romikgosai/squad_modified_2 huggingface dataset:
Some regions beyond the Ottoman Porte were included. One was North Africa west of Egypt. It was occupied by piratical kingdoms of the Barbary Coast, de facto independent since the 18th century. Formerly part of the empire at its apogee. Iran was included because it could not easily be reached except through the Ottoman Empire or neighboring Russia. In the 1890s the term tended to focus on the conflicts in the Balkan states and Armenia. The demise of the sick man of Europe left considerable confusion as to what was to be meant by "Near East". It is now generally used only in historical contexts, to describe the countries of Western Asia from the Mediterranean to (or including) Iran. There is, in short, no universally understood fixed inventory of nations, languages or historical assets defined to be in it.

Q1: What was one region included that was occupied by piratical kingdoms?
A1: North Africa west of Egypt
Q2: Where were the piratical kingdoms from?
A2: Barbary Coast
Q3: Why was Iran included in the collection of regions?
A3: because it could not easily be reached except through the Ottoman Empire or neighboring Russia
Q4: What did the term Near East focus on in the 1890s?
A4: the conflicts in the Balkan states and Armenia
Q5: The demise of what left considerable confusion as to what was to be meant by "Near East"
A5: of the sick man of Europe
The geographical terms "Near East" and "Far East" referring to areas of the globe in or contiguous to the former British Empire and the neighboring colonies of the Dutch, Portuguese, Spanish and Germans, fit together as a pair based on the opposites of far and near, suggesting that they were innovated together. They appear together in the journals of the mid-19th century. Both terms were used before then with local British and American meanings: the near or far east of a field, village or shire.

Q1: The terms "Near East" and "Far East" referring to areas of the globe in or contiguous to the former British Empire and the neighboring colonies fit together as a pair based on what?
A1: the opposites of far and near
Q2: When do the terms "Near East" and "Far East" appear together in journals?
A2: the mid-19th century
Q3: The term Near East and Far East were used in British and American meanings when referring to what?
A3: the near or far east of a field, village or shire.
There was a linguistic predisposition to use such terms. The Romans had used them in near Gaul / far Gaul, near Spain / far Spain and others. Before them the Greeks had the habit, which appears in Linear B, the oldest known script of Europe, referring to the near province and the far province of the kingdom of Pylos. Usually these terms were given with reference to a geographic feature, such as a mountain range or a river.

Q1: Who used the terms near Gaul?
A1: The Romans
Q2: The appearance of what culture using the terms appears in Linear B?
A2: the Greeks
Q3: Usually the terms were given when referencing what?
A3: a geographic feature
Ptolemy's Geography divided Asia on a similar basis. In the north is "Scythia this side of the Himalayas" and "Scythia beyond the Himalayas." To the south is "India on this side of the Ganges" and "India beyond the Ganges." Asia began on the coast of Anatolia ("land of the rising sun"). Beyond the Ganges and Himalayas (including the Tien Shan) were Serica and Serae (sections of China) and some other identifiable far eastern locations known to the voyagers and geographers but not to the general European public.

Q1: What divided Asia on a similar basis?
A1: Ptolemy's Geography
Q2: "Scythia this side of the Himalayas" is located where?
A2: In the north
Q3: "India on this side of the Ganges" is located where?
A3: To the south
Q4: "Scythia beyond the Himalayas" is located where?
A4: In the north
Q5: Where did Asia begin?
A5: on the coast of Anatolia
By the time of John Seller's Atlas Maritima of 1670, "India Beyond the Ganges" had become "the East Indies" including China, Korea, southeast Asia and the islands of the Pacific in a map that was every bit as distorted as Ptolemy's, despite the lapse of approximately 1500 years. That "east" in turn was only an English translation of Latin Oriens and Orientalis, "the land of the rising sun," used since Roman times for "east." The world map of Jodocus Hondius of 1590 labels all of Asia from the Caspian to the Pacific as India Orientalis, shortly to appear in translation as the East Indies.

Q1: When was John Seller's Atlas Maritima?
A1: 1670
Q2: What had "India Beyond the Ganges" become?
A2: the East Indies
Q3: China, Korea, southeast Asia and the islands of the Pacific were included in what?
A3: "the East Indies"
Q4: What was only an English translation of Latin Oriens and Orientalis, "the land of the rising sun"?
A4: "east"
Q5: What year did Jodocus Hondius make his world map?
A5: 1590
Elizabeth I of England, primarily interested in trade with the east, collaborated with English merchants to form the first trading companies to the far-flung regions, using their own jargon. Their goals were to obtain trading concessions by treaty. The queen chartered the Company of Merchants of the Levant, shortened to Levant Company, and soon known also as The Turkey Company, in 1581. In 1582, the ship The Great Susan transported the first ambassador, William Harebone, to the Ottoman Porte (government of the Ottoman Empire) at Constantinople. Compared to Anatolia, Levant also means "land of the rising sun," but where Anatolia always only meant the projection of land currently occupied by the Republic of Turkey, Levant meant anywhere in the domain ruled by the Ottoman Porte. The East India Company (short for a much longer formal name) was chartered in 1600 for trade to the East Indies.

Q1: Where was Elizabeth I from?
A1: England
Q2: What was Elizabeth primarily interested in?
A2: trade with the east
Q3: Who did Elizabeth I collaborate with?
A3: English merchants
Q4: What was the goal of the first trading companies?
A4: obtain trading concessions by treaty
Q5: What company was charted in 1600 for trade to the East Indies?
A5: The East India Company
It has pleased western historians to write of a decline of the Ottoman Empire as though a stable and uncontested polity of that name once existed. The borders did expand and contract but they were always dynamic and always in "question" right from the beginning. The Ottoman Empire was created from the lands of the former eastern Roman Empire on the occasion of the latter's violent demise. The last Roman emperor died fighting hand-to-hand in the streets of his capital, Constantinople, overwhelmed by the Ottoman military, in May, 1453. The victors inherited his remaining territory in the Balkans.

Q1: What has pleased western historians?
A1: to write of a decline of the Ottoman Empire
Q2: What was always in question from the beginning of the Ottoman Empire?
A2: The borders
Q3: What was the Ottoman Empire created from?
A3: the lands of the former eastern Roman Empire
Q4: How did the last Roman emperor die?
A4: fighting hand-to-hand in the streets
Q5: Where was the Roman emperor's capital?
A5: Constantinople
The populations of those lands did not accept Turkish rule. The Turks to them were foreigners with completely different customs, way of life, and language. Intervals when there was no unrest were rare. The Hungarians had thrown off Turkish rule by 1688. Serbia was created by the Serbian Revolution, 1815–1833. The Greek War of Independence, 1821–1832, created modern Greece, which recovered most of the lands of ancient Greece, but could not gain Constantinople. The Ottoman Porte was continuously under attack from some quarter in its empire, primarily the Balkans. Also, on a number of occasions in the early 19th century, American and British warships had to attack the Barbary pirates to stop their piracy and recover thousands of enslaved Europeans and Americans.

Q1: The populations did not accept what?
A1: Turkish rule
Q2: The Hungarians had thrown off Turkish rule by what year?
A2: 1688
Q3: What created Serbia?
A3: the Serbian Revolution
Q4: When was the Serbian Revolution?
A4: 1815–1833
Q5: When was the Greek War of Independence?
A5: 1821–1832
In 1853 the Russian Empire on behalf of the Slavic Balkan states began to question the very existence of the Ottoman Empire. The result was the Crimean War, 1853–1856, in which the British Empire and the French Empire supported the Ottoman Empire in its struggle against the incursions of the Russian Empire. Eventually, the Ottoman Empire lost control of the Balkan region.

Q1: When did the Russian Empire begin to question the existence of the Ottoman Empire?
A1: 1853
Q2: When was the Crimean War?
A2: 1853–1856
Q3: During the Crimean War who did the British and French support?
A3: the Ottoman Empire
Q4: What was the Ottoman Empire's struggle against in the Crimean War?
A4: the incursions of the Russian Empire
Q5: The Ottoman Empire eventually lost control of what region?
A5: the Balkan region
Until about 1855 the words near east and far east did not refer to any particular region. The far East, a phrase containing a noun, East, qualified by an adjective, far, could be at any location in the "far east" of the speaker's home territory. The Ottoman Empire, for example, was the far East as much as the East Indies. The Crimean War brought a change in vocabulary with the introduction of terms more familiar to the late 19th century. The Russian Empire had entered a more aggressive phase, becoming militarily active against the Ottoman Empire and also against China, with territorial aggrandizement explicitly in mind. Rethinking its policy the British government decided that the two polities under attack were necessary for the balance of power. It therefore undertook to oppose the Russians in both places, one result being the Crimean War. During that war the administration of the British Empire began promulgating a new vocabulary, giving specific regional meaning to "the Near East," the Ottoman Empire, and "the Far East," the East Indies. The two terms were now compound nouns often shown hyphenated.

Q1: Until what year did the words near east and far east not refer to any particular region?
A1: 1855
Q2: What brought a change in vocabulary?
A2: The Crimean War
Q3: The Russian Empire became more militarily active against who?
A3: the Ottoman Empire
Q4: Who decided the two polities under attack were necessary for the balance of power?
A4: the British government
Q5: What empire began promulgating a new vocabulary?
A5: the British Empire
In 1855 a reprint of a letter earlier sent to The Times appeared in Littel's Living Age. Its author, an "official Chinese interpreter of 10 years' active service" and a member of the Oriental Club, Thomas Taylor Meadows, was replying to the suggestion by another interpreter that the British Empire was wasting its resources on a false threat from Russia against China. Toward the end of the letter he said:

Q1: When was a reprint of a letter sent to The Times appear in Littel's Living Age?
A1: 1855
Q2: Who was the author of the letter sent to the Times?
A2: Thomas Taylor Meadows
Q3: What was Thomas Taylor Meadows replying to?
A3: the suggestion by another interpreter
Much of the colonial administration belonged to this club, which had been formed by the Duke of Wellington. Meadows' terminology must represent usage by that administration. If not the first use of the terms, the letter to the Times was certainly one of the earliest presentations of this vocabulary to the general public. They became immediately popular, supplanting "Levant" and "East Indies," which gradually receded to minor usages and then began to change meaning.

Q1: What was one of the earliest presentations of this vocabulary?
A1: the letter to the Times
Q2: What was said must represent usage by that administration?
A2: Meadows' terminology
Q3: Who had formed the club that contained much of the colonial administration?
A3: Duke of Wellington
"Near East" remained popular in diplomatic, trade and journalistic circles, but a variation soon developed among the scholars and the men of the cloth and their associates: "the Nearer East," reverting to the classical and then more scholarly distinction of "nearer" and "farther." They undoubtedly saw a need to separate the Biblical lands from the terrain of the Ottoman Empire. The Christians saw the country as the land of the Old and New Testaments, where Christianity had developed. The scholars in the field of studies that eventually became Biblical archaeology attempted to define it on the basis of archaeology.

Q1: What remained popular in diplomatic, trade and journalistic circles?
A1: "Near East"
Q2: What variation soon developed among the scholars and the men of the cloth and their associates?
A2: "the Nearer East,"
Q3: There was a need to separate what from the terrain of the Ottoman Empire?
A3: the Biblical lands
Q4: What did the Christians see the country as?
A4: the land of the Old and New Testaments
Q5: How did the scholars attempt their definition?
A5: on the basis of archaeology
For example, The London Review of 1861 (Telford and Barber, unsigned) in reviewing several works by Rawlinson, Layard and others, defined themselves as making:

Q1: When was the London Review?
A1: 1861
Q2: Rawlinson, Layard and others were reviewed in what?
A2: The London Review of 1861
Q3: Who wrote The London Review of 1861?
A3: (Telford and Barber
The regions in their inventory were Assyria, Chaldea, Mesopotamia, Persia, Armenia, Egypt, Arabia, Syria, Palestine, Ethiopia, Caucasus, Libya, Anatolia and Abyssinia. Explicitly excluded is India. No mention is made of the Balkans.

Q1: What region was explicitly excluded?
A1: India
Q2: What region has no mention?
A2: the Balkans
Q3: Assyria, Chaldea, Mesopotamia, Persia, Armenia, Egypt, Arabia, Syria, Palestine, Ethiopia, Caucasus, Libya, Anatolia, and Abyssinia were all what?
A3: regions in their inventory
Hogarth then proceeds to say where and why in some detail, but no more mention is made of the classics. His analysis is geopolitical. His map delineates the Nearer East with regular lines as though surveyed. They include Iran, the Balkans, but not the Danube lands, Egypt, but not the rest of North Africa. Except for the Balkans, the region matches the later Middle East. It differs from the Ottoman Empire of the times in including Greece and Iran. Hogarth gives no evidence of being familiar with the contemporaneous initial concept of the Middle East.

Q1: What does Hogarth say in detail?
A1: where and why
Q2: Hogarth makes no mention of what?
A2: the classics
Q3: How is Hogarth's analysis?
A3: geopolitical
In the last years of the 19th century the term "Near East" acquired considerable disrepute in eyes of the English-speaking public as did the Ottoman Empire itself. The cause of the onus was the Hamidian Massacres of Armenians because they were Christians, but it seemed to spill over into the protracted conflicts of the Balkans. For a time, "Near East" meant primarily the Balkans. Robert Hichens' book The Near East (1913) is subtitled Dalmatia, Greece and Constantinople.

Q1: When did the term "Near East" acquire considerable disrepute?
A1: the 19th century
Q2: The term "Near East" acquired considerable disrepute in whose eyes?
A2: English-speaking public
Q3: What was the cause of the onus?
A3: the Hamidian Massacres of Armenians
Q4: What was the cause of the Hamidian Massacres of Armenians?
A4: they were Christians
Q5: When was Robert Hickens' book wrote?
A5: 1913)
The change is evident in the reports of influential British travellers to the Balkans. In 1894, Sir Henry Norman, 1st Baronet, a journalist, travelled to the Far East, afterwards writing a book called The Peoples and Politics of the Far East, which came out in 1895. By "Far East" he meant Siberia, China, Japan, Korea, Siam and Malaya. As the book was a big success, he was off to the Balkan states with his wife in 1896 to develop detail for a sequel, The People and Politics of the Near East, which Scribners planned to publish in 1897. Mrs. Norman, a writer herself, wrote glowing letters of the home and person of Mme. Zakki, "the wife of a Turkish cabinet minister," who, she said, was a cultivated woman living in a country home full of books. As for the natives of the Balkans, they were "a semi-civilized people."

Q1: Reports from who made the change evident?
A1: influential British travellers
Q2: Where did Sir Henry Norman travel in 1894
A2: the Far East
Q3: What book did Sir Henry Norman write after traveling to the Far East?
A3: The Peoples and Politics of the Far East
Q4: What year did Sir Henry Norman's book come out?
A4: 1895
The book was never published. Instead the Normans whirled off to New York. Norman published the gist of his planned travel book curiously mixed with vituperation against the Ottoman Empire in an article in June, 1896, in Scribner's Magazine. The empire had descended from an enlightened civilization ruling over barbarians for their own good to something considerably less. The difference was the Hamidian Massacres, which were being conducted even as the couple traveled the Balkans. According to Norman now, the empire had been established by "the Moslem horde" from Asia, which was stopped by "intrepid Hungary." Furthermore, "Greece shook off the turbaned destroyer of her people" and so on. The Russians were suddenly liberators of oppressed Balkan states. Having portrayed the Armenians as revolutionaries in the name of freedom with the expectation of being rescued by the intervention of Christian Europe, he states "but her hope was vain." England had "turned her back." Norman concluded his exhortation with "In the Balkans one learns to hate the Turk." Norman made sure that Gladstone read the article. Prince Nicolas of Montenegro wrote a letter thanking him for his article.

Q1: Where did the Normans go off to instead of publishing the book?
A1: New York
Q2: When did Norman publish parts of his planned travel book?
A2: June, 1896
Q3: What magazine did Norman publish his work in?
A3: Scribner's Magazine
Q4: Who were liberators of oppressed Balkan states?
A4: The Russians
Q5: Who did Norman say "turned her back"?
A5: England
Throughout this article Norman uses "Near East" to mean the countries where "the eastern question" applied; that is, to all of the Balkans. The countries and regions mentioned are Greece, Bulgaria, Serbia, Bosnia-Herzegovina (which was Moslem and needed, in his view, to be suppressed), Macedonia, Montenegro, Albania, Romania. The rest of the Ottoman domain is demoted to just "the east."

Q1: What does Norman mean in the article when saying "Near East"?
A1: the countries where "the eastern question" applied
Q2: What is the rest of the Ottoman domain demoted to?
A2: just "the east."
Q3: "The East" refers to what?
A3: The rest of the Ottoman domain
If Norman was apparently attempting to change British policy, it was perhaps William Miller (1864–1945), journalist and expert on the Near East, who did the most in that direction. In essence, he signed the death warrant, so to speak, of the Age of Empires. The fall of the Ottoman Empire ultimately enmeshed all the others as well. In the Travel and Politics in the Near East, 1898, Miller claimed to have made four trips to the Balkans, 1894, 1896, 1897 and 1898, and to be, in essence, an expert on "the Near East," by which he primarily meant the Balkans. Apart from the fact that he attended Oxford and played Rugby not many biographical details have been promulgated. He was in effect (whatever his formal associations if any) a point man of British near eastern intelligence.

Q1: What was William Miller's life span?
A1: 1864–1945
Q2: What was William Miller an expert on?
A2: the Near East
Q3: So to speak, what did William Miller do?
A3: signed the death warrant, so to speak, of the Age of Empires
Q4: Where did Miller attend school?
A4: Oxford
These were fighting words to be coming from a country that once insisted Europe needed Turkey and was willing to spill blood over it. For his authority Miller invokes the people, citing the "collective wisdom" of Europe, and introducing a concept to arise many times in the decades to follow under chilling circumstances:

Q1: Miller's words were considered what?
A1: fighting words
Q2: It was considered Europe needed what country?
A2: Turkey
Q3: What was Miller citing?
A3: the "collective wisdom" of Europe
If the British Empire was now going to side with the Russian Empire, the Ottoman Empire had no choice but to cultivate a relationship with the Austro-Hungarian Empire, which was supported by the German Empire. In a few years these alignments became the Triple Entente and the Triple Alliance (already formed in 1882), which were in part a cause of World War I. By its end in 1918 three empires were gone, a fourth was about to fall to revolution, and two more, the British and French, were forced to yield in revolutions started under the aegis of their own ideologies.

Q1: The Ottoman Empire had no choice but to develop their relationship with what country?
A1: Austro-Hungarian Empire
Q2: Who supported the Austro-Hungarian Empire?
A2: the German Empire
Q3: Who did the British Empire side with?
A3: the Russian Empire
Q4: The formation of the Triple Entente and the Triple Alliance partly caused what?
A4: World War I
Q5: By what year were three empires gone?
A5: 1918
By 1916, when millions of Europeans were becoming casualties of imperial war in the trenches of eastern and western Europe over "the eastern question," Arnold J. Toynbee, Hegelesque historian of civilization at large, was becoming metaphysical about the Near East. Geography alone was not a sufficient explanation of the terms, he believed. If the Ottoman Empire had been a sick man, then:

Q1: What year was Arnold J toynbee becoming metaphysical about the Near East?
A1: 1916
Q2: Who was the Hegelesque historian of civilization?
A2: Arnold J. Toynbee
Q3: Arnold J Toynbee believed what?
A3: Geography alone was not a sufficient explanation of the terms
From the death of the Near East new nations were able to rise from the ashes, notably the Republic of Turkey. Paradoxically it now aligned itself with the west rather than with the east. Mustafa Kemal, its founder, a former Ottoman high-ranking officer, was insistent on this social revolution, which, among other changes, liberated women from the strait rules still in effect in most Arabic-speaking countries. The demise of the political Near East now left a gap where it had been, into which stepped the Middle East.

Q1: What was able to rise from the death of the Near East?
A1: new nations
Q2: What notable nation was able to rise from the ashes of the Near East?
A2: the Republic of Turkey
Q3: How did the Republic of Turkey align themselves?
A3: with the west
Q4: Who was the founder of the Republic of Turkey?
A4: Mustafa Kemal
Q5: Who was a former Ottoman high-ranking officer?
A5: Mustafa Kemal
The term middle east as a noun and adjective was common in the 19th century in nearly every context except diplomacy and archaeology. An uncountable number of places appear to have had their middle easts from gardens to regions, including the United States. The innovation of the term "Near East" to mean the holdings of the Ottoman Empire as early as the Crimean War had left a geographical gap. The East Indies, or "Far East," derived ultimately from Ptolemy's "India Beyond the Ganges." The Ottoman Empire ended at the eastern border of Iraq. "India This Side of the Ganges" and Iran had been omitted. The archaeologists counted Iran as "the Near East" because Old Persian cuneiform had been found there. This usage did not sit well with the diplomats; India was left in an equivocal state. They needed a regional term.

Q1: When was the term middle east common as a noun and adjective?
A1: the 19th century
Q2: The middle east was not common in diplomacy and what other context?
A2: archaeology
Q3: Where did the "Far East" derive from?
A3: Ptolemy's "India Beyond the Ganges."
Q4: Where did the Ottoman Empire end?
A4: the eastern border of Iraq
Q5: Why did archaeologists count Iran as "The Near East"?
A5: because Old Persian cuneiform had been found there