They're closing in on us!

When did the "Middle East" move? In the High and Far-Off Times the Elephant, O Best Beloved, had no trunk, and the "Middle East" was between the "Near East" and the "Far East". There was even a place whither daring travellers ventured and remittance-men were despatched: "out East".

In between here and there was a place since mislaid, the Levant. This was the sandy bit between the Taurus mountains (north), Mesopotamia (east), the Arabian desert (south) and the Mediterranean (west).

Somehow, somewhen the Levant was absorbed into the "Middle East". Why?
Sphere: Related Content