As opposed to the northern/southern hemisphere that has:
- a clear reference point (equators)
- traditionally we don’t model a rotation north/south
Western/eastern hemisphere
- doesn’t have a clear reference (Greenwich?)
- traditionally we model rotation on the north/south axis so western/eastern would depend from the time
In UN proceedings the Middle East is referred to as West Asia.
Middle East is very much a colloquial anglo/euro-centric term. We’ll see if it’ll stick around outside of the West, where 80% of humanity resides.