Southwest Asian Geography
Chapter 11
Lesson 1
SW Asia’s Relative Location
• Crossroads location
– Links Europe, Africa, and Asia
• Traders/Invaders spread their goods and ideas
– Each group left cultural footprints
• Language, religion
SW and World Trade
• Region controls vital sea and land routes
– Bosporous and Dardanelles Straits link Black and
Mediterranean Seas
• Red Sea and Suez Canal are important sea
lanes
– Ships use to avoid long trips around Africa on way
from Europe to Asia
SW Asian Mountains
• Mountains affect movement and communication
– Must find way around or through them
• Mountains influence SW Asia’s rainfall
– Western and northern slopes receive more and block
precipitation from reaching east and south
• Shifts in mountains cause earthquakes
SW Asian Plateaus
• Anatolian Plateau suitable for growing
grain
– Continental climate
• Iranian Plateau
– Dry, has little plant life
SW Asian Deserts
• Deserts discourage movement of people
– Very little or no water
Importance of SW Asian Bodies of
Water
• Region surrounded by Black,
Mediterranean, Caspian, Red, and Arabian
Seas
• Jordan River
– Israel and Jordan struggle over control
• Lack of moisture makes fresh water very important
Importance of SW Asian Bodies of
Water-continued
• Tigris/Euphrates Rivers
– Rise in Turkey, flow through Syria and Iraq, empty into Persian
Gulf
– Key to birth of world’s earliest civilizations
– Supplies water for agriculture
• Turkey dammed Euphrates and created reservoir
– Downstream Syria and Iraq worry Turkey will use water for their
people
Importance of SW Asian Bodies of
Water-continued
• Persian Gulf
– Important to world’s economy
– Has oil below its surface
– Busy shipping route
Importance of SW Asian Bodies of
Water-continued
• Red Sea
– Important shipping route
– With opening of Suez Canal became link in
world trade routes running between Europe
and Asia
• Suez Canal connects Mediterranean and Red
Seas
Subregions of SW Asia
• Middle East
– Name use for the subregion of Iraq, Syria, Lebanon,
Jordan, Israel, and Palestinian Authority (PNA)
– Forms a curving band of fairly well-watered land
– Extends from Mediterranean coast to northern shores
of Persian Gulf
– Located in middle of far reaching Muslim world
Subregions of SW Asia
• Arabian Peninsula
– Lies on most southwestern corner of Asia
– Interior is mostly desert and has few people
– Coasts have well-watered areas and oases
– To Americans it is land of Bedouin (desert nomads) and oil
– To Muslims it is homeland of Islam and prophet Mohammad
Subregions of SW Asia
• Northern Tier
– Includes 3 non Arab countries in the North
• Turkey, Iran, and Cyprus
Key Vocabulary
• Strait: narrow waterway that connects two
larger bodies of water
• Relief: differences in height or elevation
• Deserts in SW Asia have little relief
– Few hills and valleys to create differences in
height
Key Vocabulary
• Fertile Crescent: arc of green land stretching
from the Mediterranean Sea to the Persian Gulf
– Key agricultural region
• Mesopotamia
– “Land between the rivers”
• Tigris and Euphrates
– Part of Fertile Crescent