Vast sandy deserts nearly devoid of life, almost as desolate steppes, little rain and hard-to-survive summer day heat. This is what Tropical Dry climates feel like.

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Mideastern city

Mideastern city

Northern Middle East has been the birthplace of “city” as such and the region’s cities are among the world’s longest continuously-inhabitted territories. Vast white new neighborhoods thus surround downtowns which are like history books.

Minor Middle Eastern scripts (Hebrew, Syriac, Mongol)

Minor Middle Eastern scripts (Hebrew, Syriac, Mongol)

In the modern Middle East dominated by Arabic Muslims there remains “islands” of pre-Islamic faiths and ethnicities which have their own scripts. Most famous among them are Jews (Hebrew script) but there are also Assyrians (Syriac script) and Tana. All these scripts are related.