Geography Question: Is Turkey part of Europe or the Middle East?

[The Thayan Menace]

True Dat!

Turkey is considered to bridge both continents (and remember those are arbitrarily decided anyway). The area north west of the Bosphorus is traditinally considered part of Europe and the main area, what used to be considered Anatolia is considered part of Asia (well Asia minor).

Correct.

-Samir

 

[Mycanid]

Well Thayan ... I guess we will have to disagree on this one.

You are right in that Byzantine culture profoundly shaped both Western Civilization and Christianity, but that does not make them Europeans. In fact, the Byzantine and the Western civilizations (beginning with the Carolingian empire btw) were at odds on many things until it culminated in the schism of 1054. After that the breach between the two grew wider and wider and wider, culminating in the Crusaders sacking the Byzantine empire's outermost areas. The real nail in the coffin was the Council in Ephesus in the 1450's, just before the fall of Constantinople to the Moslems. It was obvious that the West and the Byzantine East were two totally different realities at that time. Their identifying themselves with Western culture was to continue the idea of carrying on the general "banner" of the Roman empire, not necessarily a cultural identification on the level I take it is being discussed here....

Ah well. Perhaps it is not as important a distinction as the original starter of this thread was looking for, though.

 

[Ambrus]

Heading off on a complete tangeant; why is the US alone traditionally known as "America" when in fact every country on this side of the ocean is in the Americas? I've never gotten that myself. :\

 

[Fenris]

Ahhh ... however "Turkey" specifically means the land of the "Turks". And the "Turks" are NOT, repeat NOT a European people historically. They are an Eastern people (and whether you say Middle Eastern - i.e. a people whose countries are near European countries - or Far Eastern - i.e. a people whose countries are far away from European countries) they are still NOT European peoples.

You know, at some point even the European race came from the East, be it the Picts, Gauls, Etruscans or Visigoths. So this talk of "Eastern" or "Western" people is merely a temporal distinction. The Seljuk Turks were merely the next wave of peoples moving west from central Asia.

 

[Umbran]

They were mostly Greeks and Anatolians. And these are still not Western peoples.

Hr. I guess I just don't understand upon what basis you classify them. If you aren't going to classify Greeks as European, despite being present on the continent for three or more millennia and building the groundwork for much of European civilization, I think I'll just agree to disagree.

 

[SWBaxter]

Heading off on a complete tangeant; why is the US alone traditionally known as "America" when in fact every country on this side of the ocean is in the Americas?

It's a handy short form for an otherwise unwieldy name. Also, in Central and South America it's fairly common for people to use "American" to mean anybody in the Americas.

 

[The Thayan Menace]

No Harm ... No Foul

Well Thayan ... I guess we will have to disagree on this one.

Fair enough ... for now at least. Collegiality amongst historians, even ones who vehemently disagree, is a credit to the discipline.

Besides, any further discussion on this matter will probably bend the no politics and/or religion rule.

-Samir

 

[Thunderfoot]

Heading off on a complete tangeant; why is the US alone traditionally known as "America" when in fact every country on this side of the ocean is in the Americas? I've never gotten that myself. :\

Because it's in the name United States of America - therefore we either become the United Statesians (ew!) or Americans.
Actually it's a holdover from the English habit of calling us colonials, but since Australia was also a colony at the same time, they began calling us those colonials in the Americas...later shorthanded into Americans, it just kind of stuck after that. (NOT RELIGIOUS BUT HISTORIC) the same way that Christian is used for anyone claiming a faith in Christ, if you check your Biblical history you'll find the term Christian is only printed three times and used as a derogatory term in each instance - the original term was disciple, but the other was more popular with the people at large, when the disciples began wearing it as a badge of honor turning the insult into a shield against slander, it stuck.
In the same way the British colonists in America began clinging to the "slanderous" term American and used it as a rallying point when things with the Mother Isle began to go south. It gave the early settlers a sense of a "new" individual identity, and well stuck.

(I really have to get a life - I know far too much trivial history than any one person should know. )

 

[Thornir Alekeg]

Because it's in the name United States of America - therefore we either become the United Statesians (ew!) or Americans.
Actually it's a holdover from the English habit of calling us colonials, but since Australia was also a colony at the same time, they began calling us those colonials in the Americas...later shorthanded into Americans, it just kind of stuck after that. (NOT RELIGIOUS BUT HISTORIC) the same way that Christian is used for anyone claiming a faith in Christ, if you check your Biblical history you'll find the term Christian is only printed three times and used as a derogatory term in each instance - the original term was disciple, but the other was more popular with the people at large, when the disciples began wearing it as a badge of honor turning the insult into a shield against slander, it stuck.
In the same way the British colonists in America began clinging to the "slanderous" term American and used it as a rallying point when things with the Mother Isle began to go south. It gave the early settlers a sense of a "new" individual identity, and well stuck.

(I really have to get a life - I know far too much trivial history than any one person should know. )

I always assumed that it was because the USA was the only nation that used the word America in its name.

 

[dragonhead]

As a History teacher, Turkey is in Europe. They have a middle-eastern culture, and they prefer to be called turkish, not turks. turks is a slaing word like yo, and the colonies that were settled in present day USA were not the only colonies to called american. before canada became "independent" they were aslo refered to as americans.