the oil wells on fire in February 1991.

Which country's dinar was the world's most valuable currency unit in 2026?

In 2026 one Kuwaiti dinar was worth about 3.25 US dollars, more than any other currency unit.

Bahrain was famous from antiquity until the 19th century for what industry?

Bahrain's pearl fishing, reckoned the finest in the Gulf, sustained the islands for millennia until Japanese cultured pearls and the 1932 oil strike killed the trade in the 1930s.

Jordan signed a peace treaty with Israel in which year?

The Wadi Araba treaty was signed on 26 October 1994 in the presence of King Hussein, Yitzhak Rabin and Bill Clinton, 15 years after Egypt's 1979 treaty, the first Arab-Israeli peace agreement.

Turkey's largest city is Istanbul, but which city is its capital?

Ankara was declared the capital on 13 October 1923, days before the Republic was proclaimed under Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, replacing the old Ottoman capital of Istanbul.

In which year did the Ottomans capture Constantinople?

Mehmed II's army took Constantinople on 29 May 1453 after a 53-day siege, ending the Byzantine Empire and making the city the Ottoman capital.

Istanbul straddles which strait, one of the busiest waterways in the world?

The Bosphorus, about 31 kilometres long and 700 metres wide at its narrowest, joins the Black Sea to the Sea of Marmara; roughly two-thirds of Istanbul's 15 million people live on its European side.

In 2022 the Turkish government asked the UN to use which name for the country in English?

The UN switched to 'Türkiye' on 1 June 2022, the day after Ankara's letter arrived, following a December 2021 decree by President Erdoğan to drop the English spelling shared with the bird.

Göbekli Tepe, in southeastern Turkey, is roughly how old?

Göbekli Tepe's carved T-shaped pillars were raised around 9500 BC, roughly 12,000 years ago, some 6,000 years before Stonehenge and 7,000 before the Giza pyramids.

Arabic is written in which direction?

Arabic runs right to left, like Hebrew and Persian; its script is an abjad of 28 letters, most of which change shape depending on their position in a word.

Which US president's doctrine marked Washington's first official use of the term 'Middle East'?

The 1957 Eisenhower Doctrine was Washington's first official use of 'Middle East'; Secretary of State John Foster Dulles defined it as everything between and including Libya in the west and Pakistan in the east.

Which British diplomat wrote the 1902 Times series 'The Middle Eastern Question'?

His 20-article series followed the reprinting of Alfred Thayer Mahan's essay that had first popularised the phrase.

Hummus takes its name from the Arabic word for which legume, its main ingredient alongside tahini?

Chickpeas are simply 'hummus' in Arabic, so the dip's full name, hummus bi tahina, means 'chickpeas with tahini'. Lemon juice and garlic complete the classic recipe.

Which region of central Turkey is famous for its 'fairy chimney' rock spires and sunrise hot-air balloon flights?

Cappadocia's spires formed as wind and water wore away soft volcanic rock over millions of years. People carved churches, monasteries and whole underground cities into it.

Which Istanbul landmark, completed in 537 as a church, has since served as both a mosque and a museum?

Hagia Sophia enclosed the world's largest interior space when it was finished, beneath one of the first fully pendentive domes. It was a museum from 1935 to 2020.

Which bird of prey, prized by Gulf hunters, has the world's largest dedicated hospital in Abu Dhabi?

Falcons check in at a rate of about 11,000 patients a year. Since the Emirates introduced passports for the birds, the hospital has also been the body that issues them.

The Ishtar Gate and the fabled Hanging Gardens belonged to which ancient city on the Euphrates?

Babylon's Ishtar Gate was the most prominent of eight gates around the city. German excavators shipped pieces of it home, where it was rebuilt inside a Berlin museum.

Arab armies launched a surprise attack on Israel in October 1973 on which Jewish holy day?

Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, is the holiest day of the Jewish year. Israel's prime minister and defence chiefs met that morning, six hours before the fighting began.

Whose treasure-filled tomb did excavators led by Howard Carter discover in Egypt's Valley of the Kings in 1922?

Tutankhamun's burial goods were densely packed into an unusually small tomb. When Carter's patron Lord Carnarvon died months later, rumours spread that a curse on the tomb had killed him.

Which Gulf city built Palm Jumeirah, an artificial archipelago shaped like a palm tree when seen from the air?

Dubai's builders began stacking stone and sand for the island in June 2001. Homes and villas line the fronds, while luxury resorts sit on the outer ring that surrounds them.

Which narrator of 'One Thousand and One Nights' escapes execution by telling King Shahryar a story every night?

Scheherazade's own tales did not originally include Aladdin or Ali Baba. A French translator added both after hearing them from a visiting storyteller in Paris in 1709.

On which dormant volcano, the highest peak in Turkey, is Noah's Ark traditionally said to have come to rest?

Mount Ararat rises to 5,137 m in easternmost Turkey. Although it stands on Turkish soil, it is depicted with the ark on the coat of arms of Armenia.

The Gulf of Aqaba and the Gulf of Suez are both northern arms of which sea?

The Red Sea averages about 40 parts per thousand of salt and is saltiest in the north. Its Gulf of Suez arm leads on to the Suez Canal.

Which body of water, bordering Iran to the north, is the largest inland one in the world?

The Caspian Sea is shared by five countries: Russia, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan and Iran. With no outlet to the ocean, it is also described as the world's largest lake.

Which island country has been divided since 1974 by a UN buffer zone known as the Green Line?

Cyprus is split between the internationally recognised republic and a breakaway north recognised only by Turkey. The 180 km zone even cuts through the capital, Nicosia.

Palmyra, the desert oasis city where Queen Zenobia rebelled against Rome, lies in which modern country?

Syria's Palmyra grew rich as a caravan stop between Rome and the East. The Roman emperor Aurelian levelled the city in 273, and it was later rebuilt at a reduced size.

Which Mediterranean capital was widely called the 'Paris of the Middle East' before civil war broke out in 1975?

Beirut was also known as the 'Switzerland of the Middle East' for its role as a financial and business hub. Fifteen years of civil war then devastated much of the city.

Which capital city, home to the Azadi Tower and Golestan Palace, sits at the foot of the Alborz mountains?

Tehran's Azadi Tower was finished in 1971 to mark 2,500 years of empire. First named the Shah's Memorial, it was renamed 'Freedom' after the monarchy fell.

Which walled city did Ibn Saud capture in 1902 from exile, later making it the capital of his new kingdom?

Riyadh fell when Ibn Saud took its Masmak fort from the rival Rashidi garrison. He spent three decades expanding from that base before proclaiming his kingdom in 1932.

Which Israeli city's 'White City' of over 4,000 Bauhaus-style buildings is a UNESCO World Heritage Site?

Tel Aviv has more Bauhaus-style buildings than any other city in the world. Most date from the 1930s, designed by German Jewish architects who left after the Nazis took power.

Which Egyptian port city held both the ancient world's largest library and a lighthouse ranked among the Seven Wonders?

Alexandria was founded in 331 BC by Alexander the Great. It served as Egypt's capital and stayed one of the leading cities of the Mediterranean for almost a millennium.

Which Iranian city, nicknamed 'Half of the World', is built around the vast Naqsh-e Jahan Square?

Isfahan's golden age began in 1598, when the Safavid ruler Abbas the Great made it his capital. Its central square is one of the largest in the world and a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Which peninsula, bounded by the Black, Aegean and Mediterranean seas, makes up most of Turkey's land area?

Anatolia, also known as Asia Minor, is the westernmost protrusion of Asia. By one definition it is simply the Asian part of Turkey.

Which desert covers more than half of Israel's land area, stretching south to the resort port of Eilat?

The Negev makes up at least 55% of the country. Some 350 to 500 wild Nubian ibex live in its highlands and in the mountains around Eilat.

Which lake, fed mainly by the Jordan River, is the lowest freshwater lake on Earth?

The Sea of Galilee lies between 209 and 215 metres below sea level, depending on rainfall. Among all the world's lakes, only the salty Dead Sea sits lower.

Which desert valley in southern Jordan, nicknamed the Valley of the Moon, often stands in for Mars in films?

Wadi Rum is cut into sandstone and granite about 60 km east of the port of Aqaba. The protected area has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2011.

Which Yemeni island, where a third of the plants grow nowhere else, is dubbed 'the most alien-looking place on Earth'?

Socotra's best-known native is the dragon's blood tree, named for the blood-like colour of its red sap. Its dense, upturned crown is shaped like an umbrella.

Which water system, developed in ancient Iran about 3,000 years ago, taps an aquifer through an underground aqueduct?

Qanat technology spread across Asia and North Africa under many regional names, such as karez in Afghanistan and foggara in Algeria.

Which town holds the Church of the Nativity, built over a grotto revered by Christians as the birthplace of Jesus?

Bethlehem's grotto is the oldest site continuously used as a place of worship in Christianity. The basilica above it is the oldest major church in the Holy Land.

Which Herodian-era structure in Jerusalem's Old City is the holiest place where Jews are permitted to pray?

The Western Wall is revered because the Holy of Holies, the most sacred site in the Jewish faith, is presumed to lie just above and behind it. Visitors tuck written prayers into its crevices.

To which city did Muhammad and his followers migrate in 622, a journey that begins the Islamic calendar?

Medina was known as Yathrib before the advent of Islam. Muhammad built the Prophet's Mosque there in 622, and it now serves as his burial site.

Which branch of Islam holds that Ali, the cousin and son-in-law of Muhammad, was his rightful successor?

Shia Muslims recognise Ali alone as the true and legitimate heir to Muhammad's leadership. Sunni Muslims accept the three caliphs who ruled before him: Abu Bakr, Umar and Uthman.

Which festival at the spring equinox, marked with a 'haft-sin' table of symbolic items, begins the Iranian new year?

Nowruz means 'New Day'. Each of the seven symbolic items on the haft-sin table has a name that begins with the same letter, the one pronounced 'seen'.

Which religion, founded in the 19th century, has its world centre and terraced gardens on Mount Carmel in Haifa?

The Baha'i Faith was established by Baha'u'llah, who died near Acre in 1892 while still formally a prisoner of the Ottoman Empire. The terraces on Mount Carmel joined the World Heritage List in 2008.

Which sacred language did Eliezer Ben-Yehuda help revive as an everyday spoken tongue from the late 19th century?

Hebrew had been the purely sacred language of Judaism. Ben-Yehuda, often called its reviver, was the first to propose bringing it back and began the dictionary that bears his name.

Which ancient language, believed to have been the main one Jesus spoke, is still used in the village of Maaloula?

Aramaic was the language of Jesus, who spoke its Galilean dialect, and of the Jerusalem Talmud. One of its dialects survives in Maaloula and two neighbouring towns.

Which writing system, the earliest known, was first developed to write the Sumerian language of southern Mesopotamia?

Cuneiform is named for the wedge-shaped marks, cuneus in Latin, that form its signs. It went on to record many other languages of the ancient Near East, from Akkadian to Hittite.

What name is given to the massive terraced temple towers of ancient Mesopotamia, such as the great one at Ur?

Ziggurat builders stacked successively receding levels into a terraced tower. The Sumerians believed the gods lived in the temple at the top, so only priests and other honoured people could enter.

Which legendary king of the Sumerian city of Uruk is the hero of the world's oldest surviving epic?

Gilgamesh was possibly a real king who was worshipped as a god after his death. In the epic he seeks out Utnapishtim, the flood survivor whom the gods rewarded with immortality.

Which sultan defeated the Crusaders at the Battle of Hattin in 1187 and went on to capture Jerusalem?

Saladin began his rise in Egypt, where he was sent in 1164 with his uncle, a mercenary commander. He later led the Muslim military effort against the Crusader states during the Third Crusade.

Which Ottoman sultan, remembered in Turkey as 'the Lawgiver', was turned back at the siege of Vienna in 1529?

Suleiman I is 'the Magnificent' in the West. The Turkish epithet Kanuni honours the laws he issued, though it may date only from the 18th century. No Ottoman sultan reigned longer.

Which founder of the Turkish Republic replaced the Arabic-based Ottoman script with a Latin alphabet in 1928?

Atatürk, meaning 'Father of the Turks', is the surname that parliament granted Mustafa Kemal in 1934. Alongside the new letters, he opened thousands of schools.

Which British officer wrote 'Seven Pillars of Wisdom', an account of his part in the Arab Revolt against Ottoman rule?

T. E. Lawrence worked in the region before the war as an archaeologist for the British Museum. He died in 1935, aged 46, after a motorcycle crash in Dorset.

Which agreements did Anwar Sadat and Menachem Begin sign in 1978 after twelve days of secret US-hosted talks?

The Camp David Accords are named for the US president's country retreat in Maryland, where the talks were held. Sadat and Begin shared that year's Nobel Peace Prize for the deal.

Which dynasty, founded by the soldier Reza Khan in 1925, was the last to rule Iran before the revolution?

Pahlavi was a name Reza Khan adopted from the scripts of the pre-Islamic Sasanian Empire. The dynasty he founded rooted its nationalism in that ancient, pre-Islamic past.

Which royal family has ruled Jordan since 1921 and also reigned over Iraq from 1921 until 1958?

The Hashemites, officially the House of Hashim, also ruled the kingdom of Hejaz from 1916 to 1925. Jordan's first king, Abdullah, was assassinated in 1951, but his descendants kept the throne.

Which medieval physician and philosopher wrote 'The Canon of Medicine', a standard text at many European universities?

Avicenna's medical encyclopedia stayed in use as late as 1650. His other famous work, The Book of Healing, is not a medical book at all but an encyclopedia of philosophy and science.

Which 9th-century scholar, described as the father of algebra, also gave his name to the word 'algorithm'?

Al-Khwarizmi's treatise Al-Jabr presented the first systematic solution of linear and quadratic equations. Latin translators rendered his name as Algoritmi.

Which pear-shaped, fretless Middle Eastern lute is the ancestor of the lutes of medieval Europe?

Oud players usually pluck 11 strings grouped in six courses, on a short neck with no frets. Western lutes developed out of the instrument as it was played in the medieval Islamic world.

Which spice, grown mostly in Iran, takes some 150,000 crocus flowers to yield a single kilogram?

Saffron threads are the flower's crimson stigmas, and every one is picked by hand. About 440,000 of them go into a kilogram, which is why the spice is so costly.

Which Arabic news network, launched from Doha in 1996, has a name meaning 'The Island' or 'The Peninsula'?

Al Jazeera began broadcasting on 1 November 1996 as a state-funded Arabic-language channel. The network behind it went on to add an English-language sister channel.

Tahini, the paste stirred into hummus and baba ghanoush, is made by grinding which seeds?

Sesame seeds are usually hulled first; left unhulled, they give a slightly bitter but more nutritious paste. Tahini is also a major ingredient of the sweet called halva.