GEOGRAPHY & THE MIDDLE EAST

An Ancient and Modern Crossroads

The Middle East - What’s in a name?

Arab World?Arabic speaking countries from N.Africa, Arabian Peninsula, & SW Asia(excludes Iran, Turkey, & Israel)

Islamic World?Includes Arabic speaking countries & Iran & Turkey. (leaves out Indonesia, Pakistan, Afghanistan)

Middle East?19th Century -European defined name; differentiate India & Far East

How does geography impact the development of a region?

Brainstorm a list of ideas:

MOUNTAINS How might mountains impact the

development of culture and civilization?

MOUNTAINS Mountains are often dividers. They:

make transportation and communication difficult.

they often protect minority populations and their cultures who take refuge in them making it more difficult for central governments to control these groups.

are difficult to cross, so they may be natural borders dividing empires and keeping out armies.

Zagros Mountains, Iran

Taurus Mountains, Turkey

Mountains can also divide climate zones

(For example, rainfall may fall much more on one side of

a mountain range than on the other, creating fertile agricultural zones on one side and arid zones fit for, at

best, animal grazing on the other.)

DESERTSHow might deserts impact the

development of civilization and culture?

THE SAHARA DESERTo Makes up nearly 10% of

African continento World’s largest hot deserto Most underdeveloped &

shaped over time by windso Landscape includes sand

dunes (15%), gravel plateaus, dry valleys & salt flats.

o Most of the water is from seasonal streams & underground aquifers.

o The only permanent river in the in the desert is the Nile.

Life in the Sahara

Most of the people living in the Sahara today do not live in cities;

nomads who move from region to region throughout the desert.

many different nationalities & languages in the region Arabic is most

widely spoken.

Arab, Berber national groups

RUB AL KHALI DESERT• Yemen, Saudi Arabia*, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, and Oman• 250,000 square miles (1/4 of Saudi Arabia)

RIVERS

Tigris & Euphrates Rivers

What role do rivers play in the development of civilization and culture? Give examples. Your homework tonight will go into great detail on this subject.

NATURAL VEGETATION

What conclusions about civilization and culture in the region can you make based on this information?

POPULATION DENSITY

What conclusions about civilization and culture in the region can you make based on this information?

NATURAL RESOURCES

What conclusions about civilization and culture in the region can you make based on this information?

MIDDLE EAST – U.S. LATITUDE LINES

What conclusions about civilization and culture in the region can you make based on this information?

water

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zNdbj3PbX6o&feature=related

WATERWater security has always been an issue in the arid environment of most of the Middle East.

Global Water Stress – Interactive Maphttp://www.guardian.co.uk/news/datablog/interactive/2011/jun/27/data-store-water

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=122294630

Factors Contributing to Water Scarcity Growing population Changes in Climate drought Construction of Dams

“Water use has been growing far faster than the number of people. During the 20th century the world population increased fourfold, but the amount of freshwater that it used increased nine times over.”

“Many of the wars of this [20th] century were about oil, World Bank Vice President Ismail Serageldin once observed, but the wars of the next century will be about water.”

Middle East Water Crisis Video ClipI

WATER SCARCITY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M7cFPcNIzlI

How does geography impact the

development of culture?

APPLYING THE ELEMENTS OF CULTURE – The Middle East

Environment & GeographyReligion & ValuesGovernment & LawsEconomyModes of ExpressionSocial Organization

Think about the role of religion in the development of culture in the Middle East…

Which three monotheistic religions were founded in this region of the world?

http://www.mapsofwar.com/ind/history-of-religion.html