Intermediate Region
Encyclopedia
An established geopolitical
model set forth in the 1970s by the Greek
historian Dimitri Kitsikis
, professor at the University of Ottawa
, Canada
. According to this model, the Eurasia
n continent is composed of not only two civilisational regions, that is, Western (or Western European) and Eastern (or Far Eastern), but also a third region found between the two. Called the "Intermediate Region", that comprises a distinct civilisation.
The lands between the Adriatic Sea
and the Indus River
form the Intermediate Region, and are considered a bridge between Western
and Eastern civilisations
. This vast area extends from the eastern half of Europe to the western half of Asia
. Its significance, from the point of view of civilisation, is that there is neither such thing as a uniform Europe nor a uniform Asia. The terms “Europe
” and “Asia
” denote geographical regions and not civilisations. In terms of population, the dominant religions in the Intermediate Region are Orthodox Christianity
and Sunni Islam
, and to a lesser extent Shiite Islam, Alevism and Judaism
. In contrast, Catholicism
and Protestantism
dominate in the West, as do Hinduism
and Buddhism
in the East.
The Intermediate Region had for 2500 years been dominated by an ecumenical empire, whose centre lay by the Turkish Straits
and the Aegean Sea
. Fundamentally the same empire throughout history, its successive leaders sought to unify its respective peoples. From the Persian empire of Darius, it fell into the hands of Alexander the Great, then to the Hellenistic Roman
s, the Christian Romans
and finally to the Sunni Ottoman
s until 1923-24. This Central Empire had been subject to attempts by other empires to seize succession. These empires, situated along its periphery, were the Islamic
, the Persian and the Russia
n (until 1917).
The dynamic between the Central Empire and the Peripheral Empires constitutes an internal conflict in the Intermediate Region. Each of the main peoples in this area struggled to seize control of its centre of influence, that is, Byzantium
-Constantinople
-Istanbul
, which remained the undisputed focal point for nearly 2000 years. The Arab
s in the 8th century and the Russia
ns in the 20th century almost succeeded in doing so, but were not able to take control of the ecumenical empire. Western intervention, since the 18th century, is considered to be an external conflict, which sought not succession, but the destruction of the ecumenical empire, and later its dismemberment (Balkanisation
) and its subjection to the stranglehold of Westernisation
.
In conclusion, “due to historical events spanning thousands of years, the Eurasian continent, of which Europe
is but one of its peninsulas, comprises three civilisational areas: a) the West, which today includes North America
, Australia
and New Zealand
, as well as Western Europe
; b) the East or “Far East
”, which includes the peninsulas of India
, Southeast Asia
(with Indonesia
) and China
(with Korea
and Japan
); c) the Intermediate Region, which is found both in the East and the West.” (D. Kitsikis, L'Empire ottoman, Paris, PUF, 1985, p. 15).
Geopolitics
Geopolitics, from Greek Γη and Πολιτική in broad terms, is a theory that describes the relation between politics and territory whether on local or international scale....
model set forth in the 1970s by the Greek
Greece
Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....
historian Dimitri Kitsikis
Dimitri Kitsikis
Dimitri Kitsikis is a Greek Turkologist, Professor of International Relations and Geopolitics. He has also published poetry in French and Greek.-Life:D...
, professor at the University of Ottawa
University of Ottawa
The University of Ottawa is a bilingual, research-intensive, non-denominational, international university in Ottawa, Ontario. It is one of the oldest universities in Canada. It was originally established as the College of Bytown in 1848 by the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate...
, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
. According to this model, the Eurasia
Eurasia
Eurasia is a continent or supercontinent comprising the traditional continents of Europe and Asia ; covering about 52,990,000 km2 or about 10.6% of the Earth's surface located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres...
n continent is composed of not only two civilisational regions, that is, Western (or Western European) and Eastern (or Far Eastern), but also a third region found between the two. Called the "Intermediate Region", that comprises a distinct civilisation.
Description
Adriatic Sea
The Adriatic Sea is a body of water separating the Italian Peninsula from the Balkan peninsula, and the system of the Apennine Mountains from that of the Dinaric Alps and adjacent ranges...
and the Indus River
Indus River
The Indus River is a major river which flows through Pakistan. It also has courses through China and India.Originating in the Tibetan plateau of western China in the vicinity of Lake Mansarovar in Tibet Autonomous Region, the river runs a course through the Ladakh district of Jammu and Kashmir and...
form the Intermediate Region, and are considered a bridge between Western
Western culture
Western culture, sometimes equated with Western civilization or European civilization, refers to cultures of European origin and is used very broadly to refer to a heritage of social norms, ethical values, traditional customs, religious beliefs, political systems, and specific artifacts and...
and Eastern civilisations
Eastern world
__FORCETOC__The term Eastern world refers very broadly to the various cultures or social structures and philosophical systems of Eastern Asia or geographically the Eastern Culture...
. This vast area extends from the eastern half of Europe to the western half of Asia
Asia
Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...
. Its significance, from the point of view of civilisation, is that there is neither such thing as a uniform Europe nor a uniform Asia. The terms “Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
” and “Asia
Asia
Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...
” denote geographical regions and not civilisations. In terms of population, the dominant religions in the Intermediate Region are Orthodox Christianity
Orthodox Christianity
The term Orthodox Christianity may refer to:* the Eastern Orthodox Church and its various geographical subdivisions...
and Sunni Islam
Sunni Islam
Sunni Islam is the largest branch of Islam. Sunni Muslims are referred to in Arabic as ʾAhl ūs-Sunnah wa āl-Ǧamāʿah or ʾAhl ūs-Sunnah for short; in English, they are known as Sunni Muslims, Sunnis or Sunnites....
, and to a lesser extent Shiite Islam, Alevism and Judaism
Judaism
Judaism ) is the "religion, philosophy, and way of life" of the Jewish people...
. In contrast, Catholicism
Catholicism
Catholicism is a broad term for the body of the Catholic faith, its theologies and doctrines, its liturgical, ethical, spiritual, and behavioral characteristics, as well as a religious people as a whole....
and Protestantism
Protestantism
Protestantism is one of the three major groupings within Christianity. It is a movement that began in Germany in the early 16th century as a reaction against medieval Roman Catholic doctrines and practices, especially in regards to salvation, justification, and ecclesiology.The doctrines of the...
dominate in the West, as do Hinduism
Hinduism
Hinduism is the predominant and indigenous religious tradition of the Indian Subcontinent. Hinduism is known to its followers as , amongst many other expressions...
and Buddhism
Buddhism
Buddhism is a religion and philosophy encompassing a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices, largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha . The Buddha lived and taught in the northeastern Indian subcontinent some time between the 6th and 4th...
in the East.
The Intermediate Region had for 2500 years been dominated by an ecumenical empire, whose centre lay by the Turkish Straits
Turkish Straits
The term Turkish Straits refers to the two narrow straits in northwestern Turkey, the Bosphorus and the Dardanelles, that connect the Sea of Marmara with the Black Sea on one side and the Aegean arm of the Mediterranean Sea on the other. They are conventionally considered the boundary between the...
and the Aegean Sea
Aegean Sea
The Aegean Sea[p] is an elongated embayment of the Mediterranean Sea located between the southern Balkan and Anatolian peninsulas, i.e., between the mainlands of Greece and Turkey. In the north, it is connected to the Marmara Sea and Black Sea by the Dardanelles and Bosporus...
. Fundamentally the same empire throughout history, its successive leaders sought to unify its respective peoples. From the Persian empire of Darius, it fell into the hands of Alexander the Great, then to the Hellenistic Roman
Roman Empire
The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....
s, the Christian Romans
Byzantine Empire
The Byzantine Empire was the Eastern Roman Empire during the periods of Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, centred on the capital of Constantinople. Known simply as the Roman Empire or Romania to its inhabitants and neighbours, the Empire was the direct continuation of the Ancient Roman State...
and finally to the Sunni Ottoman
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
s until 1923-24. This Central Empire had been subject to attempts by other empires to seize succession. These empires, situated along its periphery, were the Islamic
Caliphate
The term caliphate, "dominion of a caliph " , refers to the first system of government established in Islam and represented the political unity of the Muslim Ummah...
, the Persian and the Russia
Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...
n (until 1917).
The dynamic between the Central Empire and the Peripheral Empires constitutes an internal conflict in the Intermediate Region. Each of the main peoples in this area struggled to seize control of its centre of influence, that is, Byzantium
Byzantium
Byzantium was an ancient Greek city, founded by Greek colonists from Megara in 667 BC and named after their king Byzas . The name Byzantium is a Latinization of the original name Byzantion...
-Constantinople
Constantinople
Constantinople was the capital of the Roman, Eastern Roman, Byzantine, Latin, and Ottoman Empires. Throughout most of the Middle Ages, Constantinople was Europe's largest and wealthiest city.-Names:...
-Istanbul
Istanbul
Istanbul , historically known as Byzantium and Constantinople , is the largest city of Turkey. Istanbul metropolitan province had 13.26 million people living in it as of December, 2010, which is 18% of Turkey's population and the 3rd largest metropolitan area in Europe after London and...
, which remained the undisputed focal point for nearly 2000 years. The Arab
Arab
Arab people, also known as Arabs , are a panethnicity primarily living in the Arab world, which is located in Western Asia and North Africa. They are identified as such on one or more of genealogical, linguistic, or cultural grounds, with tribal affiliations, and intra-tribal relationships playing...
s in the 8th century and the Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
ns in the 20th century almost succeeded in doing so, but were not able to take control of the ecumenical empire. Western intervention, since the 18th century, is considered to be an external conflict, which sought not succession, but the destruction of the ecumenical empire, and later its dismemberment (Balkanisation
Balkanization
Balkanization, or Balkanisation, is a geopolitical term, originally used to describe the process of fragmentation or division of a region or state into smaller regions or states that are often hostile or non-cooperative with each other, and it is considered pejorative.The term refers to the...
) and its subjection to the stranglehold of Westernisation
Westernization
Westernization or Westernisation , also occidentalization or occidentalisation , is a process whereby societies come under or adopt Western culture in such matters as industry, technology, law, politics, economics, lifestyle, diet, language, alphabet,...
.
In conclusion, “due to historical events spanning thousands of years, the Eurasian continent, of which Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
is but one of its peninsulas, comprises three civilisational areas: a) the West, which today includes North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
, Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
and New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
, as well as Western Europe
Western Europe
Western Europe is a loose term for the collection of countries in the western most region of the European continents, though this definition is context-dependent and carries cultural and political connotations. One definition describes Western Europe as a geographic entity—the region lying in the...
; b) the East or “Far East
Far East
The Far East is an English term mostly describing East Asia and Southeast Asia, with South Asia sometimes also included for economic and cultural reasons.The term came into use in European geopolitical discourse in the 19th century,...
”, which includes the peninsulas of India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
, Southeast Asia
Southeast Asia
Southeast Asia, South-East Asia, South East Asia or Southeastern Asia is a subregion of Asia, consisting of the countries that are geographically south of China, east of India, west of New Guinea and north of Australia. The region lies on the intersection of geological plates, with heavy seismic...
(with Indonesia
Indonesia
Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...
) and China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
(with Korea
Korea
Korea ) is an East Asian geographic region that is currently divided into two separate sovereign states — North Korea and South Korea. Located on the Korean Peninsula, Korea is bordered by the People's Republic of China to the northwest, Russia to the northeast, and is separated from Japan to the...
and Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
); c) the Intermediate Region, which is found both in the East and the West.” (D. Kitsikis, L'Empire ottoman, Paris, PUF, 1985, p. 15).
Further reading
- P. Davarinos, Geschichtsschreibung und Politik, Düsseldorf, 1995. (Doctoral thesis).
- P. Davarinos, "Die Historische Theorie der Zwischenregion in Osten und Westen", Journal of Oriental and African Studies, vol. 10 (1999), pp. 131-143.
- D. KitsikisDimitri KitsikisDimitri Kitsikis is a Greek Turkologist, Professor of International Relations and Geopolitics. He has also published poetry in French and Greek.-Life:D...
, L'Empire ottoman (The Ottoman Empire), Paris, PUF, 3e éd., 1994. - Société Royale du Canada, Académie des lettres et des sciences humaines, Géopolitique de la Région intermédiaire (The Geopolitics of the Intermediate Region), Ottawa, vol.52, 1999.
- D. KitsikisDimitri KitsikisDimitri Kitsikis is a Greek Turkologist, Professor of International Relations and Geopolitics. He has also published poetry in French and Greek.-Life:D...
, «Une vision géopolitique: la Région intermédiaire» (A Geopolitical Vision: the Intermediate Region), Relations internationales, Paris, no.109, 2002. - D. KitsikisDimitri KitsikisDimitri Kitsikis is a Greek Turkologist, Professor of International Relations and Geopolitics. He has also published poetry in French and Greek.-Life:D...
, «Géopolitique d'un Proche-Orient à venir» (The Geopolitics of a future Middle East), Diplomatie, no. 24, 2007. - E. Konstantinides, "He Geopolitike kai he historia tes mesa apo chartes (Geopolitics and its history through maps)", Trito Mati, Athens, vol.153, 2007
- Geopolitike kai Hellada (Geopolitics and Greece), Athens, Esoptron, 2001.
- Endiamese Perioche (Intermediate Region), quarterly journal on geopolitics, published in Athens since 1996.
- D. KitsikisDimitri KitsikisDimitri Kitsikis is a Greek Turkologist, Professor of International Relations and Geopolitics. He has also published poetry in French and Greek.-Life:D...
, Türk-Yunan İmparatorluğu. Arabölge gerçeği ışığında Osmanlı tarihine bakış (The Turco-Greek Empire. A study of Ottoman history from the point of view of the Intermediate Region), Istanbul, Iletişim, 1996. - José Pedro Teixeira Fernandes, «A Grécia Moderna e o Ocidente - Entre a Regiao Intermédia e o Ocidente», Historia, no.87, Junho 2006.
- Georgios K. Filis, Russia and Turkey in the Geopolitics of Eurasia & the Theory of Median Space: Thesis-Synthesis-Antithesis, Durham University, United Kingdom, 2008. (Doctoral thesis).