Topic 1:
Geography - Middle East
What is the Middle East? And
Central Asia?
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What’s wrong with these names?
Near East/Levant
“Middle East”/”Greater & Central
Southwest Asia
Maghrib
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“Never mind what the fact is, it
depends what it is called.”
Facts
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Vast -Region stretching from Rabat
to Tehran (3400 miles)
Intercontinental—Europe, Africa, and
Asia-”Crossroads”
“Greater Middle East” - Equal to U.S.
in size.
20 independent states
3 Sub-regions: North Africa, Arab
land, Highlands of Turkey and Iran
Land of the 7 Seas
Middle East =
Arab, Muslim, Oil-producing?
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Middle East includes non-Arab states [Iran,
Israel] and is also ethnically diverse [Kurds,
Assyrians, Armenians, Turkomans]
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Middle East is religiously diverse [Islam,
Judaism, Christianity]
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Sunni and Shia and other sects.
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Not all Middle Eastern countries have oil
• OIL: S.A., Iraq, U.A.E., Kuwait, Iran, Syria
• No OIL: Israel, Egypt, Turkey, Jordan,
Lebanon
• 30% of the world’s oil production from
M.E.
Central Asia
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5 former Soviet states of:
• Uzbekistan
• Turkmenistan
• Tajikistan
• Kyrgyzstan
• Kazakstan
Why neglected in historical study?
What is the “double periphery?”
Central Asia
http://www.mideastweb.org/maps.htm
MAP EXERCISE
Middle East - 5 Key Themes
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Old Civilizations, New States
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Cultural Heterogeneity
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Institutional Weaknesses
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External Influences
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Role of Religion – Extremism,
Fundamentalism?
http://www.mideastweb.org/maps.htm
United Nations Partition Plan, 1947
Tan: Jewish state
Grey: Arab state
White: International zone
Holy City of Jerusalem
The Western Wall
Dome of the Rock
Church of the Holy
Sepulcher
Before 1967
After 1967
Egypt-Nasser, Sadat, Mubarak –
Arab Socialism and Pan-Arabism
Iraq - Hussein-Baathist Socialism
Syria – Asad – Baathist Socialism
Libya – Qadafi – Green Socialism
Turkey - Secular Republic
Iran – Shah, Khomeini,
Ahmadinejad –Islamism
Saudi Arabia – “Family w/
Flags”, Wahabi Islam
http://www.mideastweb.org/maps.htm
Afghanistan
Form of government: Islamic emirate.
Head of state and government: Leader of the faithful.
Population (1998): 24,792,000.
Population projection: (2000) 26,668,000; (2010) 34,098,000.
Natural increase rate per 1,000 population (1997): 25.0 (world avg. 15.7).
Gross national product (1996): U.S.$5,666,000,000 (U.S.$250 per capita).
Land use (1994): forested 2.9%; meadows and pastures 46.0%; agricultural and under permanent cultivation 12.4%; other 38.7%.
North Africa—”the Magrib”
(the West)
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/globalconnections/mideast/maps/topo.html
Note green
vegetation
areas in Israel
on the Eastern
coast of the
Mediterranean
sea, and along
the Nile river
and delta. See
night view of
same region
below.
Physical map of
northern Middle
East - north to
south includes
Black Sea,
Turkey, Cyprus,
Syria, Iraq,
Lebanon, Israel
and Jordan
For an interactive map of Sunni-Shia Populations
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/wideangle/shows/iran/map.html
KURDISH AREAS
Good Interactive map – Where is the oil? Who has what for how long?:
http://wolf.readinglitho.co.uk/mainpages/oilmap.html
Crude Oil Imports to US Top 10 Countries, February 2006
Oil Consumption
Greenhouse Gas Emissions