It was in the Middle East, over 10,000 years ago, that people first learned to farm and later built the first cities. Persian, Byzantine and Islamic empires dominated the area in their time, but until the recent discovery of oil much of it was very poor. Euphrates, 2815km Countries Bahrain, Lebanon, Qatar, Kuwait, Israel, United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Syria, Oman, Iraq, Yemen, Turkey, Iran, Saudi Arabia. Israel is famous for Jaffa oranges.
Oman grows trees for frankincense.
Israel is famous for cut diamonds, Lebanon for other gems. Only Israel has much industry that is not entirely oil-based, though Syria, Turkey, Iraq and Iran are well on the way to being industrialized. Yemen is a socialist republic. Turkey is also a republic, but it has often been run by army generals. Iraq is also a republic, ruled by President Saddam Hussein.