ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Near East

Okay, so the Near East is a place on Earth where lots of important things happened a long long time ago. It includes countries like Turkey, Lebanon, Israel, and Iraq.

A really really long time ago, people who lived in the Near East invented writing and built really impressive cities like Babylon and Nineveh. They also started important religions like Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.

One thing that makes the Near East special is that it's where Europe and Asia meet. This means that people from all over the world would travel through the Near East on their way to other places. Because of this, the Near East became a really important trade route and lots of different cultures mixed together there.

Today, the Near East is still a really important place. There are still people practicing those same religions that were started thousands of years ago. The Near East is also important because of its oil reserves, which make it a really important place for countries like the United States and Russia.