Iran - or Persia, as it was known until the 1930s - is home to one of the world's oldest cultures. Over the years it has exerted a great influence over its neighbors in the Middle East and Central Asia. Although Iran was once a close ally of the United States, in 1979 supporters of the Islamic fundamentalist cleric Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini overthrew the government and instituted a new one based on strict interpretation of Islamic law. In the years...

Discusses the geography, history, economy, government, religion, people, foreign relations, and major cities of Lebanon.

Discusses the geography, history, economy, government, religion, people, foreign relations, and major cities of Saudi Arabia.

Discusses the geography, history, economy, government, religion, people, foreign relations, and communities of Turkey.

Discusses the geography, history, economy, government, religion, people, foreign relations, and major cities of Bahrain.

Discusses the geography, history, economy, government, religion, people, foreign relations, and major cities of Kuwait.

Discusses the geography, history, economy, government, religion, people, foreign relations, and major cities of Morocco.

Discusses the geography, history, economy, government, religion, people, foreign relations, and major cities of Somalia.

Discusses the geography, history, economy, government, religion, people, foreign relations, and major cities of Tunisia.

Like its neighbors on the Arabian Peninsula, the Republic of Yemen has a long and rich history. The southern Arabian region, which present-day Temen shares, was once the home of the Samaean kingdom. Led by the queen of Sheba, the kingdom formed an alliance with King Solomon, as recorded in the Old Testament. In the era of the burgeoning spice trade, the people of the Yemen region, which was advantageously located along the sea routes to Asia, had...