u/Any_Record2164

In addition to the post why the Middle East is actually middle:

In the Middle Ages, the land that we call the Middle East now, was really placed at the center of the world.

The harmonious image of a cloverleaf is disrupted by the recently discovered America, England, and, for some reason, Denmark and Sweden, which are depicted as an island.

The Bünting cloverleaf map, also known as The World in a Cloverleaf, (German title: "Die ganze Welt in einem Kleberblat/Welches ist der Stadt Hannover meines lieben Vaterlandes Wapen") is a historic mappa mundi drawn by the German Protestant Pastor, theologian and cartographer Heinrich Bünting. The map was published in his book Itinerarium Sacrae Scripturae (Travel Book of Holy Scripture) in 1581.

It's also called the Near East, which is understandable given the Far East.

But why "Middle"? It's the middle between what and what?